"U" is for Undertow (51 page)

I made a quick turn onto Center Road, reversed in a motel parking lot, and cut back, passing the bank again just as Walker ducked into the car. Corso pulled out of the lot. I kept him in sight as he crossed the intersection and eased from Old Coast Road onto the freeway, driving north. I wondered what they were up to. Did Walker know Michael Sutton was dead? Was that the arrangement they’d made? Corso would strike while Walker established an ironclad alibi? What about the risk to Jon, whose car had been spotted at the scene? It seemed clear Walker wasn’t leaving town, at least in the next half-hour, so perhaps the purpose of the meeting was to bring Walker up to speed before Jon disappeared on his own.

It all seemed so pointless. If Henry was right about the burial of the marked bills, I didn’t see how either one of them could feel endangered. The only trump out against them was the shaky report of a six-year-old boy, who’d seen nothing incriminating. If word of my queries had leaked back to Walker, he might have wondered about my interest, but it hardly merited radical action. Shooting Michael Sutton was a miscalculation, overkill, as it were. Perhaps they didn’t realize Sutton had no credibility and was therefore harmless.

My current course was set and I was stuck with it. If I hadn’t decided to cruise by Corso’s house, I wouldn’t be tailing the two of them now, engaging in all this endless speculation about why they were together and where they intended to go. Guess I’d find out. Ahead of me, Jon took the off-ramp at Little Pony Road and turned left. At the top of the rise, he was caught by a red light. I was three cars behind. If he’d spotted me, he gave no indication. His driving was circumspect as he turned left through the intersection and drove toward the beach.

Were they looking for a private spot? That was the only thing I could figure, given their route. Why did they need privacy at all when they could have chatted by phone? Surely they didn’t imagine the lines were tapped. How paranoid would that be? I saw the Jaguar slow and turn left again into an unmarked side road I knew from times past. They were heading for Passion Peak, the pocket park that had been closed for two years, after a wildfire swept through it.

Here’s what occurred to me: What if Jon was doing a quick mop-up campaign, eliminating anyone who posed a threat to him? He was set for an imminent departure, destination unknown. Now that Sutton was out of the way, was Walker next?

I pulled over to the shoulder of the road and got out, leaving my car running while I moved cautiously to the turnoff. A mass of bougain - villea obscured the entrance to the park. I lifted on my toes and peered. There was no sign of the Jaguar. The chain that had been strung across the road was now down, trailing from the post on the left. I returned to my car and waited. The road up to the parking area was barely two lanes wide, with sufficient turns to slow any vehicle winding up the hill. I couldn’t afford to round a bend and find myself smack up against Jon’s bumper. If the two intended to spend time up there, I had to give them the ten minutes it would take to park at the midpoint and climb the rest of the way to the top. If Jon intended to pop Walker in the head, I was the only one even remotely aware of it. I took advantage of the wait to open the trunk of my car and remove the Heckler & Koch from my locked briefcase.

 

 

 

Walker climbed the hill a few steps behind Jon. He’d wakened early, finding himself at peace for the first time in weeks. He felt good. He had energy and optimism. He’d suddenly turned a corner. He had no idea why or when the shift had occurred. When he’d opened his eyes that morning at the Pelican Motel, a sight that should have been depressing was actually all right. He’d have preferred to be home with his wife and kids, but for now, he could do this. It dawned on him that being clean and sober felt better than the best moment of being drunk. He didn’t want to live as he had, from happy hour to happy hour, drink to drink, from one hangover to the next. It was as if a heavy set of chains had fallen away. His demons had loosened their hold and he was light as air. The battle wasn’t over. Come 5:00, he’d probably still have the urge to drink. But he knew now all he had to do was what he’d been doing for the past ten days. Just not drink. Just not succumb. Just think of something else until the urge went away. Being clean and sober for ten days hadn’t killed him. The
alcohol
had been killing him. The absence of alcohol was to be celebrated—and not with a drink or a cigarette or a pill or anything else that might come between him and his own soul. If he could attribute the sense of well-being to anything, it was his decision to turn himself in. In his conversation with Jon, he’d implied that he was still on the fence, but it wasn’t true, He wondered if this was the euphoria experienced by someone bent on suicide. Turning himself in would be the end of life as he knew it, and that was okay with him. He’d brave it, all of it—the shame, the humiliation, the public castigation. That was the deal he’d made twenty-one years earlier. There was no escaping his fate, and he accepted that now. Drinking created the illusion he’d gotten away with something, but he couldn’t obliterate the burden in his soul. Owning up would do it, taking responsibility.

At the crest of the hill he paused to absorb the view. Southern California was at its best in April. Wildflowers had sprung up in the meadow and the long grass rustled in the wind. It was quiet up here, even against the faint noise of traffic that rose from the town below. Jon moved over to a table, where he stood, arms crossed, his hip resting against the edge. In early March, a storm had blown in with hard rain and high winds that had downed trees and torn off branches that now littered the area. Walker bent and picked up a stick. He flung it like a boomerang, though it whipped off without returning.

“I guess we better talk while we can,” Jon said.

Walker sat on a picnic bench, elbows on his knees, fingers laced together loosely. “I was thinking about it on the way over. This business with Sutton won’t work. I don’t want to be on the hook to him, you know? Waiting around for his next appearance. Fuck that. The whole point in coming clean is we don’t have to sweat this stuff. It’s over and done.”

“For you. We still have the problem of how I come out of it unscathed.”

“We already went through this—”

“I know we did. I was hoping you’d come up with a solution. So far, I haven’t heard one. Get me out of the line of fire. That’s all I ask.”

“I’m still racking my brain.” Walker looked at his watch. “What time did you tell him? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”

“I told him half an hour.”

“Well, where is the little shit? You called me at noon.”

“That was twenty-five minutes ago. You’re avoiding the subject.”

“Which is what, how you keep out of the line of fire?”

“Right. I’d like to hear your thoughts.”

“Yeah, well, my thoughts are to stay clean and sober. To do that, I gotta get square, and I’m cool with that.”

“So you said. Have you any concern whatsoever about what this will do to me? I looked it up. The deal is, you make amends unless doing so would injure others. You don’t think I’ll be ‘injured’ if you blow the whistle on me?”

“I don’t think the admonition applies when there’s a serious crime involved,” Walker said. “I feel bad, Jon. I do. We were good friends, the best. Then this came between us, and I’ve regretted it. We can’t socialize. We can’t acknowledge one another in public. I can’t even talk to you by phone.”

“That’s more your rule than mine,” Jon said, mildly.

“Bullshit. That was your dictate from the beginning. I only ever called you twice in the last twenty-one years, and that was in the past few weeks. And you blew me off.”

“Water under the bridge. I’m asking for protection. You owe me that.”

“I can’t protect you. With Michael Sutton on his way? Are you nuts? We’ll be at his mercy. The first dollar changes hands and he’ll have us for life. I can’t believe you’d even entertain an offer.”

“You must have been open to the idea or you wouldn’t be here.”

“I came because you talked me into it. I don’t want to meet the kid at all and I certainly don’t want to pay him money. Jon, this can all be so simple. If I go to the police we can put an end to it right here. He’ll have nothing on us.”

“He’s got nothing on us now.”

“Then why are we sitting up here waiting for him?”

“We’re not. He’s actually not going to join us. He’s been unavoidably delayed.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I reconsidered and you’re right. Doing business with him is a bad idea. I changed my mind. I’m here asking you if you’ve changed yours.”

“About turning myself in? That’s nonnegotiable. I wish I could help you, but you’re on your own. Do whatever you want.”

Jon made a face. “Like fuckin’ what?”

“Why not take off? Disappear into thin air. Isn’t that what the bad guy did in your last book?”

“Book before last. And thanks for assigning me the part of ‘the bad guy.’ I’ve already thought about taking off, as a matter of fact. You go all holier-than-thou with this confession of yours, I have no choice. I gotta get out before the shit hits the fan. I’m offering you one more chance . . . just one . . . to do something other than what you’ve proposed.”

“You want me to keep my mouth shut.”

“Now you got it. Otherwise, I take control, which is not going to be good for either one of us.”

Walker shook his head. “Can’t do. Won’t. I’m sorry if that creates a problem for you.”

“My problem . . . and this is a tough one, Walker . . . it really is . . . I can’t afford the tab. Your purging your conscience is going to cost more than I want to pay. You go to the cops, you know the story you’ll tell? You’ll make me the fall guy. How can you resist? You already said it was my idea, that I was the instigator while you followed orders. What kind of horseshit is that? How does it make me look? What wiggle room does it give my defense attorney if the law ever catches up with me? You’ll rat me out and you’ll be a hero while I take the rap. I mean, does that seem right? Think about it. You were in it the same as I was—every step of the way. You never once spoke up. You never expressed any reservations at all—until now.”

“Times change, Jon. I’ve changed.”

“But I haven’t.” He held his hand out. “Look at this. Steady as she goes. No wavering on my part. No ambivalence, no getting all weepy-minded. You’re the fly in the ointment, if you’ll excuse the cliché.”

Walker recoiled in mock horror. “So what are you going to do,
rub me out
?
”

“Pretty much.”

Walker offered up a flickering smile. “You can’t be serious. You think silencing me will protect you?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“What about Sutton?”

Jon stared at him.

Walker blanched. “Oh, shit, what did you do?”

“Shot him,” I said, raising my voice. I’d reached the top of the hill, which was utterly without cover. They couldn’t fail to notice my arrival so I figured I might as well speak up. In a heartbeat, Walker realized who I was. Jon was slower on the uptake. He looked at Walker. “Who’s this?”

I crossed the grass. “Kinsey Millhone. I’m an old high school class-mate. You probably don’t remember me, but I remember you.”

I had my gun in hand. I wasn’t pointing it at anybody, but I thought it would be effective nonetheless.

Jon said, “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Yes, it does. Michael Sutton was a friend of mine.”

He noticed my gun for the first time and nodded. “Is that thing loaded?”

“Well, I could end up looking foolish if it weren’t.”

Casually, he removed a gun from his windbreaker pocket and pointed it at me. “I’m telling you to get the fuck off this hill before I shoot you.”

I made a face I hoped conveyed humility and regret. “Sorry to make a fuss about it, but here’s my view. I’ll bet Sutton was the one and only guy you ever killed in cold blood. I, on the other hand, have killed more than once. I can’t give you the count. I try not to keep track because it makes me look like a vigilante, which I’m not.”

“Up yours.”

“I don’t want to sound racist about this, but what we have here is what’s called a Mexican standoff.”

He smiled. “Right, the question being which of us will fire first.”

“Exactly.” I fired a shot, hitting his right hand. The gun popped up and landed in the grass. Walker jumped while Jon yelped in pain and dropped where he stood. I must have looked like a sharpshooter, but in truth he was fewer than fifteen feet away so it didn’t require any tricks. Point and pull the trigger, easy does it.

“Jesus Christ,” Walker said. “You fuckin’
shot
the guy!”

“He’s the one who talked about firing first,” I said.

I removed a hankie from my shoulder bag and bent down to retrieve Jon’s gun, wrapping it daintily to preserve his fingerprints. Jon had rolled over and risen to his knees. He leaned forward, head almost touching the ground as he gripped his shattered right hand in his left. He watched himself bleed, his face ashen, his breathing ragged.

“You’re fine,” I said to him, and then turned to Walker. “Give me your tie and I’ll make a tourniquet.”

Walker was so rattled his hands shook as he pulled the knot on his tie and passed it to me. Except for the whimpering, Jon offered no resistance as I made a slipknot and secured the tie around his forearm. It’s only in the movies the bad guys keep firing. In real life, they sit down and behave.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Walker said, distressed.

“Neither can he.”

“We can’t just leave him here without help.”

“Of course not.” I handed him my car keys. “My Mustang’s parked down below. Take it to the nearest service station, call the cops, and tell ’em where we are. You better ask for an ambulance while you’re at it. I’ll wait here with your pal until you get back.”