I didn’t think it would matter if I did or not. I didn’t even try to stop him.
“Here we go,” he said, pouring a can of Coke into a glass filled with ice. The glass looked like crystal. He handed it to me and put the can on the desk in front of me. Then he sat down behind the desk.
“Let me tell you why I brought you in here. My daughter Amelia, she told me something very interesting about you this morning.”
Oh shit, I thought. Here we go. I didn’t figure on an early death today.
“She says that you’re a very good artist, and that you shouldn’t be spending all your time digging in our backyard. Those were her exact words.”
I started breathing again.
“You surprise me every day, Michael. That’s all there is to it. I mean, you’ve already proven your loyalty to me. After all that hard work… after not giving up your friends like that. By the way, I apologized yesterday, right? Did I already apologize?”
I nodded.
“I was so upset about what happened. What you boys did. You and those Milford High School punks.”
He cut himself off with a visible effort. Then he put his hands down on the desk.
“But that’s no excuse for abusing you like that. I’m just trying to explain where my head was. Okay? You understand? And you forgive me, right?”
I nodded again.
“Thank you, Michael. I appreciate that. Seriously. Why aren’t you drinking your Coke?”
I took a sip, feeling the bubbles go up my nose.
“So here’s what we’re going to do now. First of all, I meant what I said. Your days as pool digger are over. Okay? No more digging. Instead, well, I thought maybe if you’re such a great artist and all…”
He paused for a moment, leaning back in his chair. The huge fish just above his head.
“Amelia had this little friend… Zeke. Ezekiel. Whatever the hell his name was. You probably saw him around here, right? Anyway, I guess he’s history now. Can’t say it breaks my heart. I mean, his family has a lot of money and all, but he’s just a little too weird for me. Anyway, now that he’s gone… well, I know Amelia always likes to have somebody else around to do her art stuff with. So I was thinking… do you see where I’m going with this?”
No, I thought. I absolutely do not see where you’re going with this. Because there’s absolutely no way that you’d seriously be offering me this chance.
“Amelia has had a really tough time of it. I mean, since it’s just been the three of us here. Hell, the two of us now, with Adam gone. She spends way too much time alone. I just don’t know how to reach out to her sometimes, you know?”
No way. There’s no way you’re going to ask me this.
“So what I’m saying is, if you could come here and instead of digging… If you could spend time with her, while she’s drawing, or whatever you guys want to do. It would make me feel a lot better, to know she had somebody to be with. To talk to. I bet you’re a great listener, am I right?”
Yes. Yes I am.
“Now, if you’re worried about the probation officer…”
No. I’m not worried about the probation officer.
“I’ll just tell him you’re doing some other jobs for me. Down at the health club. I’ll make sure that’s covered, is what I’m saying. I’ll make sure you’re covered here. Totally covered.”
The catch is coming. There has to be a catch here.
“I’m having a little barbecue tonight. You think you could stay for it? There’s somebody I’d like you to meet. His name is Mr. Slade. He’s my partner, actually, at the health club. Along with some other stuff. We’ve got a lot going on these days. I think he’d really enjoy meeting you. Whaddya say?”
That’s the catch? I have to meet your partner?
“And maybe… I don’t know. Maybe if we have a problem that you could help us solve sometime? You think maybe that would be a possibility? You helping us out, I mean?”
Okay. Here it is.
“I’m just saying. You have a lot of skills. In fact, I bet Mr. Slade would be very interested to see them. You think you could show him? Maybe even tonight, after the barbecue?”
That’s when I heard the footsteps. I looked up and there she was, standing in the doorway. She had jeans and a simple white shirt on, untucked. Beads around her neck. Her hair tied up in a ponytail.
“Tell you what, you just think about it,” Mr. Marsh said to me. “You think about it, and we’ll talk later.”
“What’s he supposed to be thinking about?” Amelia said.
“Just an adjustment to our work agreement,” Mr. Marsh said. “I think everybody will be a lot happier. You included.”
She didn’t look convinced. I’d find out soon just how well she knew him. For as much as she loved him, the only parent she had left, she knew he was full of shit at least half the time.
“You guys run along,” Mr. Marsh said. “Go do some art stuff or something.”
“He doesn’t have to dig today?”
He smiled at his daughter. Then he gave me a little wink.
“No. Not today.”
I don’t know if I realized it yet, but he had me. Before I could even get out of the chair. I had no idea what he’d ask me to do. Or who he’d ask me to do it for. All of that would come later.
But for now… yes. He’d played the Amelia card, and he’d played it perfectly.
He had me.
Eighteen
Los Angeles and Monterey
Early 2000
I was still in L.A. when I turned eighteen that month. February of 2000. Lucy had asked me for my birthday. Just out of curiosity, I thought. I had no idea they were planning anything. But on that day, Julian and the gang put a blindfold on me and took me out to the street. They took the blindfold off and there it was. A Harley-Davidson Sportster with a big red bow on the seat. The most beautiful motorcycle I had ever seen, even better than that old Yahama my uncle had given me.
I had already moved into the little apartment that was attached to the garage. It didn’t take long to bring in all of my stuff, which at that point could still fit into the two luggage bags from my old bike. Julian apologized to me about how small the space was, but damn… after setting out on my own, figuring I’d be living in motel rooms or God knows where else… this was as close to a real home as anything I could have hoped for.
I still had a lot of questions about these four people. The White Crew. First of all, you can only spend so much time stealing money from rich people. What else did they do all day?
As it turned out, Julian had grown up in a family of wine snobs, so he took that background and he turned it into a business. He had a storefront in Marina del Rey, not far from the docks. There was a climate-controlled wine cellar beneath the store with well over a million dollars’ worth of bottles. The very finest, most expensive wine in the world. The kind of stuff that only a very rich person would even think of buying. That’s how he made many of his first contacts in this community of obscene wealth, mostly from the people who’d dock their yachts in the harbor. At the same time, it gave him a way to launder some of the money he made from the robberies.
There was a kind of symmetry to my life now, if you think about it. A man who sold cheap liquor took me in when I needed him most. Now, it was a man who sold overpriced wine.
Ramona spent most of her time at the store, too, along with members of her extended family, especially her three sisters. Like her, they were ridiculously attractive Hispanic women who could charm you right out of your undershorts. The few times I was around the store, I’d hear them talking Spanish to each other at a million miles an hour, and it would often disintegrate into shouting matches. By the end of the day, they’d make up. It was a tight family. They loved each other like crazy and would kill for each other, I could tell. I was envious of that.