“Peachy,” I said.
“We nabbed Donny’s brother at his job just before he started to clean a toilet. Now listen up tight cause I ain’t gonna repeat it. We hit the First Commercial Bank at 1:30 today. Anyone should get tipped off before then, or at all, we’ll kill the chick and the brother too. What we’re gonna have the redhead do is drive the getaway car. Ain’t that classic? You take our wheel man, and we take your girl, and now she’s our wheel man. Pardon my goddamn fucking manners. Wheel woman. I hope she can drive, cause if she can’t, got to just go on and pop her.”
“She can drive,” I said. “Don’t hurt her.”
“Man, that would be a shame, wouldn’t it. Fox like that. She’s fine, man. I don’t know how you got something like that. I see her, and I see you, I got to wonder you got some kind of Love Potion thing going.”
“Just don’t hurt her… How do I get her back?”
“You didn’t mention getting the brother back. So, we’ll keep him. We’ll keep him until we’re gone for some time. We give the redhead back, you tell who we are, then he’s toast. Otherwise, a week from now we’ll let him go… No. I don’t like that. You see, I’m thinking since you didn’t even ask about him, he’s not such a big worry for you. You get the woman back, then what do you care? We’ll do it the other way. We’ll keep the redhead and give you the brother. A week from now, we’ll let her go. Just so you know, we caught her sleeping. Just sprang the lock and found her upstairs. I made her change, and I watched while she did it. It’s good to know she’s a natural redhead. It’s good to know what she’s got under the hood, so to speak.”
“Fuck you,” I said.
“Don’t get rowdy. It might not do to get me mad. And let me tell you something. Other night, you got lucky. I was high as a kite.”
“Yeah, and you can’t fight either.”
“Maybe we’ll get another chance and I can show you what I can do when I’m straight.”
“Maybe we will.”
“Tell you what. We keep her a week, we’ll give her back, but in the meantime, we might try and put out that little fire between her legs. I’m a regular fireman.”
“You hurt her, you touch her, you’re dead,” I said.
“I wouldn’t talk like that, if I was you. There’s all kinds of things can happen between now and then. You could be looking for her for twenty years, and not so much as find a hair. That body we left in the woods, in the car, that was a mistake. From now on, there won’t be bodies to find. So you better pay attention to me. You sit quiet. We’ll hit the bank. We’ll leave the brother somewhere, and then we’ll let your woman go in a week. That way, we got plenty of time to do what we want and get where we want. You don’t believe me, call the police. Show up and cause trouble. You might get me, but you won’t get her back. Least not alive. Have a nice fucking day, asshole.”
I put the cell away and told Leonard what Smoke Stack said.
I said to Donny, “He won’t let your brother go, and he won’t let Brett go. He knows we know who he is, and he’s determined to pull the armored car job anyway. Out of spite. He’s trying to prove he’s smart.”
“I’m so sorry,” Donny said. “I guess I haven’t been thinking.”
“You ought to be sorry, kid,” Leonard said. “You’ve stirred up the goddamn bees’ nest.”
“He might let them go,” Donny said.
“No,” I said. “His pride is what this is about. He knows at some point we’ll tell somebody, so I figure he’ll do the robbery, then tell us he’s going to let the brother go, and we can pick him up at such and such a place, but neither brother or Brett will be alive by then. And they’ll be waiting for us. They’ll ask that you come along, like they’re gonna take you back. But you know what? They plan to kill us all. No witnesses, and then they’re back in business. Cops will know it’s them that did it because of circumstantial evidence, but thinking and proving, that’s too different things. They could lay low for a year or two and then launder the money somewhere, come out good. And my figure is everyone in that group, except Smoke Stack, will turn up dead. He’ll end up with all the money and no one to talk about how things were done.”
“You know, it’s not a nice thing to say,” Leonard said, looking at Donny, “but this is all your fault.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Donny said.
“Damn straight,” Leonard said.
“It’s not all your fault,” I said. “I was Kelly, I’d have told too. No one is as tough as they show in the movies. I should have thought that angle. We tried to play this one too nice.”
“Hap likes being nice,” Leonard said. “Me, I don’t care for nice.”
“Will you go to the police?” Donny asked.
“We could take that chance, but we won’t,” I said.
Donny looked at the floor, then up at me. “It’s not an armored car this time.”
“No?”
“They’re just going to hit the bank. Two inside, and then they’ll come out and the getaway car will be waiting. I wanted to tell you that. He shouldn’t have bothered Kelly and Brett.”
“I bet Smoke Stack stays in the car,” Leonard said.
“Yeah,” Donny said. “Him and one of the others. And the driver.”
“And now that driver is Brett, and your brother will be in the car too,” Leonard said.
“All right,” I said. “That doesn’t change much, it might make it easier, no armored car guys to worry with.”
“Yeah, it really doesn’t matter,” Leonard said. “But you showed some balls by telling us, by stepping farther away from that asshole Smoke Stack.”
“What will you do?” Donny asked.
“What Leonard said earlier. We’ll kill them all and shit on their graves.”
IT WAS STILL early in the day. My guess was they would keep Brett and Kelly alive until they were finished with the job. That would be their insurance until they didn’t need them anymore. I had to hold onto that idea. It was my only comfort. Still, it wouldn’t be long after the job was over that both Brett and Kelly would end up dead.
I called Marvin and told him the situation.
“So, how about I park somewhere where I can see them do the robbery. The asshole even told you the bank.”
“He thinks he’s untouchable.”
“I can be an eyewitness later. Say I saw them. Right after I shoot the living hell out of them.”
“Just be a witness,” I said. “Don’t get involved. Leonard and I will take care of them.”
“I know that,” Marvin said. “I never thought otherwise. But I can do my part.”
“Not for us you won’t,” I said.
“I didn’t say anything about it being for you and Leonard. It’s Brett I’m talking about.”
“And I appreciate it, but just watch what goes down so you can say you saw them there. If you see us, kind of forget that you did.”
“If they call me on the witness stand later and ask if I saw you two?”
“Lie under oath.”
“Certainly. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”
WE MET MARVIN at a drive-through eatery about noon, had some coffee. I don’t remember if I drank mine or not. We were sitting in Marvin’s car. Leonard’s car was parked beside it. Donny was sitting with us.
“Donny, you stay with Marvin,” I said.
“You don’t have to worry about me running,” Donny said. “I want my brother back. I want you to get Brett back. She was right. I do get to choose.”