Drive Me Crazy (35 page)

And I hated that I hated it all.

I reached up, touched my head wound, did that because that hate from Lisa throbbed again, level three this time. I asked Rufus, “You been taking all your meds, right?”

“Where did that come from?”

“Answer me. You up on the meds or what?”

“Seems like that’s all I do. Lord knows I take more cocktails and pills than I eat food.”

Again I rubbed my burning and weary eyes. “You got insurance, right?”

“I told you. When I go, put me in a Viking, bake me until crisp, e-mail all my friends.”

“You’re sick, Rufus. In the head, you’re sick.”

“Have to have a sense of humor or I’ll be boo-hooing twenty-four-seven.”

We sipped.

I told Rufus, “Your boy called me talking crazy. Said he called the police.”

“That’s punk. Then I’ll file charges on him too. I’ll call KTLA and KCOP and have a reporter meet me at the emergency room. See how Mister Hollywood likes that. Should get him some good press. Let’s see if Pasquale could handle being on
Extra.
Or seeing me on
Extra
outing his ass. Got Star Jones’ boo some nice press. Pasquale ain’t telling the police nothing.”

“Rufus. TMI.”

“He’s always fronting like he’s high-class. He grew up in boring, cold, below-zero temperature, no-entertainment-having, politically incorrect, hick-town Flint, Michigan. He used to tell me the best time his family had was when they left town. Now he’s Mister Hollywood. Puh-lease. If you get close enough you can still smell the government cheese on his breath.”

“I’ll take your word.”

Sade came down the escalator. She didn’t see me in the tinted window. She had two bags in her hands, had done some damage in the shoe department at Nordstrom Rack.

Rufus asked, “Who is that?”

“Freeman’s woman.”

“Her shoes are fierce.”

“Bet.”

“Manumit.” Rufus read her sweatshirt, sipped. “I’ve seen that before.”

He asked me her name. I told him the name from her luggage. Folasade Titilayo Coker.

He said, “Name sounds familiar too.”

“Nigerian. Folasade is kinda original, I guess.”

“I meant her middle name.”

“Thought you didn’t forget nothing.”

“When I’m upset, that’s like kryptonite to my superpower.”

“So it only works when you’re calm.”

“For the most part.”

I chuckled, tore the crossword out of the newspaper, stuffed it in my pocket. Rufus stood up first, stretched, made a pained face. I looked at him. He gave me a look that told me not to worry about him, not now. We grabbed our java and headed back to the parking structure.

My cellular rang. It was Panther. Her voice was rattled. She was speeding back this way. She told me that she had followed the lion and jackal from Shutters. Told me they had come back out this way, landed around the corner at the Coffee Company, ate and read the newspaper like regular people, then the lion dropped the jackal off at Slauson and Vermont.

She asked me, “You know what’s down that way?”

That was my shopworn part of town, where I grew up. Palm trees rose high over people who depended on public transportation. More than a few survived on public assistance. Wasn’t far from where Boys Market used to be. Every business on that corner was etched in my mind.

I said, “Banks. Check-cashing places. Lots of small shops.”

Sade paused and looked up at Freeman’s banner before she peeped at the crowd. She saw the protestors, turned around and got back on the escalator, headed back upstairs.

Panther told me, “The bony one hurried and went inside El Pollo Loco.”

She was talking about the jackal.

I asked, “The other motherfucker?”

She told me she shadowed the Expedition. Let a few cars stay in between them, like they did in the movies. First those high-end spinners turned around, took Slauson back toward the 110. Then the Expedition sped up, made sudden turns. Lefts and rights that went nowhere. She trailed the ride down side streets, rolled deeper into South Central. The SUV slowed down. Stopped in the middle of a ragged avenue. Panther pulled over. Waited. Minutes went by.

The lion got out of his SUV. Stood in the middle of the streets, mad-dogging Panther.

He pointed at her, two fingers extended like a gun.

He knew.

He’d picked up her scent.

She turned around and headed in the opposite direction, tires spinning fast.

I’d made it back downstairs by then, Rufus at my side. I leaned against the sedan, rubbed my eyes for the nth time, said, “Fuckin’ GPS shit. Damn.”

“I don’t know about that, Driver. Look, I was thinking, unless you told her, no way for her to know my car, not before last night. I mean, it’s not like I see you all the time, you know.”

Something wasn’t right. If they had been watching the tracker, they would’ve known we went hunting for them last night, would’ve been on guard at sunrise. It bothered me that Lisa didn’t mention it this morning. She knew when I was at Back Biters. Knew when I was pulling up in front of my apartment. Knew I had gone to Rufus’s crib on the hill. Knew I was with Panther until sunrise. Even knew I’d been at a hotel on Fuck Row last night. She had brought up my every move, had done that for a while, like she had a bird‘s-eye view of the chessboard representing my life. But I don’t think she had any idea I’d gone after her bullyboys.

I asked Panther, “Then what you do?”

“At first I was making lefts and rights, getting on and off the 110, making sure he didn’t try to turn it around and follow me. I doubt he would because it was broad daylight.”

“Kennedy was shot in broad daylight.”

“So was Reagan. What’s your point?”

I asked, “Sure he didn’t trail you?”

“I’m sure.”

“If the bullyboy had a tracker he wouldn’t need to follow you.”

“True. But he would’ve known I was following him hella sooner.”

“You’re pretty good at following. Where you learn that?”

“Dating skills. All women learn to do that at some point.”

She told me what she saw when she went back to El Polio Loco. The jackal was still there. So busy broiling chickens that he didn’t look up and see Panther walk through the joint.

A horn blew and I jumped. I turned around and saw Panther. She had been talking to me while she rode my way. Guess she thought sneaking up on me was cute.

What she had done was stupid. But she was young. Had to remind myself that.

We both hung up. I walked to her ride. Her top was down. She got out and hugged me. Her body was trembling, still shook up from whatever look the lion had given her.

She reminded me, “You owe me two from this morning.”

“Your girl B&E Freeman’s room?”

“That your brother?”

“Yeah. Rufus. Come here.”

I introduced him. He waved and fell into the background.

Panther asked, “What happened to him?”

“Long story. What happened at the hotel?”

“Don’t blow me off, Driver. What happened to your brother?”

“Domestic bullshit.”

“Nothing to do with Married Woman?”

“His and his ... I mean him and his friend got into it.”

“Looks bad. I’ve seen worse, but it looks like he needs some medical attention.”

“Yeah. But he don’t want go to King-Drew.”

“ ‘Cause he wants to live. Guess he’s a stalwart soul, just like you, huh?”

“Stalwart?”

“I know a few ten-dollar words. Atlanta’s school system ain’t that bad.”

That was when Panther told me that her girl, China Doll, had grabbed Freeman’s briefcase. Between trying to hunt down the lion and the jackal, dealing with them and trying to gank Freeman for his intellectual property, we’d been doing our own multitasking.

She popped her trunk. When it opened Freeman’s briefcase was staring at me.

My heart did flips. I was excited and scared all at once. I was staring at my own manumit. Maybe more than a little manumit. I rubbed my fingers over it and almost smiled.

I asked, “You open it?”

“It’s locked up like Fort Knox.”

“Can you pick it?”

“Gonna have to do more than pick it. You’ll need at least a crow bar.”

I chuckled. “Damn. A million-dollar prize.”

Rufus asked in that wounded voice, “What’s a million-dollar prize?”

I shushed him with a stern hand movement.

I wanted to transfer the briefcase to the sedan, but Sade was upstairs stress-shopping, had a load of new clothes and shoes. Might have to open the trunk while they were looking.

Panther asked, “What next?”

When she asked me that, everything got heavy. I’d done crimes, stolen, fought, but I’d never been a true grifter. Had never been that clever. Right now I was a ship without a sail. One false move and it could all fall apart, we’d all be living in a cage getting three squares a day.

I said, “Have to figure it out.”

“How’re you feeling?”

“Overwhelmed.”

She hugged me, held on.

She whispered, “Wish I could take the stress away. Maybe later, if all goes well, we can get a nice room in Hermosa Beach, light some candles. Would love to cook you dinner—spaghetti, salad, and French bread. Take a really nice bath together. Rub you down. Give you the best damn blow job. Have your toes curling for days. Just a thought that crossed my mind.”

I hugged her back, held on. She pulled me to her heart, a leaf clinging to a tree.

She said, “We don’t have a lot of time. We have the upper hand. Need to keep the ball rolling. I think we should call from a pay phone and leave a message at his hotel room.”

I paused. Arizona. She’d know. Had to work this out. Needed to bypass trouble. Nothing clear came to mind. Just the fact that I had slipped in and one-upped Arizona after she’d sucked my tongue and dropped three large in my hands, good faith money for the faithless.

Arizona was using the power of the pretty woman combined with the promise of the pussy to get me to feed her what I knew so she could rip off Freeman. Didn’t trust her. She could get the goods, vanish like smoke in the wind. Had to make sure I didn’t get fucked over.

No honor among thieves. Never has been, never will be.

I told Panther, “Soon as I dump Freeman and his woman I’ll hit you on the cellular.”

Another thought came to me. Arizona said that she had access to other things, could get banking information and find out how much cabbage Freeman had in his pot.

I needed that to make this scheme work. Couldn’t go in there like Ray Charles.

“One more minor thing,” Panther said. “We need to get our apartments tightened up.”

“Damn. Need to get what’s left of my car from off the streets too. ”

She said, “And we have to kick down China Doll four large for the B&E.”

“She didn’t know what was in the case?”

“Had no idea and couldn’t care less. She’s all about getting her cut.”

“Keep it that way.”

She said, “Told you.”

“Told me what?”

“To tell me what kind of woman you wanted me to be and I could be that woman.”

She kissed me and got back in her convertible. Drove away.

I wondered what kind of woman she’d been for Married Man. What all she had done for him. About the pills she had in her medicine cabinet. Wondered who she really was.

Rufus came over and nudged me. “Panther. Cute name. One of your girlfriends?”

“I think so. Yeah.”

“Sounds like you have some scandalous mess going on.”

My brother was eavesdropping his ass off, judging my life, face swollen like a blowfish.

I ignored that query, asked Rufus, “How bad you hurting?”

He stood up straight. A stab of pain hit him. He was hurting pretty bad. I took a step toward him and it felt like pain jumped off him and stuck to my knee. I hit the remote to the sedan. The trunk clicked open. I pulled out the gym bag Panther had given me. What I handed him rattled him. He looked inside and what he saw brought back the memories. He’d grown up in a world where fists and guns were a way of life. He’d been forced to point a gun at a man.

I told Rufus to keep the hardware at his side until all of this blew over.

I told him, my voice strong and gruff, “Anybody steps up to you, pretend whatever you have to pretend, even if you have to imagine it’s Reverend Daddy, just don’t hesitate.”

“Okay, Lone Ranger.” His voice trembled. “Tonto thinks it’s time to call in the cavalry.”

“Not over a woman.”

“Newsflash. A bitch with a gun ain’t no woman. You better ax somebody.”

“Ask.”

“Ass-kick. Ass-k. Ask.”

My cellular rang again.

This time it was Arizona.

She said, “Congratulations.”

The sun was going down. Daylight hadn’t been my friend. But ever since Lisa had started acting like Baby Bin Laden, every sunset had brought me a new kinda trouble. Tonight wouldn’t be any different. I was back at Shutters Hotel, on the edge of the roundabout. Freeman and Sade had been let out and they were heading inside.

All the way back from the book signing Sade was quiet. Wordless. Freeman was on his cellular. He kept going like the Energizer Bunny. Made me want to kick the batteries out.

The Hispanic bellman walked behind Freeman and Sade, carrying Sade’s Nordstrom bags. Sade walked that well-bred charm-school walk, one foot directly in front of the other, turned on the balls of her feet. Freeman was hyped. A unibrowed midget who was ten feet tall.

Something else was tugging at the back of my mind. I called Sid Levine back at the office, asked him about the blips again.

Sid said, “Funny you asked about that glitch. You got me curious last time I talked to you. I mean that glitch moved all over the city. On the freeway, headed toward Hollywood—”