Road Dogs

by Elmore Leonard

  But he does seven and a half, Foley said, and he's out next week.

  He watched Little Jimmy shake his head.

  Who you think found the girl lawyer? For a flat fifty-k win or lose?

  Megan Norris, Foley said.

  Tha's the one. Megan, she offers what look like a cool deal, no trial. But I think it was to make sure he does time. She only pretend to like him.

  Hey, I had her too, Foley said. She gets up in the morning she's out to win. He turned to Dawn and told her about Jimmy's blood oath to stay loyal to Cundo. I asked him, 'What if you get tired of playing along? You decide to clean out the accounts and take off?'

  Dawn said, He's afraid Cundo will come after him.

  I'm not afraid he will, Little Jimmy said, I know he will. He tole me.

  Foley said, What do you think he'd do?

  Kill me. What else you think?

  Jimmy's sure of it, Dawn said.

  He already kill six guys in his life, Jimmy said. Wha's another one?

  Six? Foley said. I thought he was only up to four.

  He was at Starke, Jimmy said, he had two cons done for him. Set afire in their cells, burnt alive, man, they can't do nothing but scream.

  He told you that?

  Who do you think paid the guys did it? Listen, everything he tole you he did? Was never him, was me.

  When he comes home, Foley said, set him straight. You're doing all the work tell him you want a raise.

  I'll talk to him, Dawn said to Jimmy. If you feel you should be rewarded. You can't tell Cundo anything, you put it out there and it becomes his idea.

  He can read a bank statement, Little Jimmy said. All he wants to know is how much money he's got.

  Foley said, You don't want to start out with the idea he's dumb and stopped, not sure if Dawn heard him:

  Dawn with Jimmy now, her hand on his arm, Dawn saying, Jimmy, in her quiet way, you know Cundo loves you. It's why he expects you to be loyal to him. Think of how long you've been together, as close as brothers.

  It stopped Foley. Where was she going with this?

  What I see him doing, Jimmy, Dawn said, he's giving you the chance to be important in his life, to stay with him no matter what. I think you do owe him that.

  Foley said, You don't think Cundo owes Jimmy?

  Dawn stunned him with a look.

  Didn't I say I'd speak to Cundo? Maybe you weren't listening, Jack.

  Man a quiet, killer tone of voice.

  Why don't you just get him a raise, Foley said, so he doesn't have to skim? I bet Jimmy knows Cundo better than we ever will, even reading minds.

  They'd get into it good once Jimmy left, Foley sure of it.

  They killed the pitcher of martinis and he took Jimmy out to the alley. The bodyguard didn't seem surprised to see him weaving, grinning as they put him in the Bentley. Foley asked the bodyguard how he was called.

  The guy said, Zorro.

  He was slim, as old as Cundo.

  Foley said, Where's your sword?

  I'm a different Zorro.

  Is that right? Foley said. He saw the name came from this guy's narrow face with the look of a fox, the guy standing with his suit coat open, patient. Foley said, I like Jimmy I hope you're taking good care of him.

  Yes, of course, Zorro said.

  What do you pack, a Glock?

  Sometime. Most time a Colt Python.

  That's a big gun.

  It gets respect.

  Jimmy puts you in situations?

  Mr. Rios is careful, always. He knows to be responsible.

  He gets ripped?

  I take care of him. He don't do it often, except he's with Dawn, the bruja.

  You don't like her.

  Zorro shrugged.

  But you respect Jimmy?

  As long as he don't get sweet on me.

  I don't want anything to happen to him, Foley said. He's crossing the street and gets run over.

  It won't happen, Zorro said. He took a cigarette from his shirt pocket. So, you the bank robber, uh?

  Foley returned to the house with a glow-on and a bad feeling about Dawn. He'd ask her in a nice way why she turned soft on Jimmy and listen to her tone of voice: see if it was the one Adele and maybe all women used when they were looking down at you.

  Dawn's advantage was her mystical gift she could spring on you, as a psychic and a medium too. She'd convince you she knew things about you from the past and could make up things in your future if she wanted. Put ghosts in your house if you didn't have any and charge you ten grand to get rid of them. Reverend Dawn scamming rich ladies. No, she'd tell you she was entertaining them. They felt the best they'd ever felt in their lives and would insist on paying her.

  But disagree with her one time, she stings you without raising her voice.

  Maybe you weren't listening, Jack.

  What happened to We've found each other, Jack?

  She was still in the kitchen, turning from the sink as he came in. Foley thinking that if she happened to use that other tone they had, like they're trying to be patient while explaining what she was doing with Little Jimmy .

  She said, Do you still love me, Jack?

  He didn't see it coming. It stopped him and cleared his mind of accusations. He said, I didn't understand what you were up to.

  I'm sorry, Jack. You know what I was afraid of? I thought, What if we got Jimmy too worked up, telling him he's the good guy and stupid Cundo doesn't know what he's doing. Jimmy could decide all of a sudden to clean out the accounts you even suggested it and make a run for it. If he did, where would that leave us?

  Foley said, You're selling Cundo short.

  You're right, Dawn said, he isn't stupid about pulling jobs. You mind my using that expression? I love it. We're gonna pull a job. She smiled but said right away, serious now, Don't get me wrong, I'm not in this for thrills and chills, a new kind of adventure in my life. She said, I've been thinking about this for a long long time, and smiled again. Are you with me, Jack?

  Foley didn't answer. He'd been thinking she was with him.

  We started talking, Dawn said, I couldn't believe it. You're the perfect guy for this, the dedicated pro.

  It sounded better, but dedicated to what, going to jail?

  I hope you understand I see you in charge, Dawn said. Whatever you say goes.

  Since you've never pulled a job?

  Jack, don't make fun of me, all right?

  I will if you stop reading my mind. Now Foley smiled, back in the game, feeling better about his partner. He said, Jimmy's not ready yet, he has to work up his nerve. He skims and nothing happens, he thinks it's okay. But to go for broke, grab whatever he can put his hands on, now Little Jimmy's an outlaw, right up there with John Dillinger. He'll think about it until he sees there's no getting around it, he's gonna need help.

  Dawn said, You think so?

  If he doesn't see it, Foley said, I'll point it out to him.

  Chapter ELEVEN

  FOLEY CAME DOWN FROM THE ROOF, THE GLASSES HANGING from his neck, saw Dawn still in bed as the phone rang and saw her eyes open. Foley picked up the phone from the nightstand looking down at her eyes watching him now. He said hello and said yes, he'd accept the charge, waited and said, Cundo, how you doing? You all right? He listened and said, Today? No, I haven't seen her No, not since she came over and introduced herself, Foley staring at Dawn, telling Cundo, No, we haven't switched yet, she wasn't ready to move, still getting her stuff together. I called her yesterday, see how she's doing. She said fine, she was painting. Foley listened and said, How do I know, I'm telling you what she told me. She did the painting in the room here, Foley watching Dawn making a face now, Me? Yeah, I guess. I didn't ask her. He listened and said, You mean in the painting? She has on a bathing suit, a two-piece. Listening now he looked away from her as he said, I imagine she went to the store, maybe she needs eggs, I don't know. Foley listened and said, How would I know? I said maybe What I should've said Cundo, listen to me. What
I meant to say, if she isn't home, she probably went to the store. Isn't that what you'd think? Wait and try her again. He looked down at Dawn giving him a soft look, touching her lips with the tip of her tongue. No, I only saw her the one time yeah, right, and spoke to her on the phone. He listened and said, I'm makin' it. I take walks, I eat out mostly. He watched Dawn slip the sheet down to uncover her left breast and mouth the words Who am I? Foley saying to Cundo, I knew you were gonna ask me that. I can't think of the name of the place No, but it's on Abbot Kinney. Listen, Cundo, why don't you call her in a while, give her time to do her shopping. Foley listened and said, Just a second, and pressed the phone against his side so he could tell Dawn, Go home, quick. He's gonna call you when he hangs up.

  You told him to wait, didn't you?

  He called here first, didn't get an answer and tried you at the other house, almost an hour ago, Foley watching her throw off the sheet and run naked out of the bedroom. He walked to the front casement windows and waited to see how she would come out. He raised the phone, said, Cundo? Gimme a minute, my man, and pressed the phone to his side.

  She wasn't naked but close to it, Dawn streaking out of the house in his sixty-nine-dollar drip-dry sport coat hanging limp on her but looking good the way her bare legs moved in the sunlight, Dawn running down the walk lined with shrubs and plants, palm trees, all the way to the footbridge that humped over the canal. She stopped and was talking to somebody Foley couldn't make out, plants and trees hiding him, a guy. Foley raised the glasses hanging against his chest, and saw Dawn step up on the bridge and glance back as she started across. Now the guy stepped up on the bridge and stood watching her.

  Tico, wearing his lavender do-rag.

  Foley let the field glasses hang and raised the phone.

  Cundo, there's somebody out by the gate. I can see him but don't know who it is, he rang the bell I don't know. That's what I want to find out. He saw Dawn on the other side of the canal now, coming back in this direction, and he raised the glasses to see her running toward Cundo's pink home, Dawn letting the front of his sixty-nine-dollar drip-dry sport coat flap open, barefoot, Foley thinking, She runs like a girl. He said to Cundo, Give the hack ten and call me afterwhile, you still want to talk. I'll be here I know, it can add up. You lucky you're rich. Listen, Cundo? I'm gonna hang up. I got to take a leak right now, okay? I'll see you when you get here. We'll have a homecoming party for you, I'll get Dawn to make a cake Cundo, I'm kidding, we'll have margaritas in your honor, okay? I'll talk to you later, Foley said, Jesus, and pressed the phone off.

  He saw Tico coming off the bridge to the walk, coming this way.

  It was weird, seeing Dawn in his mind running like a girl:

  While he flew down the outside stairs to the patio and through the gate to the walk:

  And saw Karen Sisco now, in the bar on top the hotel in Detroit. Saw her alone at the table. Saw her in the elevator looking up at the descending numbers flashing on, Karen saying, Hurry up, will you? I'm about to wet my pants. And saw her run down the hall to the room, Foley saying as he reached her, You run like a guy, and watched her pull the card from the slot in the door and turn her head to him saying, Wait till you see what I do as a girl.

  It was the first time he'd thought of Karen since Dawn walked in the house.

  Foley had maybe ten seconds before Tico would reach him. He turned to the gate, his back to the canal, timed it and came around as Tico started past him, gave the homey in the lavender headdress a shoulder that sent him through the hedge and down the bank, arms reaching out for Foley, to land in the canal on his back, thrashed around getting his feet under him and rose to stand in water that barely came to his waist.

  Foley stepped through the low hedge to watch Tico pull off his do-rag, wring it out and wipe his face with it, looking up at Foley.

  I'd like to ask you about Costa Rica, Foley said, all right? I'm interested in the job market I should say I'm more curious than interested. Who wants to work if you don't have to. I want to find out how much property costs if you want to build, and I've got some geography questions. Do you worry about volcanoes erupting? I understand you have an active volcano that attracts tourists? I'd also like to know, hear it from a native, which beaches are the most popular. I'd guess the Pacific side. It looks like there's more activity along there.

  Tico, standing in the water, said, You think I come from there?

  Foley said, You're a Tico, aren't you? I understand there can be a problem you buy land, go to build a house on it, a squatter's living there with his family, growing corn.

  A precaista, Tico said, what they call them. You find one on your land you get a lawyer. But tha's in the country, the one squatting is always a farmer. He said, There lot of gringos living in Costa Rica, man. Live on a beach, live up in the mountains if you want. You like to go there?

  I'm thinking about it. Move there when I retire.

  When you stop robbing banks?

  This kid letting Foley know he was cool.

  Foley said, How much time have you done?

  Three years, all of it.

  Got busted for being a tough kid?

  For a homicide they didn't care about reduced to manslaughter. I didn't care for it either, the 'slaughter' part. I didn't cut the man up, I shot him in the head.

  After you robbed him?

  The man dissed me.

  Listen, Foley said, now that we know each other, why don't you come up? We'll have a drink and talk about Lou Adams.

  Tico looked at the growth covering the bank to see where he would step. He raised his hand for Foley to help him. Foley told him he could make it on his own.

  Tell me why you push me in?

  I knew you'd ask me that, Foley said. I don't have a good reason, but felt I should, you working for that tin horn. I'm talking about Lou Adams.

  Is all right, Tico said, I see what you mean.

  Foley told himself, You guessed right, but you know you can't trust this dude, no matter how he comes off. He's a bullshitter. Sit him down in his wet shirt stuck to him maybe get him a towel. No, you don't get him anything. Foley did step to the edge and stick his hand out for the guy to take, asking what he wanted to drink.

  Tico said he didn't care.

  He wanted to see what the bank robber would offer him, certain it would be American beer. No, he put a square bottle of whiskey on the patio table, Jack Daniel's and a dish of ice cubes, the bank robber saying they'd have some Old Number Seven if Tico didn't think it was too early in the day. Tico didn't know what he was talking about, then he saw OLD NO. 7 on the label. He watched the bank robber pour drinks in low glasses saying, Tell me about Lou Adams. Is he crazy?

  Tico said, A little, yes. He took a drink of the sour mash and then another one and watched the bank robber reach over with the bottle to refill the glass.

  He's betting I rob a bank in thirty days of getting out. My ex-wife told me. I asked her if she bet him. You know what she said, 'I couldn't.' I said, 'I thought you loved me.' You know Cundo Rey, the guy owns this house?

  I hear of him. He still inside, uh? Till next week. He says I'm gonna rob another bank since it's the only thing I know how to do. Tico believed he could talk to this bank robber. Lou Adams said he catches you in the next thirty days he retires.

  You see him, tell him I'll take the bet. Thirty days from right now, a hundred bucks. He wants to talk about it he can come see me.

  Foley took a drink and lighted a cigarette. Tico's pack, wet through, was on the table. Foley pushed his pack toward him. Tico picked it up. Now he was reading the label to Foley. Virginia Slims, Light, Menthol? This what you smoke?

  What's wrong with Slims? Foley said.

  I think is funny is all.

  They're Dawn's. I noticed you talking to her on the bridge. You know where she was going? To her house, wearing some guy's coat was too big for her, Tico said, watching Foley to see what he'd say.

  You know her before Lou Adams got hold of you?

  I
know her maybe a month. I heard of her and we met one time she's walking by the Venice Pier. Yes, I see her, we talk.

  She tell your fortune?

  She hold my hand and tell me things about myself, what I like to do. Who I use to be

  Foley said, What if I get in the car, I don't go to that bank over on the circle, I drive off.

  Tico said, Yes ? surprised the bank robber didn't want to know more about Dawn Navarro. I see you get in the car you must mean the VW I call Lou Adams.

  What if nobody sees me?

  We all over the place, my Young Boys United, like Venice Boulevard and Dell Avenue, where you come out from the canals if you driving. What I like to know, Tico said, why is he want you so bad?

  He'll tell you, Foley said, it's his job to bring me in. But this has to cost him, you and your little helpers? He can't be paying you on what he makes.

  I don't help him, I get deported.

  That's it?

  You don't believe me?

  He's giving you something besides free time, Foley said, or you'd walk away. If Lou can't pay he's leaving a door open someplace. Maybe this house. But you can't bust in till he puts me away. It's some kind of deal like that? He wants me, he doesn't give a shit what you want.

  You think you know me, Tico said, what I'm willing to do?

  For money? Foley said. I've only met a thousand guys like you in stir. All you want to know is where's the hustle and what's the take.

  You saying Lou Adams can't pay me, Tico said, so he lets me, what, come in here and loot this place when he's done with you? Tico took a drink, having a good time with the bank robber, no problem. He said, What about your boss, Cundo Rey, you mention. What kind of deal you have with him?

  You think I work for him?

  Lou Adams say Cundo pays your way, pays for everything, even your lawyer a lot of money. So he say you in Cundo Rey's debt, you have to do what he tells you.