“That’s right. The fat guy’s on tape. I forgot.”
“So is the Doc,” Arnold said. “That gives Billy Boy some ammunition the fat guy and the tattooed guy and the cops wouldn’t know about. We get the tape, make a copy, then turn it over to the cops through your lawyer.”
“We get caught breaking into Dave’s place, we might be giving each other tattoos in prison.”
“When you’re right you’re right. You were right that night I talked you into hitting the liquor store. I should have listened. But this is different. It’s family. You don’t want to do it, get me in contact with Billy so I can find out where to go, and I’ll do it. Better yet, I’ll take Billy with me.”
“Of course,” I said. “What a great idea. Bill can certainly use breaking and entering and theft to go along with the charges pending. He might as well go the whole hog, don’t you think?”
“What’s it gonna be, Hank?”
I considered for a moment.
“I’ll call Bill and get him up,” I said. “You meet us at the Sleepy Time Tourist Court in half an hour.”
14
It was extremely late and extremely cold by the time I met Arnold at Sleepy Time Tourist Courts and we went up and knocked on Bill’s door. I had brought a sweater and a heavy coat for Bill, and I handed them to him and moved into the room and Arnold followed.
Bill and Arnold looked at each other for a moment. Arnold said, “You know, I don’t know I know you at all. Last time I seen you you were crapping in diapers… Well, maybe I’ve seen you since the diaper days.”
“Mom’s funeral,” Billy said. “Or were you there?”
“I was there. They kept me in the back, so I wouldn’t spoil things. And I even had on clean underwear.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not thought of all that highly either,” Bill said.
“Any of that story you told Hank true?” Arnold asked.
Billy put a hurt look on his face. “Yeah, all of it, Uncle Arnold.”
“I’m not trying to hurt your feelings,” Arnold said. “But I get me and Hank into what I’m about to get us into, there better not be any bullshit. Hank explained what we want to do?”
“Yeah,” Bill said. “The video tapes are there. I hadn’t thought of that angle. It’s a good idea.”
“Unless we get caught,” Arnold said.
“Let’s don’t think on that too long,” I said, “or I’ll talk myself out of this.”
We went down and got in my truck and Bill gave me directions to Dave’s apartment.
· · ·
Dave’s apartment was in an expensive complex›
“There’s a watchman here,” Bill said. “He comes around now and then. We got to watch for him.”
“Now you tell us,” I said.
“Would it matter?” Arnold said.
“Well, it might,” I said. “Which room is it, Bill?”
Bill leaned forward. “You know, we didn’t come over here that much. Mostly we went to someone else’s place. I just sort of followed the others in when we did.”
“You saying you don’t know which room it is?” I said.
“No,” Bill said. “I’m saying I got to think a minute. We usually came up on the other side and walked around. It throws me a little from here, but…” He pointed. “See the lighted room? It’s the room to the left of it.”
“Great,” I said. “It has to be upstairs. We get caught up there, we haven’t got anywhere to go.”
“Don’t think so goddamn negative,” Arnold said.
“Here’s some gloves I brought for us.” I said. “Burglars need gloves.”
“I got my own,” Arnold said, and produced a pair from his coat pocket.
I gave Bill a pair and slipped my pair on.
“Hey,” Bill said, “these are Mickey Mouse gloves. These are kid’s gloves. They got the mouse right here on them.”
“Actually, they’re a pair Bev had,” I said. “So what?”
“How come you gave me the kid gloves, man? That tells me something, is what it does.”
“Beverly wears them,” I said. “She likes them.”
“You wear ’em,” Bill said.
“They don’t fit me. You got little hands.”
“Gimme that pair you had for Arnold.”
“They’re too big.”
“Give ’em here.”
I gave them to him and he slipped them on. The fingers flapped loosely on his hands, “Shit,” Bill said. “I can’t do nothing in these. Give me back the goddamn mouse gloves.”
He put them on. Perfect fit.
“This is good,” Bill said. “I get caught, I got on a pair of mouse gloves. Maybe you shoulda brought me one of the hats with the ears on it.”
“You’re up for multiple murder, and you’re worried about Mickey Mouse gloves?” Arnold said.
I pulledlef“You’ out and went around the block. I cruised into a church parking lot over by where it connected with a fenced yard. There was a huge oak in the yard and its limbs stuck out over the fence. I parked under the limbs and they draped shadows like black confetti over the truck. It was kind of pleasant. Maybe I was sleeping. I hoped so. I wanted to wake up in my own bed and see if Bev wanted to play poke the pumpkin again.
When I got out of the truck and the cold hit me, I knew I wasn’t dreaming.
We walked over to the sidewalk and turned right.
“Shouldn’t we be sneaking around or something?” Bill asked.
“That’s just what we don’t want to do,” Arnold said. “Someone comes along now, we’re just out walking and talking. We creep around through someone’s yard and get caught, you got to have a lot better lie handy.”
Dogs barked at us as we went by the front yard of the house with the fence, but the barks weren’t serious, just professional.
We turned right and went up to the edge of the apartment complex and stood behind a row of shrubs and looked around and tried to spot the night watchman. We didn’t see him.
“What we do,” Arnold said, “is we go up quick and get it over with.”
“Okay, Houdini,” I said. “How we getting in?”
“Don’t worry,” Arnold said, unbuttoning his coat and reaching inside and pulling out a small crowbar. “I got a key.”
We darted up the stairs and eased along the landing till we came to the apartment. Arnold brought the crowbar out, jammed it quickly and almost silently into a spot above the lock. He tensed his broad back and jerked. There was sharp, but not too loud crack of wood and a spring of lock, then the door was open and we were inside.
Arnold pushed the door gently into place, so that unless someone was really looking, the break wouldn’t be noticed.
“Flashlight,” Arnold said softly.
“Who you talking to?” Bill asked.
“Whichever of you dumb assholes has the light,” Arnold said.
“No one told me to bring a light,” Billy said.
“Shit,” Arnold said, then whispered to me. “You haven’t got a light neither?”
“I thought you had the light,” I said.
“It’s all right,” Bill said. “I got a lighter and some matches.”
“I don’t want a smoke,” Arnold said. “I want a flashlight.”
“Couldn’t we just turn on the light?” I asked.
“Not in this room,” Arnold said. “Not near the front windows. We don’t want to draw any attention to this apartment. Christ, some fucking burglars you are.”
“Actually, I only do this part time,” pa1em" I said.
Bill popped his lighter. The orange flame danced over the furniture and brushed up and down the walls. Bill said: “Place looks different in this kind of light. I don’t remember it so good. The video stuff’s in the bedroom… over there.”
We followed Bill and the light. Bill opened the bedroom door and stuck the lighter inside. He stopped and pulled the light out and closed the door carefully. “Oh fuck,” he said.
“What’s ‘oh fuck?’ ” I said. “Don’t give me ‘oh fuck’ and quit.”
Arnold took the lighter away from Bill and popped up the flame and pushed the bedroom door open silently and held the light in there. I looked past his shoulder. I could see a man lying in bed with his arm over a woman’s naked belly. Her breasts were bare and they rose above his arm like mountains beyond a plateau. The covers were draped loosely over their legs. The man stirred slightly.