Rough Men (21 page)

“Fuck you,” said Jason in a contented voice before closing his eyes and leaning against the window.

“I’m serious,” said Will. “Get up.”

Jason shook himself awake and gave Will a fresh dirty look.

“Alison will be back any second. If you guys have to talk to the cops, just say you got hurt in the storm. Listen to what Alison says and stick to that story. Deny knowing one another, just take as many easy questions as possible, don’t get frustrated, and act as medicated as possible. Got it?”

They both bobbled their heads at him, and then Alison and four orderlies were there to unload his brother and friend. Before Will knew it, they were out of the car, and Alison was waving to him in the rearview mirror.

W
ill drove himself toward Lou’s office and, as an afterthought, took the cell phone from his pocket.
Momentarily confused when he flipped it open and stared at the unfamiliar controls, he couldn’t help but laugh when he realized his problem. As helpful as it would have been for the person most likely to carry a burner to have a lawyer like Lou’s on their contact list, this particular phone was not so equipped.
This is the stupidest thing in the world
, Will thought.
I don’t know any phone numbers off of the top of my head.
Making a mental note to go to his cell phone provider to see about a replacement phone at some point in the near future, he drove the rest of the way to Lou’s office in silence. It was wonderful.

Will pulled in next to Lou’s black Cadillac Escalade, parked in its usual spot in the lot. He got out, closing Alison’s car door, and then walked around the rear of the car to open the front passenger door and retrieve his backpack, still full with three horrible pictures and the loaded rifle. Will hefted the bag, briefly considering offloading the rifle and then reconsidering the idea. Lou would be as good a person as any to ask what he should do with the stolen and likely illegal weapon. Crossing the parking lot, Will caught himself smiling. This was almost over.

The door to the office was open, even though the sign said they wouldn’t be open until 9:00 a.m., and it was barely 8:00. Will walked past the always-empty secretary’s desk and knocked on Lou’s office door.

“Hello?” Will called. “Lou, this is Will Daniels. I have some stuff I need to run by you, if you’re not too busy.”

“C’mon in, Will,” called Lou from behind the door.

Will opened the door. The office was immaculate, but Lou looked awful behind his desk. The lawyer was disheveled, suit in disarray, hair every which way—not at all like Lou, or at least the Lou that Will knew. What the hell, he figured, last night had been a rough night all around the city. He walked and slid into one of Lou’s comfortable chairs.

“Everything OK, Lou? You’re here awful early.”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Lou said. “You look like you got run over by a truck, and half of your hair’s been burnt off. I’ve been here all night, as it happens. Tell the truth, I hardly ever leave these days.” Lou pinched his nose shut and chuckled. “And I didn’t mention the smell yet. Shit, Will, what the hell happened?”

“Long story,” said Will, sighing. “A very long story. But here’s the short of it: I’ve got some pictures I need you to look at. I think it’s in your best interests that you not know how I got them or who I took them from.”

Lou gave him a long look. “These don’t sound like they’re going to be pictures of a trip to Disney World, Will. Hell, they don’t sound like pictures from a trip to anywhere somebody might like to go at all. What are they of?”

“I’d rather not say,” said Will, his stomach rolling at the thought of them. “Honestly, I’m not going to look at them again, either. I imagine that you’ll feel the same way when you see them.”

Will opened the backpack between his legs, moved the short rifle from atop the pictures, took the photos from the bag, and slid them facedown across the table. Lou picked the first one off of the stack, his eyes bugging out of his head and then relaxing. He set the photo down and picked up the second one.

“Is this who I think it is?” Lou asked, and Will just nodded. Lou set the picture down and picked up the third photo, shaking his head. “It’s enough to make you want to puke. What do you expect me to do with these, Will?”

“Honestly, Lou, I have no idea. I suppose what ought to happen is they wind up with the police, but I’ve been through enough trouble to come by them that I can see how that might not be a safe option. There seem to be a number of people who have invested a great deal of time and energy into getting these, or getting rid of them, and I want my involvement with them to cease. I think it would be best for the community if the mayor saw prison over this, but I have no idea if that’s even possible.”

“You let me worry about that, Will. I can handle all the details; that’s what I’m here for. Let me make some phone calls, fish around a little bit. Could be the police cannot be trusted in this matter, either. I do know a couple of guys on the force. I got a captain that I go way back with. Maybe I’ll see what he has to say. I think the play here is to insinuate, not offer. Suggest that I heard something instead of saying, ‘Look what I got.’ Even with all the corruption I’ve seen in local government, this one takes the cake. It’s a new level, even for our mayor.”

“Thanks, Lou. This really helps, man. With everything else going on, all the stuff with Alex, this mess was the last thing I needed to be involved with. I just wanted some answers, but the shit got too deep for me, too deep by a long shot.”

“Rest easy, buddy, this is easy from here on out. I make some calls, and this either disappears or a real fucking mess hits this town. I’ll keep your name out of it.”

Lou stood, extending a hand, and Will stood as well, taking Lou’s hand into his own and shaking it. They released the grip, and Will knelt, zipped the bag up, and stood.

“I’ll be in touch,” said Lou. “Count on it.”

“I am, but if you hear from me first, come running. I stirred up some shit last night. I think I’m good on most of it, but if I do call, it’s going to be with a real mess stuck to my shoes.”

“Don’t sweat it. Let it all go. Shit, go write. I’m sure they’ll release Alex soon, so you’ll be busy enough to avoid worrying too much. Besides, the cops aren’t exactly knocking down your door, are they?”

“Not yet.”

“So forget about them. Take care of your family. Go live. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Will felt good leaving Lou’s office. The man might not be the best lawyer, but a guy could sure as hell do worse. Leaving the pictures with him felt good. If Lou trashed them, that just meant that there was no possibility of redemption for that poor little girl, nor was there a possibility of punishment for the man who had killed her. Still, handing it over to Lou gave it a chance that it wouldn’t have had relying on Will’s abilities alone. All he would have done was fumble things, make it worse for himself and his family, and still done nothing for the girl.

Will took the cell phone from his pocket, slowly dialing Alison’s number as he walked past Lou’s SUV. Hers was one of the few that he knew by heart. She answered on the third ring, and he stopped walking.

“Hello?”

“Hey, babe, it’s me. Weird number, remember?”

“That phone sounds like crap.”

“Well, I did steal it from a gas station. If anything, it’s amazing that the battery is still kicking. When you really think about it, you’re lucky to be talking to me.”

“Believe me, I’m counting my blessings about that.”

“Good, I’m glad. How are the boys?”

“Isaac is OK. His right arm is broken in at least two spots, and the doctor said that before the X-ray.”

“He call Daisy yet?”

“No, and he forbid me from calling her. I’m still obeying the ruling, but my resolve is cracking.”

“Do your best. How’s Jason?”

Will could hear her take a deep breath, then let it out slowly, trying to make it so he couldn’t hear it. “He’s not good. From what I could gather as a nonfamily member, he’s in really bad shape. His rib cage is basically shattered on one side, and he’s got a ton of damage to the lung, multiple perforations. I’m pretty sure he was shot, too, but they don’t talk about that.”

“He was shot? Do you know where?”

“No, but I assume lower body. I heard a doctor talking about his leg.”

“Hell, I guess we’re all lucky we got out of there at all.” He sighed, finding he’d made a decision to tell her a little more. “Babe, don’t tell those guys, but I lied a little bit to them. They thought I got rid of some stuff we found, but I brought it to Lou, to see if he couldn’t make heads or tails of it, anyways—”

Will had turned in the parking lot as he’d spoken, but now his words stuck in his throat. His eyes were locked onto Lou’s SUV. There was no snow on Lou’s Escalade, not a drop of ice, yet he said he’d been there all night. More than that, three bullet holes were visible in the tailgate.

“Oh fuck,” said Will, remembering Jason firing after the fleeing black Cadillac SUV the night before, four shots. Jason had missed once, it seemed.

Will looked up. Lou was walking toward him, struggling with a jacket pocket, arguing with the fabric for something that he seemed to need very badly.

“I have to go,” said Will, watching a nickel-plated wheel gun pull free from Lou’s coat, then turning away from his lawyer, speaking loudly. “We need to go over my new contract.”

“What new contract?” Alison said, puzzled, as Lou pushed the revolver against the back of his head.

“My new book and the new contract Jack got for me,” said Will, the gun against his skull, the phone feeling like a piece of dust in his fingers, the rifle in the backpack a weight, but a million miles away. “I told you about that.”

“Hang up now,” said Lou. “Right now.”

“All right, Lou’s off the horn now. We’ll see what Terri had to say.”

Will was able to hear one word as the burner came off of his ear, and it was, “Cops?”

“Yes, baby,” said Will as Lou pushed the gun into his head. “Love you, too.” He closed the phone and tucked it into his pocket, then let Lou push him inside.

“Goddamn it, Will,” said Lou as he walked Will back into the office, “you were never supposed to be involved. This is all just a damn mess now. What in the fuck were you thinking?”

“I just wanted to see some justice for Alex, that was it. But the more I dug, the worse it got.”

Lou shoved Will roughly into the chair he’d been in earlier, and then Lou sat in his own chair across from him, keeping his gun on Will as he moved. Will took the backpack off, watching the revolver barrel the whole time and thinking about the gun inside the bag, the AR-15 as far away as a well-meaning buddy stuck in Timbuktu. Lou shook his head as though he’d heard a funny joke, then frowned.

“So what now, Will?” Lou asked. “What in the hell am I supposed to do with you? These pictures were supposed to be sold,
and you went and fucked everything up. It’s bad enough nothing like this turned up before the election, when my guy, the fucking idiot, could’ve used the help. Now you fucked up the deal I
was
able to manage. All you had to do was just let it go. This was finished. It was over. And don’t think I’m such a bad guy, either.”