Rogers frowned and said, “Tutt.”
But when Rogers found a pay phone and dialed the number, it was Murphy on the other end of the line.
“Need to talk to you, Alan.”
“What about?”
“I’m takin’ Tyrell down tonight.”
“That right.”
“Yes. Wanted to give you the chance to walk away.”
Rogers licked his lips. “What I gotta do?”
“I’m alone,” said Murphy. “I’ll be sittin’ in my Pontiac at Fifteenth and U.”
Rogers said, “I’ll be right down.”
“That’s what I been tryin’ to impress on you,” said Kevin Murphy after Rogers had told him about Bennet and Linney. “That life you’re in, it only ends one way.”
“I know it,” said Rogers, staring through the windshield at the lights of U.
“Gonna show you the way out, Alan.”
“They’ll kill me if they find out I’m plottin’ against them,” said Rogers. “And I don’t mind tellin’ you, Murphy, I’m afraid to die.”
“It’s what makes you human, Alan. Not bein’ afraid, it means you got nothin’ inside, or nothin’ left. I was in that place my own self last night.”
“What happened?”
“Spun the chamber and got lucky. Lost the nerve to do it again. Woke up and saw that I still had time to make up for the wrong I’ve done.” Murphy looked across the buckets. “Gonna give you that opportunity, too.”
“How?”
“You know those woods around Tyrell’s bungalow?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s behind them?”
Rogers shrugged. “’Nother residential street. I walked through ’em once; ain’t nothin’ but a hundred yards—”
“Okay. Want you to go back to Tyrell’s, park your car on that street, face it into the woods toward the back of Tyrell’s. Then I want you to go in the house and wait. Tell Tyrell we’re comin’ out with the money. Tell him you saw it, hear? Maybe it’ll stop ’em from hurtin’ Golden more than they already have. You with me?”
“What if they ask where my car’s at?”
“Tell ’em it broke down on Central Avenue and you walked the rest of the way. Tell ’em anything, man, you figure that out.”
“What about you?”
“Me and Tutt’ll be there straightaway. When we come in, I’m gonna ask you to go bring Eddie Golden out. But I don’t want you to bring him out. I want you to get him out that bedroom window back there and take him through the woods to your car. Now, I don’t know how bad they’ve fucked him up. You might have to carry his ass—”
“He ain’t that heavy.”
“Good.”
“What’ll you and Tutt be doin’ in the meantime?”
“I’ll be positioned so I can see through to the kitchen window back there. I’ll be waitin’ for you to flash me your headlights, let me know you got out.”
“Then what?”
“Gonna take Tyrell and the rest of them in.”
“Arrest Tyrell?”
“Right.”
“But you were with him.” Rogers looked into Murphy’s eyes. “What, you fixin’ to turn your own self in, too?”
“Yeah.”
“What about Tutt? Can’t believe he’s down with that.”
“He doesn’t know. Thinks we’re goin’ out there for somethin’ else.”
“How you gonna deal with that?”
“Haven’t figured it out yet. You with me, Alan?”
Rogers nodded. “Yes.”
“You got good in you, boy.”
“What people been tellin’ me.”
“Whatever happens,” said Murphy, “you get Eddie out of there. You hear things start to come apart, you keep goin’. Don’t even look back, hear?”
“I understand.”
“Get Eddie to an emergency room; just drop him off. Then you call this number” — Murphy handed Rogers a slip of paper—” and tell the woman who answers where you dropped him. She’s waitin’ for the call. That clear?”
Rogers nodded, his hands fidgeting in his lap. Murphy noticed the cut on Rogers’s neck.
“Who cut you, Alan?”
“Ain’t nothin’. Got it a little while ago at Real Right.”
“Yeah? How’d that meeting turn out?”
“Clay and the rest of them, they schooled us, man.”
“Had no doubt that they would.”
“Clay knows about you and Tutt. Said something about Tyrell’s sold-out cops back there.”
“Figured he’d get onto it sooner or later.” Murphy reached across Rogers and opened his door. “Time to go.”
“Where you headed now?”
“Got one more stop to make. Then I’m headin’ uptown to meet Tutt.”
“Murphy?”
“Go on, boy. You’ll do fine.”
Alan Rogers got out of the Trans Am and jogged across U street to his car. Murphy watched him drive away.
Karras and Clay stood behind the cashier’s counter, drinking a couple of beers. Tate and Adamson had each downed a bottle and gone home.
“Marcus?”
“What?”
“Look who’s comin’ our way.”
Clay watched Kevin Murphy walk toward the front door.
“Don’t think I want to see him right now,” said Clay.
“You heard what Donna said about him.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe we ought to let him in, see what he has to say.”
“All right, Dimitri. Go ahead.”
Karras walked to the door, turned the key in the lock. He stepped aside and let Murphy pass. Murphy nodded at Karras and went straight to the counter, where Clay stood up straight.
“Marcus.”
“Murphy.” Clay looked him over. “What you doin’ here?”
“Came by to give you somethin’.” Murphy glanced over at Karras.
“You can talk free,” said Clay. “He knows all about you, man. Matter of fact, I was just talkin’ about you to your boss Tyrell. Tellin’ him how I didn’t want to see his pocket-cops around here anymore. I meant it, too.”
Murphy did not respond.
“Donna called us a little while ago,” said Karras. “Said you took the money. You told her you were going to trade it for Eddie’s life.”
“That’s what I said.”
“She also said you gave her five grand out of the twenty-five.”
“That’s right.”
“Your boss ain’t gonna like that you gave the five away,” said Clay.
“Wasn’t just the five. I went and gave the rest of it away, too.”
“So now you got nothin’,” said Clay. “How you gonna make a trade with air?”
“Figure it out when I get there, I guess.”
“Just you?”
“Convinced Alan Rogers to come over to my side. And Tutt.”
“What, you gonna tell me that Tutt’s found religion, too?”
“No. But he’s gonna be there with me just the same.”
“They’ve got guns.”
“We’ve got guns, too.”
“Ain’t you done enough damage, Murphy?”
“I have. Now I’m lookin’ to make some kind of peace with what I’ve done.”
“What I ought to do,” said Clay, “is call the real police soon as you leave, get them out to that house right quick. Let you ease your conscience some other way than how you’re fixin’ to.”
“You won’t do that, though.”
“No?”
“You told me earlier that you’d give me the rest of the day to sort things out.”
“That was before I knew who you were.”
“You gave me your word, Marcus. It means somethin’ to you.”
Murphy reached behind him, pulled the envelope from his back pocket. He handed it to Clay, who read the writing on the front.