“I don’t know what you’re up to, son, and I’m sorry you felt you couldn’t trust me to tell me about it.”
“There just wasn’t a lot of time, Dad.”
“And, you thought I’d try and talk you out of it.”
“There is that.”
“Damn right, ‘there is that.’ I taught you better, son.”
“I said I was sorry.” I wanted to tell him that he had not told me about his illness, but that wouldn’t have been fair, not with what he now faced. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine. Some crazy old white man came by here today looking for you.”
Jake Donaldson. I tried to restrain my anxiety. “What did he say? What did he want?”
“Said he was comin’ back tonight and you had better be home or, and I quote, ‘there’ll be hell to pay.’”
“When? What time did he say he was coming back?”
“Long about now, I suspect. Yep, right about now.” Dad must have checked his watch.
I tried to think. What could I do? I couldn’t do anything from where I stood. I wanted to scream. “Listen, Dad, have you seen any men, any other men hanging around out front?”
“No, can’t say that I have.” His tone changed to firm, aggressive. “Why? What’s going on? Does this have to do with you going back?”
“Dad, that man that came over today, he’s a little off the deep end, if you know what I mean.”
“Yes, of course I do. I saw that in him. I worked as a mail carrier for forty years, don’t forget, and I learned a thing or two about people. Where do you think ‘going postal’ came from? Huh?”
“This guy’s dangerous. He has priors for violence. Where’s Marie? Is Marie okay?”
“I’ll show that rude son of a buck violence if that’s what he wants to bring. I have the kids’ ball bat right here.”
The door chime rang in the background. “Bet that’s the son of a buck now.”
“Dad?”
“Don’t you worry, son. I’ll be nice right up until the moment when he decides he wants to hurt my kids, then, God help him.”
“Dad, don’t you open that door.” In the background, the sound indicated he was moving, walking across the tile pavers toward the door.
“Don’t be silly. We lived in one of the worst parts of LA for years. This isn’t a big deal, son, least not one I can’t handle.”
“Dad, he’s killed two people already!” The noise of him moving stopped.
“What in the hell’s he coming here for?”
Now I’d gone and done it. When Dad got mad he didn’t always think logically. “Dad, wait, don’t open the door, please.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The door creaked open. Dad said, “Get off my property you son of a-”
Boom. Boom.
Gunshots.
“Dad?”
“DAD?”
Yelling in the background. More guns went off, this time more distant.
Scuffling.
Moaning.
“Dad? Talk to me. Dad?”
Someone else picked up the phone. “Hello? Who is this?”
“Is my father okay?”
“Hold on.” The man spoke with a slight Spanish accent, Costa Rican. In the background, the man’s voice more distant. “Sir, are you shot? Have you been shot?”
I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to run, to do something, but stood there helpless.
The man came back on the phone, “Yes, he appears to be fine. We will have him checked out with the medics. To whom am I speaking?”
“Oh, thank God. I am the man’s son. Are you the men working for Ansel Tomkins?”
“That is correct, sir.”
“What just happened there?”
“I must apologize for our slow response. We had no reason to believe the man who came to visit would pull a gun. But he did, he pulled a large pistol. My partner, José Rivera, shot him from across the street. This wounded man ran through the house, out the back and over the fence. I don’t know how he accomplished this feat, as he appeared to be elderly, and then you add the gunshot wound. This was quite remarkable. He left a blood trail.”
This man, cool and calm, handled himself and spoke like no professional I had ever worked with, not one who had just been in a shooting. The money I gave Ansel bought the best. I shouldn’t have ever questioned Ansel’s integrity.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. Are you sure my father is okay? Can you put him on?”
“Yes, one moment, please.”
“Hello?”
“Dad, are you okay?”
“Yes, of course, what a silly question. That son of a buck pulled a gun. Didn’t say a word, just pulled it out. He was gonna shoot me in the face. I saw it in his eyes. I never met the man before today, and he was just going to shoot me for answering my own damn door.”
Anger rose in Dad’s tone as he regained his composure.
“I clubbed him over the head with the ball bat, but he fell forward into me. He should have fallen away from me. I think someone from the street shot him in the back.” Dad’s voice grew distant as he asked the man standing by him, protecting him, protecting the children. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Dad, where’s Marie. Is Marie okay?”
Back into the phone, he said, “How should I know? She’s on her way to see you. To help you. I don’t feel so well.” He let out a groan. In all the time I had lived with him, he’d never showed pain or discomfort. He always hid his ailing, looked at it as a personal trial. This was bad.
“What? Wait, are you sure about Marie?” Sirens came over the phone and made hearing difficult.
“I have to go, son, it’s getting busy here. Call me back later.”
“Where did Marie say she was going to meet me?”
Dad clicked off. I whispered to no one, “Take care of yourself, Dad.”
Why had Marie felt a need to come help? How did she think she’d help out? And the bigger question, how did she think she would contact me? I tried to control my breathing and laid down. The sudden adrenaline overload made my body quake.
I closed my eyes. Marie wasn’t a fugitive. I didn’t think she was, anyway. She was wanted for questioning, but, as far as I knew, there wasn’t a warrant for her. She could get on any regular airliner and enter the US with her passport. She would be okay. Sure, she would. But how would she find me? I hadn’t told her where I was staying.
Mack. She’d call Mack. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, grabbed the phone, and dialed.
Mack picked up right away. “Thought you’d be asleep.”
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Did Marie call you?”
Silence.
“You’re picking her up at the airport, aren’t you?”
“Now, Bruno, you know Marie better than I do. I didn’t want to be on her bad side. She told me not to tell you. She wanted it to be a surprise.”
“What kind of an idiot are you? Can’t you see how this complicates matters?”
“Don’t call me an idiot. And of course I do. She didn’t ask me, she told me she was coming. She told me. What was I going to do, huh?”
“All right, all right, put her up in a nice hotel. I’ll deal with her when I have time.”
“When you have time? All you’re doing now, good buddy, is catching some Zs, and waiting for tomorrow night. Right, Bruno? That’s right, isn’t it, Bruno? You’re not going out in public, that’s crazy. You need to stay put.”
“Yeah, well, that sleeping thing just changed. I need to get this caper done and over so we can get home. Dad’s alone with the kids and shit’s happening down there.”
“What moves do you have to make? There aren’t any. We have to wait for that phone call tomorrow night to set up a meet with this asshole. Bruno, whatta you got going? You’re not going to do something crazy, like rob a bank? Bruno?”