?I can do that,? Lee said quietly. ?I can tell him the plan?s no good, that we?ll have to scratch it, and he?ll back off. He knows he can?t get out of here alone without help, without a partner. We trash the plan, and you?ll go right on visiting him here until he?s an old man. Youtwo can sit on the couch holding hands, you can watch him grow bitter, watch him turn into an empty shell with nothing inside but rage. And watch yourself do the same. And Sammie will grow up seeing her father for an hour at a time, a few days a week at best, right here in this visiting room with iron bars at the windows. If you stop him from trying,? Lee said, ?you?ll never sleep well again. You?ll never sleep with Morgan again, never hold him close at night.?
Beneath the anger, Becky?s look had gone naked and still.
?This is a pretty visiting room, isn?t it, Becky? The nice furniture and clean walls, the expensive carpeting, the plants along the window. And the rest of the prison is just as pretty and clean, it smells just as nice, and is just as comfortable and safe. We?re all just loving brothers in here,behind these bars and walls.?
She wiped at her eyes.?I know it?s hard, that it?s ugly, but??
?You don?t know anything, you don?t have a clue. You wouldn?t last five minutes behind those doors.? Lee looked at her coldly. ?That world in there peels away all the layers, lady. Right down to the worst ugliness you can think of, and worse than you can think of.? He choked and swallowed. ?You don?t know anything about what it?s like in there, about what Morgan?s life is like. But that doesn?t matter,? he whispered. ?You want Morgan to stay locked in here, maybe until he dies. He?s only a young man, but you want him to stay here until he rots to nothing for a crime he didn?t commit.?
She turned away, her head bowed. He put a hand on her shoulder. She was still for a long time. When she turned back, she faced him squarely, pale and quiet, her look so vulnerable that he wanted to hold her just as he had held Sammie. She stood silent looking at him until he started to turn away. Quietly she pulled him down on the nearest couch, sat facing him.
?What about the second appeal?? she said softly. ?Why would you do this before we know if it?s granted??
?There won?t be a second appeal without new evidence, no matter how hard Lowe works at it. The complaints you filed are supporting evidence, but not enough, not the kind of evidence you need for a sure win. Lowe knows that, that?s why he?s still digging.
?So far he has nothing. Morgan doesn?t think he?ll get it from Natalie and neither do you. Not the solid, irrefutable evidence he needs. Maybe he?ll find flaws in her story, inconsistencies, but that?s far from solid.?
She was silent again, looking down at her lap. As he rose to leave she looked up.?Tell me what to do,? she said. ?Tell me how I can help.?
He hugged her and then settled back, his shoulder against hers, his voice so low she had to lean close.?We?ll need clothes, old jeans. Old shirts, nothing fancy or new. Old, warm jackets. Good heavy boots, waterproof if you can find them.? He found a scrap of paper in his pocket and wrote down his shoe size. ?And money,? he said, ?all the money you can lay your hands on.? He read her alarm atthat. ?At some point,? Lee said, ?once we?re out on the coast, we?ll need to hire a lawyer.?
He watched Morgan rise to join them, sitting down close on Becky?s other side. ?Get the clothes at some charity shop,? Morgan said. ?Wash them in lye soap, we don?t want lice.?
?The other thing,? Lee said, ?we need to know what?s on the other side of the wall. The train track has to be close, the whistles damn near take your head off, but we need to know the layout, what?s on beyond.?
?There?s a General Motors plant,? Morgan said, ?a car distribution center. On behind that, unless things have changed, there?s an open field. But check it all out, see if it?s still the same, see how the field lies in relation to the wall and the track.?
Lee told her where to leave the clothes and money.?We?ll let you know later when to drop it. Once we?re out of here, there?ll be no contact. Morgan won?t be making any calls from some pay phone, the bureau boys would pick it up in a minute.
?Once we?re gone,? Lee said, ?you won?t be finished with it, Becky. Make no mistake, the feds will be all over you, they?ll question you and question Sammie. Doesn?t matter that she?s just a child, they?ll try to drag information out of her, try for anything they think they can use.?
?Why do you want to go with Morgan?? Becky said. ?If you stay here, you?ll be getting out soon.?
?I don?t know why,? Lee snapped. ?Because I?m crazy. Because he can?t do it alone, he doesn?t know anything about hopping the trains, about avoiding the law. He doesn?t know anything much that will help him.? He took her hand. ?Don?t tell Sammie any more than she?s overheardor guessed. Whatever she knows will put her on the spot. If she dreams this you?ll have to make her understand, make her swear to keep silent.
?You?d better start teaching her now,? Lee said. ?Not to talk to anyone about this, not to your aunt, not to the maid, not to your mother. Sure as hell not to a bureau agent. Anything she says, even if it?s only a dream, an agent might run with it.? Lee glanced up past Becky toward the half-open door, at the shadow of the guard standing in the hall. ?Morgan will let you know the rest, let you know the timing. We?ve been talking too long, I need to get out of here.? He rose and left them, and didn?t look back.
Telling Becky about the plan scared him, that she wouldn?t keep their secret, but they needed her. The idea of Sammie?s dreams disturbed him all the more, the thought that she might innocently let a hint drop, meaning no harm. But Sammie was a wise child. He told himself that with Becky?s help she?d learn to be still, would learn to lie for her daddy.
28
THAT?S NOT A wall, it?s a mountain,? Morgan said. ?There?s no way we can get over that baby.? They stood on the steps leaning against the rail where Lee had first seen the flaw in the concrete. It was two days after they?d told Becky their plan. Below them the big yard gleamed with puddles, bouts of rain had swept through all day.
?People climb mountains,? Lee said dryly. ?You?ve already made the rods. What?s the matter with you, what did Becky say?? Morgan had just come from visiting hour. Lee had skipped this one; it was the last time the two would be together. ?She?s not angry again?? Lee said warily. ?Did she get the clothes, the money? Or did she .†.†. ??
?She got everything we asked for,? Morgan said, pulling his coat tighter against the chill. ?She?s not mad. She?s .†.†. quiet. Trying to hold it in. This is hard on her, Lee. What if .†.†. ?? Morgan shook his head. ?I?m not sure I can do this to her.?
?It?ll be harder on her if you don?t. If you never get out of here, never get an appeal.?
Morgan stared up at the guard tower, his hands clutched white on the rail.?She drove the roads behind the wall, she?s done everything you asked. She?s just .†.†. She said there were still open fields back there, the weeds waist-high from the rain. She thought the distance from the wall to the train track was about five hundred yards. Said there?s a signal pole beside the track, she?ll leave the bundle of clothes in the weeds near its base. Said she?d stuff them in a greasy gunnysack the way you said, smear it with mud and lay some dead weeds over it.?
Lee had to smile at Becky crouched in the weeds, messing around in the mud like a kid herself.
?She went to the city library, found a map of the railway lines, drew a rough copy. She took half a day off from work to get everything together, buy the used clothes, draw out the money. That?s all the money we have, Lee. She has nothing to pay Quaker Lowe, she .†.†.? Morgan shook his head.?She said that from Atlanta the freight will go either to Birmingham or Chattanooga depending on the timing, she couldn?t find a schedule for that. Then on to Memphis, Little Rock, across Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle to Albuquerque.?