1959 October 07 Wednesday 12:33
“Tonight,” Dioguardi said.
“Ah cain’t do it, boss,” Rufus replied, holding the mouthpiece of the phone a few inches from his lips, projecting his voice. “No, sir, Ah jest cain’t.”
“Why not?”
“I got business, boss,” Rufus said, putting a sly veneer over his servile voice. “You knows what I’m talking about.”
“You can always get pussy, boy. One’s the same as the other. Take it from me-there’s no such thing as a golden snapper.”
“Yessir, I know you saying the truth. But I done promised-”
“You know the car wash out on Polk?”
“Yeah, boss,” Rufus said, resigned.
“I’m getting my car washed at seven o’clock. You just stand over to the side, you know, where the cars come out. They got nothing but- Uh, nobody’ll even notice you; they’ll think you work there. Everything I have to tell you, it’ll take five minutes, then you can go get your pussy… with money in your pocket.”
“All right, boss,” Rufus said, allowing his voice to brighten.
1959 October 07 Wednesday 13:04
“Do you think I’m… you know what I mean,” Tussy said. She was seated before her mirror, wrapped in a towel, brushing her hair vigorously.
“No, I don’t,” Dett said, standing behind her.
“Walker! Yes, you do. I’m asking, do you think I’m a nymphomaniac or something, asking you over for lunch just so we could… you know?”
“How could you be… what you said, Tussy? You never did anything like that before.”
“Like… Oh! How could you know that?” she said, smiling into the mirror. “For all you know, I invite men over to take me to bed all the time.”
“No, you don’t.”
“But how could you know?”
“I’ll tell you,” Dett said to her reflection. “I promise you, Tussy. Not today, but soon, I’ll tell you everything.”
1959 October 07 Wednesday 13:41
“I talked to Daddy,” Rosa Mae said.
“Then you know I did, too,” Rufus replied. “Like I promised.”
“He scared me, Rufus.”
“That’s his job. That’s what fathers do with their daughters.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Why, girl?”
“Because… it’s not a date you want, like you said. I’m standing in front of a door, and I don’t know what’s behind it. But I can’t find out unless I open it.”
“If you want, I can show you.”
“What if it still scares me, after you show me? What if I don’t want… If I can’t…?”
“Then you walk away, Rosa Mae. If I can’t have you with me, I’ll understand that.”
“Would you, Rufus? Would you really?”
“Honeygirl, you have to listen to every word. I could understand it, sure. A woman like you, you could have… other things than what I got to offer. I’m not saying it wouldn’t hurt my heart. But, yeah, I’d understand.”
“If something hurts your heart enough, it might make you change your mind.”
“No, little Rose,” Rufus said. “If you counting on that, you got the wrong man. I’ve got a road to walk. I wish you would be walking it with me, right at my side. But even if you say you won’t, I still got to walk it to the end.”
1959 October 07 Wednesday 14:04
“Isn’t it cute?” Tussy said, pointing at the little car in her driveway. “It’s a Henry J; they don’t make them anymore. I got it from a customer for twenty-five dollars, and Al deKay-he’s a wonderful mechanic-fixed it all up for me. Someday, when I save enough money, I’m going to get it painted. Pink. I always wanted a pink car.”
“Is it reliable?” Dett said, slowly walking around the car, his mind clicking off potential defects.
“Oh, it’s very good. It never overheats in the summer, and it always starts in the winter, even when it’s real cold. Mr. Bruton-he owns the Chevy dealership-he’s always after me to get a new car. But those payments… I would be so scared to miss one. Besides, I like my car. At least it’s not like every other one you see.”
“I know you have to go,” Dett said, glancing at his watch. “And I know you won’t get back until late. But could I-?”
“It doesn’t matter how late it is,” she said, standing close to him. “Just be sure to call before you come. I’ll leave the back door open, okay?”
“Yes.”
“I wish I didn’t have to work tonight.”
“That’s okay,” Dett said. “I have to work, too.”
1959 October 07 Wednesday 15:56
“Good afternoon,” Dett said to the stylishly dressed woman seated at a small desk behind a wooden railing. “I have an appointment.”
She looked up from her typewriter, adjusted her glasses, smiled professionally, said, “Mr. Dett?”
“Yes.”
“You’re certainly on time,” the woman said, approvingly. “Please have a seat.” She stood up, tucked a ballpoint pen into her lightly frosted hairdo, and walked into a back office.
Dett remained standing. The woman returned, said, “Come this way, please.”
Dett walked past the railing and followed the woman’s pointing finger into a spacious corner office. The man behind the desk was wearing a navy-blue suit with a faint chalk stripe. A heavy gold wedding band on his left hand caught the sunlight slanting through the high windows.
“Mr. Dett,” the man said, getting to his feet and extending his hand. He was slightly above medium height, with a bearish frame. Thick, tightly curled brown hair topped a clean-featured face. His eyes were the color of rich Delta soil.
“Thanks for seeing me on such short notice,” Dett said, shaking hands.
Both men sat down. Gendell spread his hands, his gesture an invitation to speak.
“This is about a mortgage,” Dett said.
“Oh?”
“You seem surprised.”
“You’re not from around here,” the lawyer said. “So I assumed what you told my secretary was a pretext of some sort. And, now that I’ve had a look at you, I still think so.”
“It’s not about my mortgage,” Dett said. “Someone else’s.”
The lawyer’s expression didn’t change.
“Let’s say I wanted to pay off someone’s mortgage,” Dett went on. “How would I go about it?”
“You mean if you wanted to acquire the property for yourself?” the lawyer asked, his hands working expertly with a cigar cutter.
“No, nothing like that. Just pay off someone’s mortgage. So they’d own their house, free and clear.”
“Give them the money, let them walk down to the bank,” the lawyer said, the corners of his eyes tightening.
“I can’t do it like that.”
“Because…?”
“I don’t want them to know… I mean I want it to be a surprise.”
“You want to be someone’s mystery benefactor?” Gendell said, using a long match to distribute flame evenly around the tip of his cigar.
“There’s nothing shady about what I want to do,” Dett said, calmly. “There’s someone I care about. A woman. If I just offered to pay off her mortgage, she’d never accept. So I want it to be a surprise. For after I’m not around.”
“Oh, I get it. You want to leave her the money in your will, so when you-”
“No,” Dett said, slowly. “After I’ve gone from here. From Locke City.”
“And that would be…?”
“In a few days.”
“What, exactly, would you want me to do?”
“I want to leave the money with you. Enough to pay off the mortgage. A month from now, I want you to go to the bank, get the mortgage canceled, and give the papers, the free-and-clear papers, to her.”
“Well, I’d need a power of attorney, together with-”
“Just the money,” Dett said. He reached into his overcoat and took out several stacks of neatly banded bills. “There’s a thousand in each one,” he said. “Six thousand total. The mortgage is thirty-seven dollars and forty-nine cents a month. It’s at least twenty years paid. That’ll be more than enough to cover it. And your fee, too.”