room, while Jessie made us tuna sandwiches in the kitchen. Having him there made me deeply uneasy. I kept thinking I heard someone on the porch. I would’ve taken him directly to Lakeview but if I’d showed up hours ahead of my shift it would raise questions, so I reluctantly brought him to our house. “Detectives have come here unannounced before.” I said. “Just the other day they were here. They were looking for you, and they went through the whole place.”
“If they come now I’ll just pull my knife and pretend I was holding you hostage or something.” He said. “I don’t want you to get in trouble for helping me.”
“Sounds like a good way to get yourself killed.” I said, not thinking of his cousin until the words were already out. I changed the subject. “There’s a place that’s empty that we can get into in Lakeview. The Relna place. You’ll have to stay in the basement, out of sight. It’s divided into two rooms, one of which doesn’t have any windows, so you should be okay down there. I know where they keep their spare key.”
David lit a cigarette and looked at me. “Man, you must be crazy helping me like this.” He said. “I was on TV.”
“Hey if we don’t get caught, it wont make a difference. And if we do get caught, I still have deniability. You just have to say you got in there on your own.” He was looking at his shoes.
“I’m gonna turn myself in.” He said. “I just need to find some evidence that Freddie did this shit so I can at least go in with a good defense. I’ll find some evidence, bring it to a lawyer and then turn myself in.”
“You can’t be out there looking for evidence.” I said. “You have to stay hidden. We’re on this okay? We’re gonna find something, just stay out of sight and give us time.”
“And I don’t think its Freddie.” Jessie said bringing in a plate of sandwiches. “I think it was all Junior.”
“Trust me, Freddie’s the one.” David said. “I shoulda cut his dick off.” He put his cigarette out carefully and put the butt back in his pack. “I seriously doubt you’re going to find anything on Junior.” He picked up his sandwich and took a bite.
“No,” Jessie said, “Junior had a motive to kill Amanda Porgett.” She explained to him about the article and the place in Port Sound and the editor. “I called her this morning. I’m still waiting for her to call me back, but I bet she has the next article in the series.” She said. “I know we can piece together what’s going on from those articles.”
“I still feel like it’s going to come down to my word against theirs.” David said.
“Yeah and their word means a lot.” I said. “They own property all over the place, and they own banks and run charities and god knows what else. They’re pillars of the goddamned community.”
“Pillars are made to fall.” Jessie said.
I felt the need to point out that that was not a real expression.
Jessie and David got high together on the last of our weed. I abstained because I had to sneak David into Lakeview later and didn’t need the paranoia. I left David at the house and drove Jessie to the PFPFP -she has no problem working high. On my way back I stopped at the grocery store and spent fifty dollars of Ray Denardo’s cash advance money on food and toilet paper and stuff for David. He looked through the bag and said that he needed cigarettes too. “You can’t smoke down there,” I said, “when Phil Relna and his family come back the whole house will stink. Isn’t it time to quit anyway?”
“Look man, if I can’t smoke, you might as well just turn me in.” He said. “No joke. I can smoke in jail.”
“That’s fucking sad, you know that? Aren’t you tired of paying a corporation to kill you a little bit at a time?”
“Yeah but, I’m serious, I’d rather be in jail smoking than hiding out going through withdrawal and shit.”
“Come on.” I said. “We’ll stop on the way.”
When we got close to Lakeview David laid on the floor of the backseat with a blanket over him. I knew Franco was working and I prayed he wasn’t at the front gate. I was almost at the gate when David started coughing. I slowed down and told him to shut up. I was glad to see John in the gatehouse, he said hi and lifted the gate-arm. I wasn’t sure if he’d noticed anything or not.
I pulled up in front of some bushes in the Relna’s yard and stopped. “Stick your head up for a second and look.” I said. David uncovered his blonde head and looked out the window. “We’re right across from the meetinghouse, so this is a busy street. You have to be careful. I’ll take the groceries in and unlock the back door. Those bushes right there can cover you from three sides, so when I get back I’ll tell you when the coast is clear and you can wait there till I drive away. All you have to do is go in, lock the door behind you, pick up the grocery bag and go straight to the basement.”
I got the bag from the back seat and went up to the Relna’s back door. I was trying to hurry and look casual at the same time. I put the grocery-bag down and lifted the potted plant where I knew the key would be. I unlocked the door and put the key back. I took the groceries in and set the bag down on the kitchen counter, and then left the house, shutting the unlocked door behind me. I was still on the back porch when I saw Franco in the patrol car stopped across from where I was parked. He had his window down and was looking right at me. I walked self-consciously toward my car. “What are you doing?” He asked. “Why were you in the Relna place?”
“I’m just watering their plants for them while they’re out of town.” I said. I opened my car door and stood partway behind it. “You gonna give me a parking ticket or something?”
“You can get away with anything. I guess since you’re living with the boss’s granddaughter you’re allowed to take side-jobs.”
“It’s not a side-job okay? I’m not getting paid to do it, Phil Relna happens to be a friend of mine, and I came early so I wouldn’t be doing personal business on GSA time. What’s your problem anyway? Before they made me an agent you were all friendly and shit. Now every time I see you, you wanna start shit.”
“Come on, the only reason you’re an agent is because of John’s granddaughter.” He said.
“Yeah, so what? That’s the way the world works. People look out for their family, and I’m kind of like John’s family. Just because your wife’s family can’t do shit for you, you don’t have to take it out on me.”
“You’re not even married to her.”
I laughed. “Mind your own business.” I said.
“I might not be an agent, but I’m a professional, I take my job seriously.” He said as I got in the car and shut the door. I was going to roll my window down and continue talking to him, but he drove away.
“You should fuck that guy up.” David said from under the blanket.
“Yeah.” I said. “Maybe someday I will. Don’t turn on any lights in the house. Remember, people are walking by here all day and night because it’s so close to the meetinghouse, so stay away from the windows.”
“Got it.” David said.
“Go, now.” I said.
He got out of the car and as I drove away, I saw him crouch running up to the back door of the house in my rearview mirror. I had deep reservations about what I had just done. What did David care if Franco now had me connected to his hiding place? It probably didn’t even occur to him. It didn’t affect him so why would it? All of a sudden it seemed inevitable that I’d get caught.
I parked in the employees lot across from the guardhouse and as I got out of the car my phone was buzzing. It was Jessie.
“She called me back.” She said. “Gretchen Salle.”
“What’d she say?”
“She agreed to meet us.”
“Did you tell her why we wanted to meet with her?” I asked.
“I told her we were old friends of David’s and that we didn’t think he did it. I told her that we had some questions about Amanda, and her Extended Families articles. When I asked if she would meet us she agreed right away.”
“You told her we were friends of David’s?”
>
“What was I supposed to say?” She said. “I mean I had to tell her something and I wasn’t going to lie to her.”
“No, but you didn’t have to tell her that. I mean, she might’ve gotten off the phone with you and called the cops.”
“I doubt it.” She said.
“When are we supposed to meet her?”
“Tomorrow morning, at Gouland’s Grill.” She said. “And don’t worry, she sounded cool.”
TEN
Although I hadn’t gotten to bed until three thirty, I was expected to be at Gouland’s Grill at nine with Jessie to meet Gretchen Salle. A note taped onto the door of the fridge related this information to me. I didn’t remember the alarm clock going off, and the first thing I was aware of was Jessie scolding me in advance for making us late. I got out of bed and pulled on a fresh shirt and a pair of pants. She asked if I was going to fix my hair and I pulled on my baseball cap in answer. I got the car keys off the hook, and by the time we were out of the driveway and on the road, I was starting to wake up.
“What are you thinking about?” She asked after we’d rode in silence for a while.
“I’m thinking about what I’m going to tell Reyes and Borgano.” I said. “They’ll probably be there. I’m sure this woman Gretchen called them. I mean you told her we were meeting with her on behalf of David.”
“No, not on behalf. I said I was a friend of his and that I didn’t think he did it, that’s all.” She said.