“Mr. Powers doesn’t like being told what to do,” Macey said.
“Me either, but we been reasonable, and you’re getting your price. He can bend on this one.”
“I can assure you there will be no contrivances or double dealing on this. This is an on-the-table, straight-ahead business deal.”
“That’s good to know, Macey. And I believe you ‘cause I’m here looking into your sincere brown eyes but my clients, they’re not here. They don’t know how sincere you are and they don’t trust you. Even after I mentioned how you been to college and everything.”
“How about we just cancel the whole thing and foreclose on Harvey.”
“We go to the cops.”
“And Harvey explains why he needed all that money we advanced him?”
“Better than explaining to you people why he can’t pay.”
“That would be a bad mistake.”
“Yeah, maybe, but it would be a bad one for you too. Even if you wasted Harvey you’d have the fuzzy-wuzzies following you around and you’d have me mad at you and trying to get you busted and for what? All because King was too lazy to get up one morning for a six o’clock appointment?”
Macey looked at me for maybe thirty seconds.
“You don’t want to maneuver me and Harv into a place where we got no options. You don’t want to make the law look more attractive than you guys. You don’t want to arrange something where Harv’s got nothing to lose by talking to the D.A. My people are adamant on this. They are interested in doing business with the man. And you ain’t him. King is the man.”
Macey said, “I’ll check with him. I’m not authorized to commit him to something like this.”
“You’re not authorized to zip your fly without asking King. We both know that, preppy. Call him.” Macey looked at me another thirty seconds. Then he got up and went into the next room.
He was gone maybe fifteen minutes. I drank my coffee and admired my Adidas Varsities, in rust-colored suede. Excellent for tennis, jogging and avoiding injury through flight. I poured another cup of coffee from the room service thermos pitcher. It was not hot. I left the cup on the table and went to the window and looked down at the pool. It was as blue as heaven and full of people, largely young ones, splashing and swimming and diving. A lot of flesh was darkening on beach chairs around the pool and some of it was pleasant to see. I should probably call Susan. I hadn’t been back last night. Maybe she’d be worried. I should have called her last night. Hard to keep everything in my head sometimes. Pam Shepard and Harvey and Rose and Jane and King Powers and Hawk, and the New Bedford cops and getting it to work. And the tumescence. There was that to deal with too. A girl with long straight blond hair appeared from under one of the sun umbrellas wearing a bikini so brief as to seem pointless. I was looking at her closely when Macey came back into the room.
“King okayed it.”
“Say, isn’t that good,” I said. “Not only is he a King but he’s a Prince. Right, Macey?”
“He wasn’t easy to persuade, Spence. You’ve got me to thank for this deal. He was going to have you blown away when I first told him what you wanted.”
“And you saved me. Macey, you’ve put it all together today, kid.”
“You laugh, but I’m telling you it was a near thing. This better go smooth or King’ll do it. Take my word. He’ll do it, Spence.”
“Macey,” I said. “If you call me Spence again I’ll break your glasses.”
Chapter 24
It was eleven-twenty when I got back to my motel. There was a note on the bureau. “I’m walking on the beach,” it said. “Be back around lunchtime. Maybe I didn’t come home all night either.” I looked at my watch: 11:22. I called my service and left word for Rose to call me at the motel. At five past twelve she did.
“You know where the New England Produce Center is in Chelsea?” I said.
“No.”
“I’m going to tell you, so get a pencil and write it down.”
“I have one.”
I told her. “When you get there,” I said, “go to the restaurant and sit at the counter and have a cup of coffee. I’ll be there by quarter of six.”
“I want Pamela to be there as well.”
“Why?”
“I’ll trust you more if she’s there.”
“That’s sort of like using a sister,” I said.
“We use what we must. The cause requires it.”
“Always does,” I said.
“She’ll be there?”
“I’ll bring her with me.”
“We will be there, with our part of the bargain.”
“You’ll need a truck.”
“How large?”
“Not large, an Econoline van, something like that.”
“We’ll rent one. Will you help us load?”
“Yes.”
“Very well. See you there.” She hung up.
I wrote a note to Susan, told her I’d be back to take her to dinner, put twenty-seven X’s at the bottom and replaced the one she’d written me. Then I called New Bedford. Jackie Sylvia said he and McDermott would meet me at the Bristol County Court House on County Street. They were there when I arrived, leaning on each side of a white pillar out front.
“Come on,” Sylvia said when I got out of the car. “We got to talk with Linhares.”
We went into the red brick courthouse, past the clerk’s office, up some stairs and into an office that said ANTON LINHARES, ASST. DIST. ATT., on the door. Linhares stood, came around the desk and shook hands with me when we went in. He was medium-size and trim with a neat Afro haircut, a dark three-piece suit and a white shirt with a black and red regimental stripe tie. His shoes looked like Gucci and his suit looked like Pierre Cardin and he looked like a future D.A. His handshake was firm and he smelled of after shave lotion. Canoe I bet.
“Sit down, Spenser, good to see you. Jackie and Rich have me wired in on the case. I don’t see any problem. When’s it going down?”
“Day after tomorrow,” I said, “at six in the morning, at the market terminal in Chelsea.”
“That Suffolk or Middlesex County?”
“Suffolk,” I said.
“You sure?”
“I used to work for the Suffolk County D.A. Everett’s Middlesex, Chelsea’s Suffolk.”
“Okay, I’m going to need some cooperation from Suffolk.” He looked at his wristwatch. It was big and had a luminous green face and you pressed a button to get the time displayed in digits. “That’s no sweat,” he said. “I’ll get Jim Clancy on the horn up there. He’ll go along.”
He leaned back in his swivel chair, cocked one foot up on a slightly open drawer and looked at me. “What’s the setup?” he said. I told him.
“So we set up around there ahead of time,” Sylvia said, “and when they are in the middle of the transaction…” He raised an open hand and clamped it shut.
Linhares nodded. “Right. We’ve got them no matter what part of the swap they’re in. One of them will have stolen money and the others will have stolen guns. I want to be there. I want part of this one.”
McDermott said. “We thought you might, Anton.”
Linhares smiled without irritation. “I didn’t take this job to stay in it all my life.”
Sylvia said, “Yeah, but let’s make sure this doesn’t get leaked to the press before it happens.”
Linhares grinned again. “Gentlemen,” he said. He shook his head in friendly despair. “Gentlemen. How unkind.”
“Sylvia’s right,” I said. “These are very careful people. King Powers by habit. Rose and Jane by temperament. They’ll be very skittish.”