Mr Majestyk (1974) (15 page)

She said to him quietly, "So I guess you're stuck with me, Vincent."

After a moment, when he came over to her and put his hand on her shoulder , turning her in the doorway so that the light showed part of her face, she kne w h is tone would be different.

"Why did you come back?"

"I don't know," she said, and that was partly true. "Maybe see what it's like t o b e on the same side as the grower. That's a funny thing, Vincent. All my life I've been fighting against the growers. Now, this is different."

"You like to fight?" He kept watching her, making up his mind.

"You don't know me yet," Nancy said. "I like to do a lot of things."

He raised the barrel of the shotgun. "You know how to use this?"

"Show me and I will."

"How about a deer rifle?"

"Aim it and pull the trigger. Isn't that all you do?" She waited, looking up a t h im.

"I don't want you to be here," he said then, "but I'm glad you are. Yo u u nderstand what I mean?"

"You don't have to say anything. If I didn't know how you feel I wouldn't b e h ere."

"You're that sure?"

She hesitated. "I hope so."

"You do have to leave yourself open, don't you? Take a chance."

"That's what it's all about."

"We'll have to talk about it again, when we have more time."

"Sure, it can wait." She smiled at him, even more sure of herself now.

"I'm going outside," he said. "Bring the truck up closer to the house--case the y g et it in mind to pull some wires."

"Are we going to make a run?"

"I don't know what we're going to do yet. First thing, I'll show you how to wor k t he rifle." She followed him to the table and watched him as he began to loa d t he Marlin. "If anybody tries to come in," he said, "shoot him. Don't say, 'Pu t u p your hands' or anything like that, shoot him."

"All right, Vincent."

He handed her the rifle and picked up the shotgun again. "But make sure it isn'
t m e."

Wiley was on the bearskin couch with her book. She looked up, over her readin g g lasses, at Lundy and said, "Gene's here."

Renda didn't pay any attention to her. He was on the phone again. Lundy ha d n ever seen a guy who was on the phone as much as Frank. The first time he eve r m et him--after doing seven on the armed robbery conviction and getting out an d g oing to see him with the note his cellmate had given him--Frank was on th e p hone. It seemed like he had been on it ever since.

Right now he was listening, standing by the bar making a drink, the phone wedge d i n between his shoulder and his jaw. He put the scotch bottle down, picked u p h is drink, took some of it, then put the glass down hard and said, "What th e f uck you talking about--I got back yesterday. Where's the wasted time? What if I was still in Mexico? You going to tell me everything would stop? Shit no." H
e l istened again, moving about impatiently. "Look, it's a personal matter--you sai d s o yourself. It's got nothing to do with the organization. I get it done and w e g et back to business. Not before."

He slammed the phone down and picked up his drink again. "Fucking lawyers. Yo u d on't know if they're working for you or you're working for them."

Wiley said, "I think your friends are worried you might get them involved."

"That's what I need, some more opinions."

She went back to her book as he turned to Lundy.

"What's he doing?"

"He picked up his trailer," Lundy said, "and went right home."

"Alone?"

"He was. But Bobby says there's a girl there. Come before he got back. I don'
t k now," Lundy said, "man's waiting to get shot he's got some tail with him."

Put yourself in his place, Renda was thinking, and said, "The cops could've tol d h im don't worry and he feels safe. Thinks, with all that's happened, I won'
t c ome for him right away."

"Whenever we do it," Lundy said, "we can't just walk in. The cops could be ther e w aiting."

"You see any?"

"No, but they could've slipped in when it got dark. Be all over the place."

"I don't have time to fool around," Renda said. "They're starting to pressur e m e, give me some shit, tell me forget about the guy or hire it done."

Lundy agreed with them 100 percent, but he said, "You want to hit him yoursel f y ou got to wait for the right time, that's all."

"I don't have time! Can't you get that in your head?" He took a drink of scotc h a nd calmed down a little. "How many guys you got there?"

"Five. In the trees by his place. There's a back road takes you in there." H
e w atched Frank put his glass down and go over to a window that looked out on a d ark patio and swimming pool.

When Renda turned to him again he said, "If it can take you in, nobody sees you , it can take him out, can't it?"

"If there's no cops in his house."

"All right, you watch his place. He tries to move during the night, stop him. W
e s ee who comes out in the morning. We don't see any cops around we grab him, pu t h im in a car, take him out in the desert."

"What about the girl?" Lundy said.

"What girl?"

"The one with him."

"If she's with him she goes too."

Looking at the page in her book, Wiley wondered what the girl looked like. Sh e w ondered if the girl knew she might get killed. Or if the melon grower knew it.

Yes, he'd know it, but she wasn't sure about the girl.

Lundy was gone. Frank was at the bar again making another drink. He was drinkin g t oo much, taking more pills than he ever had before.

Wiley said, "Do you ever worry about--that you could get caught by the police? O
r s hot? Or killed?"

"Are you going to give me some more opinions?"

"I was just curious. Is that all right?" He didn't answer her and she said, "Th e g uy really didn't mess you up that much, did he? I mean is it worth it? All th e t rouble?"

He turned from the bar with a fresh scotch.

"Is your book any good?"

"It's different."

"Good and dirty?"

"Dirty enough."

"Then why don't you read it?"

"And shut the fuck up."

"Right," Renda said, "and shut the fuck up."

For several minutes Majestyk stood by the screen door, holding it open a fe w i nches, looking down the road toward the migrant quarters and the packing shed.

He thought he had heard a car, not an engine sound but a squeak of spring s r olling slowly over ruts. Now all he heard were the crickets. He looked out a t h is fields, past the pickup, that was parked about twenty feet from the porc h n ow, facing the dirt road and the highway at the end of it. With his shotgun h e m oved to a side window and looked out at the dark mass of trees. There was n o m ovement, no sound. He left the window.

From the bedroom doorway he could see the girl's profile against the window an d t he barrel of the Marlin.

"Anything?"

She shook her head. "I have trouble concentrating, Vincent. What I'd like t o m ore than anything is straighten this place up."

"How can you see it in the dark?"

"When I came it was light. I never saw so much stuff not put away. Don't yo u h ang anything up?"

"I haven't had much time for housekeeping. With one thing or another."

"What's that, on the other side of the bed?"

"Don't you know a deep-freeze when you see one? I got it secondhand fo r t wenty-five bucks. Keep deer meat in it."

"I mean what's it doing in here?"

"What's the difference? You got to put it somewhere."

"You need help, Vincent. Well, maybe it's good you have it. They come, we ca n h ide in it."

"They come shooting," he said, "we won't get a chance to hide. But if they don'
t c ome, soon, I lose a crop. I been thinking. He can wait a week, a year, long a s h e wants. But I can't wait anymore. So, I figure, I better get it done myself."

"Like turn it around?" She sounded interested.

"If I could spot him, bring him out--"

"Call him up," Nancy said. "Ask him to meet you someplace." There was enoug h l ight that she could see his expression, the smile beginning to form, and sh e s aid then, "I'm just kidding. I don't mean really do it. Come on, don't. You'r e j ust crazy enough to try."

"If he's watching us," Majestyk said, "I don't have to call him. And if h e d oesn't come tonight--" He paused. "I've got a half-assed idea that might b e w orth trying."

"God, you are going to turn it around, aren't you? Go after him instead of hi m a fter you."

"It's a thought, isn't it? Something he might not expect."

"God, Vincent, sometimes you scare me."

He smiled at her again, feeling pretty good considering everything, and wen t b ack into the living room.

Chapter
12.

BOBBY KOPAS SAID, "We got him for you, Mr. Renda. Sure'n hell he's in there an d t here ain't no way he can get out."

Renda stared at the house, at the early morning sun shining on the windows , waiting for some sign of life, wondering what the man was doing, if he was i n t here. The place looked deserted, worn out and left to rot. He was thinking tha t i t would be getting hot in there. The guy should open a window, let in some air.

The guy should be doing something, open the door, take the garbage out , something.

"He tries to go out the road," Lundy said, "we got two people down there in th e p acking shed. Another boy's over behind that trailer, see it? Case he tries t o t ake off through the melon patch. Two more round the back. We cut his phon e w ire. I'd say all we got to do is walk up to the door and ring the bell."

"If he's there," Renda said. He looked at Kopas. "You seen him this morning?"

Bobby Kopas had been up all night, but he wasn't even tired. He'd been doing a j ob and hadn't made any mistakes. He said, "I figure he's locked himself in th e t oilet. Else he's hiding under the bed."

"I still have trouble, don't I," Renda said, "asking you a question?"

"What I meant, Mr. Renda, no, we haven't seen him yet, but he's in the house.

His truck's right there. There's no place else he could be."

"And nobody's come by?"

"The girl," Lundy said, "yesterday. She's the only one."

Renda was staring at the house again. It wasn't Sunday. It wasn't a day off. Th e g uy wasn't sleeping in. He should have come out by now. He should have been ou t a n hour ago, working, doing something. So if he was in there he knew what wa s g oing on. He felt it or smelled it or had seen somebody.

"I don't like it," Renda said.

Eugene Lundy didn't like it either, not a bit; but it was a living that pai d g ood money and gave him plenty of time to get drunk in between jobs. The thin g t o do was not think about it too much and just get the job over with. He said , "Well, we can stand here with our finger up our ass or we can go pull the son o f a bitch out of there and get it done."

It was good to have people like Gene Lundy, they were hard to find. "That's wha t w e're going to do," Renda said, "but I don't want any fucking surprises. I don'
t n eed surprises. Gene, what have we got? What it looks like we've got. The guy i n t he house. He's got a girl with him. One, maybe two cops over on the highway.

Are there more cops somewhere? You say no. All right, then what are the cop s d oing? Maybe they pulled out. Maybe they said fuck him. Maybe they don't give a s hit about the guy and they don't care what happens to him. Except there's stil l a cop over on the highway. Gene, you're sure, right?"

Lundy nodded. "I saw him go in the tool shed. He's got a radio in there."

"All right," Renda said, "they know I'm going to hit him, they're hanging round.

But they're not hanging around very close, are they? What're they doing?"

"Maybe," Lundy said, "they don't give a shit about the guy as you say. I don'
t k now. Maybe they figure you were here, you're not going to come right back, the y g ot a little time. I don't know how they think, fucking cops, but maybe that'
s w hat they think."

Renda took a minute, staring at the house. He nodded then and said, "Okay, we'l l b ring him out. We'll be quiet, go in and bring him out. Walk him back here t o t he car. And the girl. We'll have to take the girl."

Bobby Kopas had started to think about it too, the actual doing it, and he said , "Mr. Renda, what if he's got a gun?"

"He does, we take it away from him," Renda said. "He tries to use it, then w e g ot no choice." He looked at Lundy. "Do it in the house and get out." He looke d a t Kopas then. "What I think we'll do--you walk up to the door first, we'll com e i n behind you."

Bobby Kopas heard it but didn't believe it. He said holy shit to himself an d g rinned because, Christ, he had never been in this kind of a set-up before an d h e didn't know how to act, what kind of a pose or anything. He felt like a dum b s hit grinning, but what else was he going to do? He said, "Mr. Renda, I neve r d one anything like this before. You know what I mean? I mean I might not be an y g ood at it." Still grinning.

Renda said, "You walk up to the door, we come in behind you."

Majestyk put the two suitcases by the front door and looked at Nancy.

"You ready?"

"I guess so."

"Both bags go in the back of the truck. Save you time, and we might need the on e s ooner than I'd like."

"All right."

"Once you start, put your foot on it. Don't stop or slow down. Somebody gets in your way, run him over. Five or six miles down the highway you'll see the Enc o s ign on the corner. The cafe's right past it."