The Devil's Right Hand (18 page)

“
Mara?”

“
We work together. I mean, not
together, you know, although Mara and I used to do a show together
sometimes. But the three of us worked at the same
place.”

“
The club?”

Rita looked puzzled, but quickly nodded.
“Yeah. Right. The club.”

She obviously didn’t know what Keller was
talking about. The girl was another hooker, he realized.

“
Still,” he persisted. “Somebody ought
to let him know. She ever tell you how to reach him?”

“
No,” she said. She looked up, suddenly
suspicious. “How come you’re so interested in DeWayne,
anyway?”

“
I know the family,” Keller said.
“Maybe she told your boss something.”

Rita’s face became hard. “What boss? Who the
hell are--”

“
I talked to your boss on the phone,”
Keller said. “She tried to call Crystal while I was driving her to
the hospital.”

Rita stood up. “What are you, a cop? Son of
a..”

Keller shook his head. “No. Not a cop.”

“
Her dealer then? Did you give that
shit to her?” The girl advanced on him, her hands clutching at him
like claws. Keller noticed her nails, They were at least two inches
long. He didn’t feel like going up against them, so he backed up.
“No,” he said firmly. “How many dealers you know would drive
someone to the hospital when they OD’d?”

The girl’s hands fell to her sides. “You
trying to get Amber to work for you, maybe? Trying to steal her
away? Let me tell you buddy, you don’t want to tangle with my boss.
You may think she’s a pushover ‘cause she’s a woman. There’s people
who’ve made that mistake. But she’s got people that’ll fuck you up,
but good.”

“
Yeah, she likes to point that out. But
I’m not a pimp, either,” Keller said. “So you can tell your boss
that.”

“
What, you think she sent me down
here?”

“
It’s a pretty good bet. I doubt you’d
stir your ass out of bed otherwise.” The girl swung a clawed hand
at his face. He caught her wrist and held it in a painful grip. She
gritted her teeth, but didn’t cry out.

“
Tell your boss,” he said evenly, “That
I’m not after her or Crystal. I’m after DeWayne.”

“
Hah,” Rita hissed. “I knew it.
You
are
a cop.”

Keller shook his head. “Nope. I work for
DeWayne’s bondsman. I came to talk to Crystal--Amber--because she
might know where he’d go if he was on the run.”

The girl nearly spat into Keller’s face.
“Fuck you. She isn’t going to tell you shit.”

“
Even if I knew,” a small voice
said.

They turned to look at the bed. Crystal’s
eyes were open. Her face sagged with fatigue and sickness, and
Keller saw what she would look like when she got old.

Rita gave a scream of theatrical joy and
threw herself on the bed beside Crystal, who winced with the
jouncing. “Baby, sweetie,” Rita crooned, running her fingers
through Crystal’s disheveled hair. “We were so worried about you.”
She looked at Keller with an expression of spite on her face.
“Don’t tell this guy anything, baby. He’s trying to arrest
DeWayne.” She turned to him. “She isn’t going to tell, so you can
just get the fuck out of here.”

“
She better,” Keller said. He looked at
Crystal. “I want to bring DeWayne in, Crystal. And I actually have
an interest in seeing him brought in alive. It’s the only way I get
paid. But how many cops you think feel the same way, after he
gunned one of them down? Somebody’s going to catch him. Nobody can
run forever. How do you rate his chances if it’s a cop who finds
him first?”

Crystal closed her eyes. A tear ran down her
cheek. She shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t
want to lose him, too. But I just don’t know anything.”

“
You see what you’ve done?” Rita
snapped. “You got her all upset.” she turned back to Crystal.
“Don’t you worry, sweetie, Mara went to get you some clothes and
makeup. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“
Yeah,” Keller said. “She and your
boss. They’ll have you flat on your back again in no
time.”

Rita turned to him. “Fuck you,” she
snarled.

“
Sorry,” Keller said, “but I’m a few
bucks light right now.”

He took a business card out of his wallet. He
took a pen off the bedside table and wrote another number on the
back. “Call me if you hear from DeWayne,” he said. “Or have him get
in touch with me, I don’t care. But you know it’s his only chance.”
He handed the card to Crystal.

“
Even if you don’t call me,” he said,
“Call the other number I wrote on there. It’s a rehab center. A
friend of mine runs it.” He walked to the door and leaned on the
jamb. “You need to get out of the life, Crystal. It isn’t just
Leonard and your parents’ death that’s pushing you over the
edge.”

“
Don’t listen to him, baby,” Rita said,
a note of pleading in her voice. “What does he know? He doesn’t
care about you, he just wants to catch DeWayne.” Rita stretched out
her hand to take the card away, but Crystal closed her hand over
it. As Keller turned to go, she spoke up.

“
Thank you,” she said softly. “I’d
probly’ve died if you hadn’t brought me in.”

Keller stopped in the doorway. “It’s likely,”
he said. “So I guess you owe me one. Call the number.”

She stared at Keller, not speaking, as he
walked out.

Keller left the hospital and drove back to
Marie’s house. When he got there, she was in the front yard. A
blonde-haired boy about three years old was riding the Big Wheel
down the driveway as Keller was pulling up, so he parked on the
street. Marie came out of the garage as Keller was coming up the
drive. She was dressed in a pair of white shorts and a man’s denim
shirt tied beneath her breasts. Her hair was bound up in a pale
blue and white scarf and there was a smudge of grime on her cheek.
Keller stopped and watched her come towards him. “Trying to get the
garage organized,” she explained. “There’s so much crap in there, I
can’t even get the door closed.”

“
Looks like a big job.” Keller
said.

She looked away. “Yeah. Well. Just trying to
stay busy. Keeps my mind off things. You know.”

“
I know,” Keller said. He felt strange
and awkward. He wanted to kiss her, but was stayed by the solemn
regard of the boy with the Big Wheel, who had stopped to regard him
gravely. Keller and the boy stared at each other for a long moment,
then the boy unhorsed himself from the Big Wheel, ran to Marie, and
attached himself to her leg, where he watched Keller
warily.

“
Ben,” Marie said, a laugh bubbling
just under the surface of her voice, “this is Mister Keller. Can
you say hello?”

The boy’s answer was to bury his face in
Marie’s thigh. She gave him a reassuring pat on the head. “How’d it
go?” she said.

Keller shrugged. It seemed somehow grotesque
to discuss what he had seen in the hospital room in the middle of
this domestic scene. “She doesn’t know anything.”

She wiped the sweat from her brow. Keller
wanted to gently wipe the smudge from her face, could imagine
himself doing it, but the boy was staring at him again. “I got a
Big Wheel,” the boy announced suddenly.

“
I can see that,” Keller said. “It
looks like fun.”

The boy pondered for a moment. “You want to
ride?”

“
Thanks,” Keller said. “But it’s been a
while. I might fall off and hurt myself.”

“
Okay,” the boy said. He detached
himself from his mother’s leg and went back to the Big Wheel. He
saddled up again and began industriously pedaling his way up the
driveway, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth with
concentration. Keller and Marie watched him, standing a few feet
apart.

“
You going to keep an eye on her in the
hospital?” Marie asked finally.

Keller shook his head. “She won’t be there
long. She’s got no insurance, most likely, so they’ll show her the
front door as soon as they can without risking a lawsuit. If she
gets lucky, somebody will refer her to rehab. If not--well, I gave
her the number of a friend of mine.”

Marie turned in surprise to look at him. “You
did?”

“
Yeah,” Keller said. “A guy--a doctor I
knew in the Army runs a rehab center. Does good work. If he knows I
sent her, he might not be so sticky about insurance questions. Why,
are you surprised?”

She shook her head, a slight smile on her
face. “You’re a hard guy to figure out, Keller,” she said. “One
minute, I feel like you’re staking the girl out like a goat set as
tiger bait. The next, you’re sending her to rehab.” She slid her
arm around his waist and kissed him on the cheek.

He shrugged. “Maybe she goes, maybe she
doesn’t. It’s not like it cost me anything. Besides, I finally
decided that with as many people as he has chasing him, DeWayne
Puryear would be an idiot to try to contact her at that hospital,
anyway.”

“
C’mon, Crystal,” DeWayne muttered,
“answer the damn phone.” He hunched over a little more, trying to
make his face inconspicuous. The pay phone was stuck on a metal
pole in the corner of a convenience store parking lot, and DeWayne
felt as exposed as a bug on a sidewalk. He had considered calling
from Debbie’s apartment, but he suddenly got paranoid about the
possibility of phone taps and traces. That was the problem with
that rock cocaine, he thought. It felt good going down, almost
better than sex, but afterwards, when the blast wore off, you felt
all jittery and sick and your mind kept running into all these dark
places. All the colors looked too bright and sharp and the sound of
the phone ringing was boring into his ear like a needle. He was
about ready to slam the receiver down when he heard somebody pick
up on the other end. A female voice said “Hello?”

“
Crystal?” DeWayne began. “It’s
DeWayne.”

There was a short pause. “Crystal’s not here.
This is a friend of hers.”

DeWayne took a deep breath. “Do you know when
she’ll be back?”

A longer pause. “She’s in the hospital.”

Keller
, DeWayne
thought.
The son of a bitch got to
Crystal
. “What happened? Who is this?”

“
I’m Mara,” the voice said. “I’m a
friend of hers. We work together at the--we work
together.”

“
What are you doing in Crystal’s
house?”

“
Hey man,” the voice held an edge of
irritation. “Ease up, all right? I came by to get some things for
her. Clothes and shit. Don’t be gettin’ all in my--”

“
Is she hurt?” DeWayne asked. “What
happened?”

“
Who did you say this was?” the voice
demanded suspiciously.

“
It’s DeWayne, her cousin. I need to
ask her about our folks. I need to find out what she
knows.”

“
Oh. Yeah. She mentioned you.” The
voice softened somewhat. “Sorry about your folks.”

DeWayne resisted the urge to slam the phone
against the side of the booth. “What happened to my cousin, damn
it?”

“
Look, you don’t have to get all
hostile, all right? I mean I know you’re upset and all, but I got
feelings, too--”

DeWayne was trying not to scream. “Look, I’m
sorry. I just found out last night about my aunt and uncle. I’m
upset. They raised me, y’know?”

“
Yeah, whatever,” the voice still
sounded offended. “Anyway, Amber, I mean  Crystal, didn’t take
the news too well, you might say. She decided to check out for a
while.”

“
What are you saying, she tried to kill
herself?” DeWayne thought of feisty little Crystal, who would stand
toe to toe with either he or Leonard and face them down when they
were kids. He had trouble imagining her trying to do herself
in.

“
Not, like directly. But she started in
on the hard stuff. She always told me she’d never do nothin’ like
that. She tol’ me she was afraid of needles. But I guess you know
after what happened, she just wanted to get away for a while,
y’know what I’m sayin’?”

DeWayne thought of the rock he had smoked at
Debbie’s. He remembered the desperate need he had felt for
numbness. “Yeah,” he said. “I know what you’re saying. Where’s she
at?”

“
Fayetteville General,” Mara said.
“Room 433.”

“
Thanks,” DeWayne said.

“
No problem,” Mara said. “And sorry
again, about everything. Hell of a thing to happen.”

“
Yeah,” DeWayne said. “Hell of a thing.
Thanks.” He hung up. He took a deep breath and straightened his
shoulders as he walked back to Debbie’s car. She was seated in the
driver’s seat, staring blankly out the window.

“
Crystal’s in the hospital,” he said as
he slid into the passenger seat.

“
Hmmm,” Debbie said. She sounded
utterly disinterested.

“
I gotta go see her,” DeWayne
said.

Debbie turned back to him. “You said we was
gonna get some more rocks,” she said.

The whine in her voice set his teeth on edge.
“I got more important things to do right now than get you high,
bitch,” he said.

She looked sulky. “Maybe you can just get out
of my damn car, then.”

DeWayne reached between the seats and pulled
out the gun. He jammed it up under her chin. “And maybe you can
just shut the fuck up,” he snarled.

“
Okay,” she said. “I’m sorry. Just
don’t hurt me.” Her eyes were wide with fear, but there was
something else there, too, something very much like excitement. He
heard her breathing quicken. “I’ll do anything you
want.”