forget.”
“Yeah. He called me a scumbag.” David said. “This thing you’re working on now feels sketchy though. It all depends on her getting caught in the act, and she might be pretty smart. She might go after Junior in some way where she can’t get caught. It might happen all of a sudden… If I knew she was going to do it, and I knew when, then I could turn myself in just before. I’d have the best alibi in the world. Not even the Shoreston PD can charge you with a crime you’re supposed to have committed while you were in one of their cells.”
“That’s true.” I said. “But we don’t know when she’s going to do it. She might be on her way over there right now.”
“If I get busted first, it’s like a fail-safe.” He said. “Even if she gets away, they still know I didn’t do it.”
“So we wait until we’re sure she’s about to do it, and then you turn yourself in immediately.”
“See, this is why you haven’t gotten ahead in life.” He said. “You can’t see an excellent opportunity when it’s right in front of you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re gonna bust me,” he said with a smile, “and redeem yourself for letting me get away. You’ll come out of this smelling like a rose, and this way I don’t get shot down by some pig when I’m trying to turn myself in.”
“Yeah, but I probably won’t be around.” I said. “If I’m the one following her when she makes her move, I might be way the hell down in the Cuyahoga Valley in Everett. That’s where Junior’s staying right now.”
“Man, I’m trying to help you. You helped me, and now I’m trying to help you. You gonna let me do that?”
“If I happen to be in Lakeview.” I said. “But otherwise, you just turn yourself in, okay? Just walk right into the main guardhouse and say, here I am.” I looked at the ashtray and noticed a half smoked mini-cigar, but it took me a minute to figure out why it bothered me. David was saying something but I interrupted him. “Is this a Black-and-Mild?” I asked picking it up. “It is. I didn’t get you any Black-and-Milds. Where the fuck did you get this?”
“There were some here.” He said. “I figured what the hell.”
“You expect me to believe that Phil Relna smokes Black-and-Milds? Phil’s a millionaire man, if he wants a cigar he’s smoking some fancy shit. Come on, where’d you get it?”
“I’m telling you, I found it.” He said. “There was half a pack, right under the bar. I just decided to take ‘em. Seriously.”
I thought about it. “You know you can’t leave here, right? You’ll get caught.”
“You think I left? What the hell? Those were here, I’m not gonna take off and start walking around the neighborhood looking for smokes. You don’t believe me? What the fuck?”
“Someone could’ve brought them to you.” I said. “Does anyone else know you’re here?”
“No man, come on.”
“It just seems weird that Phil would have those, that’s all. It’s odd.”
“You ever smoked one? They’re pleasant. They’re real nice, they’re not just for poor people.”
“I’m a little paranoid.” I said. “This isn’t shoplifting, if we get caught there’s some serious life-altering consequences now.”
“I know.” He said. “It’s serious. It’s not like stealing some sneakers.”
“Yeah, that’s a perfect example of why I’m paranoid.” I said. “Because it wasn’t thought out at all. We had to walk home a different route from school for a year after that, until that guy stopped working there.”
“A small price to pay for Air Jordans.” He said. “Remember how he chased us? Like some middle aged dude getting four fifty an hour is going to catch a couple of kids in new sneaks running for their freedom.”
I had to laugh. “You know they changed store policy after that. They only let you try on one shoe at a time from then on.” I shook my head. “And don’t forget that not all our shoplifting ventures were so successful. Even with the sneakers -I had to hide them from my mom. Every damn day leaving for school with the stolen shoes in my backpack, changing out of my old kicks on the corner. And then finally my mom breaks down and says, you know, ‘those shoes are looking pretty tired, lets go down to the footlocker and get you a new pair.’“ David laughed. “It wasn’t funny man, I kept trying to put it off, and she couldn’t understand why I didn’t want new shoes all of a sudden.”
“But you looked good in those.” David said. “I remember being jealous, thinking why did I get the blue ones? I shoulda got all black like Ben.”
“I thought the same thing about yours.” I said. “We were some punk-ass kids back then. We’re all grown up now, huh?”
“I don’t feel it.” He said. “I feel exactly the same as I did back then. I mean on the inside. I always thought that when I hit a certain age I’d just turn into an adult or something. Like all of a sudden I’d be listening to Sting, you know?”
“You’ll still be listening to NWA when you’re eighty.”
“Seriously. I still want adventure and action and shit, just like when I was thirteen. That’s probably why I’m in this basement.” He said. “Did you ever wind up going to Footlocker with your mom?”
“Yeah, but the guy wasn’t working. I got lucky.” I said.
“Yeah,” David said. “That’s what we need now. Luck.”
“Hey David? You didn’t kill your uncle did you?”
“No, man, no.” He said.
I told him I’d be back in a couple of days with groceries, and he gave me some requests. He made me swear that as soon as I knew that Gretchen was making her move I would call him. “I can hear the machine from here, so I’ll be listening for it.” He said.
I was thinking about old times as I walked up to the guardhouse to sign in and start my shift. I was almost in a good mood as I came into the room and noticed that George Loeffler was in John’s office. As soon as he saw me John called me in. I could tell right away that the mood was serious. He shut the door behind me and took his seat behind the desk where he had an open folder in front of him. Mr. Loeffler sat in an armchair against the wall, and the only other chair in the room was facing John. He told me to sit. “Ben, we have a problem.” He said. He was using his official head-of-the-Guardian-Security-Agency voice for George’s benefit. He didn’t sound like Jessie’s pap anymore. “Mr. Loeffler here was just telling me about a troubling conversation he had with a Cleveland Police detective concerning David Telano. It appears that you and he were arrested together on some kind of petty theft charge.”
“Shoplifting.” I said. “We were kids.”
“1993, that would make you what? Sixteen? Seventeen at the time?” John asked.
“Sixteen.” I said.
“In any case this is troubling news.” Mr. Loeffler said, looking directly at me. “We have to have faith in the honesty and integrity of all of our employees. This, frankly, casts doubt on yours.”
“Hey I was just a kid.” I repeated. “Who hasn’t shoplifted once or twice, right? It really wasn’t a big deal.”
“You signed an application for employment that asked if you’d ever been arrested.” Mr. Loeffler said in a quiet, calm voice. “You stated that you had not. You signed that document knowing it was false, which in itself is a crime.”
“It was expunged from my record because I was a minor.” I argued. “My lawyer told me it was like it never happened. I didn’t think I had to divulge that on your application. I didn’t even get in that much trouble for it-”
“The application did not ask if your record was clean,” he said, “it asked if you had ever been arrested. You had been arrested and you stated that you had not. You signed a false statement.” I tried to interrupt, but he held up his hand and continued. “And let’s not overlook the fact that the person you were arrested with has killed three people.”
“I told you we were friends.” I said. “I was completely honest about that. I thought we had an understanding Mr. Loeffler.”
&n
bsp; “Yes I thought we did too. Certainly knowing someone and being a partner with them in criminal activity are two very different things. Detective Borgano thinks that you’re involved somehow in the crimes committed in Lakeview. Obviously we can’t keep you here with this cloud of suspicion hanging over your head.”
“Wait a minute, is this because of the old shoplifting thing, or because of Borgano’s suspicions? You have to pick one. I am being fired, right? But you can’t fire me based on someone’s suspicion. And you can’t fire me over something that was expunged from my record back in the early nineties for god’s sake. It’s silly.”
“Nobody said we were firing you.” Mr. Loffler said. “But you did lie on your application. We can’t overlook that.”
“Wait a minute, I think the application asked if I’d ever been charged with a felony. I’d like to see that application.”
Mr. Loeffler cleared his throat. “We’re not obligated to show you anything.” He said.
“Hey, I’m going to call a lawyer.” I said as calmly as I could. “What’s those guys on TV? Benson and Crewe get money for you? They do employment disputes. I can fight this.”
“You don’t need a lawyer.” John said, silently communicating that I should cool down. “You’re not being fired. We have the right to put you on suspension at any time for any reason. It’s in your contract. You will be suspended without pay until the matter with David Telano is brought to a close at which point we will consider your