He took a bite of his sandwich and washed it down with some beer. “I don’t know.” He said. “I just get the feeling I’ll be getting sacked over this mess too.”
“But you didn’t do anything.” I said.
“Yet.” He smiled. “You think I want to work for a family of drug pushers? Goddam child-sellers? I’m just hanging around to see if Junior Pierson makes any mistakes before he fires me. I want to see the bastard go down. Besides I don’t want to quit if I can help it.”
“Unemployment?”
“Yeah. If I get fired it probably won’t be for gross misconduct, so I should be eligible for some free money.” He said. “You on the other hand would be turned down.”
I laughed even though he hadn’t said anything particularly funny. “You serious about starting our own company?” I asked.
“Hell yeah.” He said. “I’m talking about a private army for hire, right here in Ohio.”
“That’s interesting.” I said. “I’m definitely on board if you’re serious.”
“I’m absolutely serious.” He said. “And I don’t just want you on board, I want you to be a full partner. Fifty-fifty. I even have an idea who our first client might be, but I wanted to make sure you were willing to do it first.”
“Who?”
“You.”
“No, I mean who’s our first client?”
“Oh, I don’t want to jinx it. But if it happens, there’ll be plenty of money to spread around.” He finished the last bite of his sandwich and looked at his watch. “I gotta go into Lakeview for awhile.” He said. “I should be back in a couple of hours.”
“You don’t work today. Why do you have to go to Lakeview?” I asked.
“I’m emailing myself files,” he said, “things I might need someday if they do fire me. I’m not going down without a fight.”
After he left I finished my beer, took my shoes off, and put my head on the armrest. I woke up sometime later to Daring pushing his head into my hand over and over. I sat up and rubbed his little head for a while and then called Jessie. She didn’t answer, so I took the TV off mute and got myself another beer from the fridge. I was watching Jerry Springer, waiting for the results of a hillbilly paternity test when Jessie called back. “Sorry I didn’t answer before.” She said. “The cops were here.”
“Really?” I asked. “They went to the PFPFP?”
“Yeah they were looking for you.”
“What’d you say?”
“I told them we had a fight last night and that you left. I told them I didn’t know where you were.” She said.
“And what’d they say to that?”
“They wanted to know where you might’ve gone. I said I didn’t know, but they wouldn’t leave me alone. So finally I told them you might’ve gone to your mom’s place in Akron.”
“What? My mom’s? That was pretty fucking stupid.”
“I didn’t know what else to say.”
“Do you have any idea how my mom is going to react when cops come knocking on her door asking about me?”
“I’m sorry.” She said. “I didn’t know what to say.”
“Remember how she acted when that bill collector called her? Well it’ll be like a hundred times worse than that.”
“Maybe they wont send anyone down there. I didn’t give them her address or anything.”
“Oh, well that’s good.” I said.
“Don’t get shitty.” She said. “They wont go down there.”
“I hope you’re right.” I said. She told me she was going to come over after work and hide out with me. “Listen, don’t park nearby.” I said. “And make sure no one’s following you.”
“They asked me a couple of questions Ben, I doubt they’re watching my every move.”
“Would you just be careful please? As a favor to me?”
It was getting dark out and I was feeling restless from being cooped up all day. I washed my face and opened the door to the balcony to get some fresh air. I was careful not to go too far out there in case someone was watching from below. I was that paranoid. Jessie and John arrived together a little later -John had stopped off somewhere and picked up a pizza. He seemed to be enjoying having company, despite the circumstances, and it almost seemed like a party.
We sat in front of the TV for a while and then John helped us move the coffee table and pull the bed out of the sofa. He brought in some blankets and said good night. “We’ll start calling lawyers tomorrow.” He said. “We’ll get you out of this mess Ben, don’t worry.”
I thanked him.
Later on, while we were watching Jimmy Kimmel, Jessie and I started fooling around. We were trying to be super quiet, which made it more fun. I fell asleep with the TV on and woke up sometime in the night when John came into the room to turn it off. I was only dimly aware of this and then I was asleep again.
By six o’clock the next morning the bar under the mattress of the foldout bed was driving me nuts, digging into my side. No matter which way I turned I couldn’t get comfortable. I finally got up and went into the kitchen to make coffee. While it was brewing I sat on the edge of the bed and turned the TV back on. I had the volume way down so I wouldn’t wake Jessie or John and sat there in my boxer shorts and T-shirt and watched the 6 AM news. There was still nothing about the murder at the Pierson place in Everett.
I felt sleepy again and I curled up on the lower half of the bed, below the bar, and drifted off for a moment. I woke up to the sound of a loud knock at the door.
TWENTY-NINE
I got to the door at about the same time as John. “I’ll just go with them.” I said. “I don’t want to hide, they’d just find me.”
John looked out the peephole. “It’s not the cops.” He whispered to me before turning back to the door. “Can I help you?” He asked without opening it.
“We’d like to speak to Ben.” Said a voice I recognized.
“That’s Dennis Reston.” I said. I moved John out of the way and opened the door. Dennis was standing in the hall next to a short guy wearing a fancy watch. “How’d you know I was here?” I asked.
“Lucky guess.” He said. “We heard you were gonna be arrested, so we went by your house to warn you, but you weren’t there so we figured you must’ve already got the tip off. I guess it helps that your girlfriend is John Marchin’s granddaughter.”
“Yeah, it’s done me some good over the years.” I said. “You want to come in? I’m making a pot of coffee.”
“Nah, but we wanted to talk to you. Get yourself dressed and meet us downstairs.” He said. “We’ll wait.”
“Oh, okay.” I said. “I’ll be down in a minute.” They turned and walked down the hall as I shut the door. John looked like he was trying to burn a hole in my head with his mind. “What?” I asked.
“It’s six forty five in the morning.” He said. “Why the hell are they here now?”
“I don’t know.” I said.
“Neither do I, but it gives me a bad feeling. Are you sure you want to do this? You could run you know, we could slip you out the back way.”
“Yeah.” Jessie said coming in from the living room. “Let’s do that. Those guys are going to kill you Ben. It’s obvious. You can’t go with them.”
“Come on. They’re not going to kill me, Dennis wants to give me a job –and they’re probably here this early because they wanted to get to me before the cops did.”
“I think maybe we should put them off,” John said, “at least until Reyes gets you that phone back. You’ll have no way of getting help if something bad is going down.”
“I’ll take Jessie’s phone.” I said. “You both need to chill.”
“Ben, this is serious.” John said. “What’s your strategy here? How far are you willing to go with this?”
“I’ve thought about it.” I said. “I’m gonna play a part. I’m an ultra conservative right wing conspiracy nut -Glenn Beck and Michael Savage and Alex Jones combined. I know that stuff backward
s and forwards.”
“That could work.” John said. “But what if they interview people who know you?”
“Nobody knows my political beliefs.” I said. “I never talk about that shit. I firmly believe that in the history of political discussion no one has ever changed anyone else’s mind. Ever. I just don’t talk about it with people, it’s useless.”
“But you are one of the worst liars I’ve ever seen.” Jessie said.
“You sure about that?” I asked her. “Would you know if I’d told you a good lie?”
“I hate you so much.” She said.
“I hate you too honey.” I said. I went into the bathroom and washed my face a bit and used the toothbrush that Jessie had brought. I got my clothes on and slipped Jessie’s phone in my pocket with my wallet. “I’ll call when I can.” I said.
“Okay.” John said. “Be carful out there.”
“I will.” I looked at Jessie but she had her back turned to me. John shrugged and patted me on the shoulder as I left the apartment.
Dennis Reston was sitting in the passenger seat of a black Ford Excursion, and Mr. gaudy-watch was behind the wheel. When I got in the back seat they interrupted their conversation for a moment to acknowledge my presence and Dennis continued talking as we pulled away from the curb. “So the guy’s kid is sitting there at the kitchen table, I don’t know if you know his kid, he’s maybe about seven or eight, I forget his name. Anyway the kid’s face is all fucked up.” Dennis said. “It had stitches all down his nose and across his cheek and you could just tell from looking at this kid that he was traumatized you know? Ralph’s there on the back