We reached the other side of the lake, tied up and got off the boat. The cold wind howled down through the pines and hardwoods and cut through us like razors.
Price wasn’t there.
Me and Arnold went around and sat on the front porch and hunkered against the cold while Virgil smoked a cigar out in the yard, thinking his own thoughts.
“I’m glad Beverly didn’t come,” Arnold said.
“I gave her a pretty good line of bullshit about how it’s a man’s job but I’m still a feminist.”
“Give self-analysis a rest,” Arnold said. “Everything doesn’t balance out. Hey, I got something for you.”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a yellow handled pocket knife and gave it to me. It had my name stenciled into the wood.
“That’s just like the one you gave me all those years ago,” I said.
“Because it is the same one.”
I grabbed hold of the exposed part of the blade with thumb and forefinger and flicked the handle away from me so that the knife came open. I held it by the blade and looked at the edge of the knife. It was sharp and rust free.
“Can’t be,” I said.
“Because you buried it in the backyard of?e backya Dad’s old place?”
“Yeah… How’d you know?”
“Dad saw you bury it. He dug it up later and had your mother put it aside for me. She mailed it to me with a little note. I guess it was a year after I got off the farm she sent it to me.”
“You think Dad knew?”
“About you and the liquor store? No. But he knew you and me had trouble, and he thought we’d get over it and you’d want the knife back.”
“And you’ve been carrying it around all these years, knowing you were going to give it back?”
“Hell no, I was using it. But since you’re here.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Price drove up. We walked down to join Virgil. Price got out and stretched. He wasn’t wearing a suit. He had on a blue jean jacket, sweatshirt, blue jeans and high top, white tennis shoes. His face was a little haggard, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He still looked better than the rest of us. He studied Arnold. “You must be the half-brother?”
“Yeah,” Arnold said.
Price said, “I heard from Doc. I thought we’d end up getting down to business couple days from now, but Doc called Fat Boy this morning, said he had a guy was a good friend of his that wanted some kiddie porn. Told Fat Boy the friend was from out of town and in for the day and it was sort of now or never. Said the friend was nervous. Doc told Fat Boy he’d assured the friend there were cops in on the deal. Said the guy was adamant about having that security present. That crooked cops cheered him up. Doc made a point of saying how much money the friend had and that he was willing to spend it. This afternoon, five o’clock, we go to the sawmill.”
“Fat Boy bit awful goddamn easy,” Arnold said.
“Could be,” Price said. “Maybe he just wants to play the cards and see how they come out. He’s like that. But there’s another thing. He’s overconfident. He’s gotten away with some bold shit. You pull stuff like that off time after time, you begin to think God, or the Devil, is on your side. You get careless. You start to feel charmed.”
“You should know,” I said.
“Touche,” Price said. “I say we play. We come ready, we got as good a shot as we’ll get. I got two or three plans for when it’s over, how to make things look good, and they’re so brilliant I’m proud of myself.”
“What if you get your brains scrambled?” Arnold said. “What’s the story we tell then?”
“That’s your problem,” Price said, “and an even bigger reason you need to watch my back. You may have me in the bag, but in another way, I’m your ticket out of the station. I tell a lie, it’s got more weight than if you tell a lie. And I know who to lie to and in what way.”
“Admirable talent,” I said.
33
Price rode with us in the boat over?to the drug dealer’s house so we could tell Tim and Bev the score. We decided we didn’t have to keep where we were a secret from him anymore. He liked the house, but thought it could use a tennis court. He met Tim, Bev and the kids. It wasn’t a friendly meet, just business. Poot growled at him and wouldn’t come close. The kids were polite and went off to play with Poot in the far end of the house. Virgil fixed Price a sandwich and poured him a glass of milk. We told Tim and Bev the score.
About two o’clock Price made a brief phone call to Doc. When he finished talking, he reached into his blue jean jacket pocket and produced a small bundle of wires, a microphone, and a head set. He placed the stuff on the kitchen table. “Only thing I don’t like about my plan,” he said, “is we’re gonna need that goddamn dog of yours, Virgil.”
“That’s my dog,” Tim said.
“Not to worry,” Virgil said. “Poot can work with anybody. He doesn’t take lack of character into account. That’s why he hangs out with me and Tim.”
“Well, whistle him up,” Price said.
Tim called Poot and the kids came with him. I sent the kids off to play without the dog, and Tim put Poot on the kitchen table. Virgil and Tim wired the dog, burying the wire deep in his voluminous fur.
When Poot was wired, Virgil took Poot in a back room. Tim laid the headset on the kitchen counter so we could all hear it. Virgil was saying: “…and now Poot’s licking my balls, and now I’m licking Poot’s balls…”
It wasn’t a two way, so I yelled down the hall, “Okay, Virgil.”
Virgil came back with Poot bouncing at his heels.
“Tell the truth,” Tim said to Virgil, “Poot wasn’t really licking your balls, was he?”
“All right,” Price said. “Remember, we go by the plan I’m gonna lay out. Strictly. Someone fucks up, they’re dead. This isn’t capture the flag.”
“After we kill them,” Virgil said. “Can we take their money?”
“Make jokes later,” Price said. “It’ll be more amusing then. You sure this dog will stick by you?”
“You’ve seen him operate,” Virgil said.
“Okay then,” Price said, “it’s time.”
Bev and I walked back to our bedroom for a moment and said the best we could say to each other. We had already said what we had to say, and now it was better not to say too much. I kissed her goodbye. It was a good kiss. She said, “Come back,” as if I were going off to the store for milk.
“I plan to,” I said.
I went down the hall and told the kids I was going out for awhile. I hoped that was true. I hugged and kissed them. I thought about what Fat Boy and Snake had done to children like them, what they had tried to do to my family, what they had done to Bill, and I hugged them again.
“Daddy,” Sammy said, “is something wrong?”
“Yes,” I said. “But it won’t be long. You don’t have to worry about it. Help Mommy.”
I sent them back to their play, and I went back down the hall. They were fighting over something before I’d gone ten feet.
I passed Tim in the living room. He was watching a golf game on TV. I gave him a nod. He gave me a little two finger salute and turned back to watch a blond guy in a striped shirt slice one into the trees.
I looked around the house as if it were my house and I cared about it. I took my. 38 automatic out from under my shirt and removed the clip and put the clip in a kitchen drawer and the gun in a cabinet next to a box of Quaker Oat Meal. I wouldn’t need it. Price was supplying.
I went outside and joined the others and walked down to the boat. We got to the other side far too quickly. I looked at my watch.
Three o’clock.
We went out to Price’s car and leaned against it. Poot found a tree to piss on. He wasn’t one to miss a chance. Price went over the plan a couple of times. It was a simple plan. When he was finished, he said, “Tell me the plan, Hank.”