S. J. Rozan

by Absent Friends

  He whispers, And me going down for it! Jesus.

  You saved our lives, says Markie. He was shooting at us. You won't go down.

  Don't you know who I am? says Tom, raw and wild. The cops'll fucking love it, one Molloy wasting the other! Oh, you bet your ass I'm going down for the rest of my fucking life.

  Jimmy knows that's right. The cops won't let this go.

  And like the cops were wolves, like they smelled blood in the night air, Jimmy hears sirens, far away, coming closer.

  Shit, oh shit, says Tom.

  Come on, says Markie. He grabs the bag, starts shoving the beer cans back in it.

  Wait, says Tom.

  What the fuck for? Markie scoops up Tom's gun like it's just another beer can, drops it in the bag. He says, They find you here, you're fucked. Jimmy, they find you here, maybe you don't go to jail, but they'll kick your ass off the Job, you know they will.

  This hits Jimmy hard. Markie might be right.

  Or they'll tell you, says Markie, they'll say to stay on the Job, you gotta rat Tom out.

  When Markie says this, Jimmy feels like he's buried under tons of concrete, like he can't breathe.

  The sirens howl louder.

  Tom rubs his hand over his head, and Jimmy can see now he's thinking, he's working this out. No, Tom says. They find Jack like this, they'll think it's the Spanos. Dad'll send guys over there. They'll send guys back. A fucking war. Oh, Christ.

  Tom? says Markie. You can think what to do later. You guys have to get the fuck out of here now.

  Us guys? says Jimmy.

  Yeah, says Markie. You gotta go.

  The sirens wail louder.

  Markie pushes them, both of them, to the edge of the plywood floor. Jimmy thinks, Markie. Markie's figuring what to do. Everybody's listening to Markie. But Markie never thinks past now, this minute. Markie never thinks ahead.

  Wait, Jimmy says. Stop. He looks at Tom, at Markie; at Jack, sprawled on the unfinished floor. He wants to take it all in, until he knows what to do. He doesn't know what to do.

  Markie says, Jimmy, the Job. You want to stay on the Job? You think that's gonna happen, they find you here?

  There's a sweep of lights in the trees.

  Jim, says Tom. Jimmy, man?

  They look at each other, Tom and Jimmy. Jimmy's looking for that light Tom gets in his eyes, the thing that says he had a smart idea, he knows the answer. Looking for it, but doesn't see it.

  Markie jumps down, says, Come on, you guys, come on. Tom jumps, too. They both stand looking up at Jimmy.

  Just before he jumps, just before he runs, Jimmy looks up through the roof beams, up at the sky, like maybe something there can help him know what to do.

  The moon's gone.

  BOYS' OWN BOOK

  Chapter 16

  Breathing Smoke

  September 12, 1979

  Markie, man, you're fucking crazy!

  Jimmy's said these words a million times before, on the playground, in the classroom, in someone's backyard. He's saying them now, again, from the shotgun seat of Markie's car. The ragtop's down, Tom's in the back, the sun's hot even though it's early in the morning and it glitters on the water just beyond the dead end where they're parked.

  Jimmy's thinking about last night. Tom and Markie are, too, Jimmy knows that, how can they think about anything else? Last night's like a huge tall building when you're standing right in front of it, it fills up the world and there's nothing else there.

  Last night: Jimmy and Markie and Tom run through the woods as cop car headlights stab into the half-built houses on Coleman Road. They leave Jack on the plywood floor, to be found and photographed and taken away by men who don't like him, men whose job it is to find who killed him but who will give each other little cold smiles when they hear he's dead.

  This is fucked, Jimmy says last night, when they circle around to Markie's car, the ragtop parked in the turn-off, the vinyl filled with tree shadows. I can't— He stops. He doesn't know what he can't do. Or what he can.

  Yeah, says Tom. I know. Just till morning, man. Give me till morning, I have to think.

  Jimmy knows what Tom's thinking about: his mom. Jack, it's too late, there's no thinking that'll help Jack now. Tom's doing what he always does, pushing right past the problem he can't solve, looking for the one he can do something about.

  And Jimmy's thinking about the Job. About what Markie said would happen if anyone knew Jimmy was there when Jack got killed.

  Jesus, man, Jimmy says.

  But he doesn't say, No.

  When Jimmy gets home, Marian's asleep. He takes a shower, pounding and cold, like sometimes at the firehouse after a run, most of the guys soaping off in hot steamy water but Jimmy thinking hot water's a lot like fire, how can it wash away what fire leaves behind? The shower he takes tonight is hard and icy, but it doesn't feel like it washes anything away.

  He gets into bed very quietly. Marian turns, smiles in her sleep. He kisses her, puts his arm over her, pretends to fall asleep right away.

  An hour later the phone rings.

  Marian jumps, and Jimmy does, too, though as soon as he hears it, he knows he's been expecting it. Marian's eyes are worried, she watches him while he answers, because nothing good ever comes from a phone call in the middle of the night.

  It's Tom. He's talking quietly, like he doesn't want anyone else to hear. The cops were here, he says.

  Jimmy doesn't say anything, waits for Tom.

  They came to tell me about Jack, Tom says. And Jimmy, man? Shit, Jimmy. Markie, says Tom. Markie confessed.

  Jimmy is confused. He asks Tom, What are you talking about?

  After he dropped you and me off, Tom says, he went back there. He told them Jack was shooting at him, and he shot at Jack just to scare him, he didn't mean to hit him, but he's a lousy shot. He said he got scared and ran but now he came back.

  Wait, says Jimmy, wait.

  What's Jimmy asking Tom to wait for? He doesn't know.

  Tom says, They have him at the station, he's making a statement. That's what the cops said. They said he gave them the gun.

  The gun? Jimmy feels stupid, he doesn't understand anything.

  When he said he'd get rid of it, with the cans? He didn't. He gave it to them. He told them it's his.

  Why?

  Jesus, Jim. Why do you fucking think?

  Shit, says Jimmy. He knows why. He wants to say, So he can be a fucking hero, so he can save your ass. And mine. This is Markie, climbing a tree without thinking how he's going to get down, like always, like always.

  But Jimmy can't say this to Tom, because Marian's watching him, her eyes wide now because she knows for sure something bad's going on. Her hand is in his, like she wants to help him, like whatever the bad thing is, it'll be better if the two of them know about it together.

  Jim? says Tom.

  What?

  Marian's there with you?

  Yes, Jimmy says.

  Say I called to tell you about . . . about Jack. Don't say anything else. I got to find out what's going on. I got to think, what to do.

  Jimmy nods as though Tom could see him. He puts the phone down, turns to Marian, but he can't say anything, he just looks at her and then suddenly wraps his arms around her, holds her close.

  She's warm, and he's so cold.

  Now it's morning, the sun's pouring down on Jimmy and Markie and Tom in the car, but Jimmy's still cold.

  They didn't arrest Markie last night, they let him go home because the way he told the story about shooting Jack, it was self-defense and there's nothing to say it wasn't. The cops all know Markie, the cops all know everyone in Pleasant Hills, they know Markie has a kid, they don't see him going anywhere. Markie's grinning.

  See, he says, it's what I figured. I'm an upstanding citizen. They believed me. Everybody'll believe me. It was an accident, it was because he was shooting at me. This way you guys are cool, and even, no one thinks it was Eddie, so there's no war. Your guys, Tom, yo
urs and Big Mike's, they don't go after Eddie's guys, and Eddie's guys don't come back over here. Nobody gets popped, man. Everybody's cool.

  You're fucking crazy, Jimmy says again, and he knows this thing Markie's doing, it's wrong; but he's thinking about how they didn't arrest Markie, thinking maybe, just maybe, this is wrong but it could be a good answer.

  Then Tom, who's been quiet since he got in the car, Tom says, The gun.

  No, says Markie, grinning wider, like he thought of this, too. No, it's okay. I wiped it. I wrapped my hand on it like I shot it. Even if they find your prints on it, Tom, I'll say I showed it to you a couple days ago. Everything's cool.

  The gun's not registered, says Tom.

  So? Markie says.

  Markie, man, even if they buy the whole rest of it, Tom says, they'll still send you up for the gun.

  But, says Markie, and his grin wobbles. What do you mean? Just the gun?

  Yeah, says Tom. He closes his eyes, leans on the backseat like he's too tired to say anything else.

  But, says Markie again. But I'm clean. I'm an upstanding citizen.

  Tom's eyes open. He jerks forward. Christ, where have you been? he shouts. It's their big thing. Get the guns off the street! You were just carrying it and they caught you, maybe you might get off, suspended sentence, whatever, you're so fucking upstanding. You shoot someone with an unlicensed gun, self-defense, it doesn't matter, you're fucked. They'll send you up for it, sure as shit.

  Everything's silent, the trees aren't even rustling, the birds aren't singing.

  Then Markie says, How long?

  What?

  For the gun. How long?

  Markie, fuck, you're not serious, says Jimmy.

  Tom starts to say something. Then he stops. He keeps staring at Markie, but his face changes. He seems to Jimmy like maybe he's seeing something different from what he thought he was.

  Tom says, First offense, no priors? Good lawyer, sixteen months. Behave inside, you're out in five.

  Okay, says Markie.

  What the fuck? says Jimmy.

  Five months, Markie says. He swallows, looks down quickly. Because listen. Because now I said I did it. If I say I didn't, they'll want to know why I said it in the first place. They'll want to know who I'm—what I know. What the hell can I say?

  Jimmy wants to say, Dammit, Markie, you should've thought of that before. But what's the point? Markie never thought ahead in his life, why would he do it now?

  Markie says, Tom goes down for this, he's fucked for good. I mean, years, he'll spend years inside.

  Markie looks at Tom, and Tom nods.

  That fucks Vicky, too, says Markie, and the kids, Mikey and the baby you got coming. And your mom, look what happens to her. And Jimmy? Jimmy, anyone finds out you were there, you're fucked, too.

  Everything Markie just said is right. Still. Jimmy shakes his head, says to Markie, No.

  Jimmy? says Markie. It's not your choice.

  Markie looks at Tom, and Tom looks at Markie. Jimmy can see they're saying something between themselves, without any words.

  Then Tom says, Maybe I can fix it. He nods. I can talk to some guys.

  It sounds like Tom's trying to make them feel better by telling them that, but Jimmy thinks it's not him and Markie he's really talking to.

  Just, says Tom, to make sure they don't charge Markie with anything except the gun. I can do that. My guys can. And, Markie, man, I swear, if it doesn't work like that, if they throw anything else at you, or the sentence is long, any shit like that, I swear to God I'll come clean, man. I swear it.

  Wait, says Jimmy. But like last night, he doesn't know what he's asking Tom to wait for. You guys are nuts, says Jimmy. You can't. You're crazy.

  I want to. Markie's voice is quiet. I want to save people, one time. I want to be Superman, just once. Jimmy, you do it all the time. You always did it. Just one time, I want to do it.

  But Sally and Kevin, says Jimmy.

  It'll be better, says Markie, it'll be better for me with them, if I always know, from now on if I always know I did this. I saved people, one time.

  Jimmy's sticky with sweat. He doesn't know what to say. He keeps thinking of words to use, then seeing how they'll mess things up, trip him up, make it worse. The sun crawls higher in the sky. The other side of the backseat, the place next to Tom where Jack should be, the sun's glaring off the vinyl there because there's nothing to stop it.

  And Jimmy's thinking, Jack.

  If Jack knew what Markie was doing, Jack would slap Markie on the back, say, Markie, man, I knew you had balls!

  If Jack knew about this, thinks Jimmy, Jack would love it.

  BOYS' OWN BOOK

  Chapter 17

  The Bodies of the Birds

  February 16, 1980

  Markie's dead.

  Jimmy doesn't know what to do. It's like he knows what the words mean, but he still doesn't understand them.

  Jimmy remembers hearing the words, the first time was two days ago. He remembers answering the phone, it's Sally, she's crying and telling him. He tells Marian, and the two of them run, pulling their coats on they run on the sidewalk. There's a cop at Sally's, a guy named Rosoff, Jimmy knows him a little, the way a fireman knows a cop. He came to tell Sally, and he stayed until someone could come, but he sure looks glad he can leave now.

  What happened? Jimmy asks, and Sally sits there crying with Marian's arms around her and tells them. Markie got into a fight with some guy, the guy told Markie to do something and maybe Markie didn't do it fast enough or maybe he did it and that made the guy even madder, but anyway he stabbed Markie, and now Markie's dead.

  Jimmy remembers that, Sally telling that story, Sally crying. He remembers everything that happened, everything everyone said, every minute all day as people came and went. Sally's family, friends, the neighbors.

  Sally's mom, still some red in her gray hair, Jimmy remembers her picking up Kevin, who's all smiley and bouncy because all these people are over, Kevin likes people around. Sally's mom starts to cry, holding Kevin, and Kevin looks confused and then scared and then he cries, too.

  Jimmy's answering the door, he made that his job. He opens it one time to find Tom and Vicky, Vicky brought cookies and Tom brought whiskey. Vicky comes right in the house, but Tom and Jimmy stand, one inside and one outside. Jimmy looks into Tom's eyes, eyes as blue as the sea or the sky. Sally comes up behind Jimmy, holds out her hand to Tom, he takes it and hugs her, and Jimmy stands aside, watches Tom go in.

  Jimmy's in the living room, listening to everyone saying things that don't make sense. He's not drinking because he's on duty later, at least until Marian whispers to him maybe he wants to get someone to take his shift?

  He doesn't, he really doesn't; what Jimmy wants more than anything is to go to the firehouse, like this was a regular day, the guys'll all be there, ragging on each other, and what Jimmy wants then is for a call to come in and all at once it's the bell and the sirens, racing onto the truck and flying through the streets to get to oily black smoke and heat like a wall. He wants water exploding out of the hose to meet the starving flames reaching out to eat you and you have to beat them back and you do, you do, and you win and it's over. And then he wants another call, and another one, because while you're battling the dragon, you have to do it, you have no time to think, and that's what he wants, because if he thinks, all he can think is: Markie's dead.

  That was yesterday. Now, today, Jimmy leaves Marian at Sally's, early in the morning before the people start to come. He gives the girls time to be alone, and he goes out to the rocks under the bridge.

  It's a cold day, windy, no sun, the sky's gray and the water's gray, too, just darker. Jimmy watches the ships crawl by as though he's looking for a special one, but the ships he sees, they're all black freighters, they're all the same. The gulls circle, screeching and diving. The gulls, the cold steel of the bridge, the rocks Jimmy's sitting on, everything's gray, like the water and the sky. Jimmy thinks, Goddamn you
all.

  Jim?

  Jimmy snaps his head around.

  It's Tom.

  Tom stands there on the edge of the rock behind Jimmy, like he's not going to come any closer unless Jimmy says it's okay.

  Jimmy doesn't say that. He doesn't say anything. He just turns back to watching the water.

  For a long time there's nothing but the ships and the crying gulls. It's so long that Jimmy thinks Tom left, or maybe he was never there at all.

  Then a pebble clicks along the rock, tumbles off the edge and into the water. Jimmy hears footsteps crunch, and Tom's standing beside him.

  Tom unslings the canvas backpack he's carrying and he sits. Brought some coffee, he says. He takes out a Thermos, a couple of Styrofoam cups. The coffee steams as he pours. He hands a cup to Jimmy. Jimmy wraps both hands around it; he's never been this cold before.

  Jim, says Tom.

  At first that's all Tom says. He drinks his coffee. It's black, the way Jimmy and Tom both like it.

  Jim, if you want to come clean, I won't try to stop you.

  A yacht plows out under the bridge, throwing up a white trail. Who the hell's that asshole? Jimmy wonders. It's February, what's he thinking, he can just go out and have a good time on a day like this?

  I'll go with you, Tom says. I'll tell the truth, everything.

  Jimmy drinks his coffee.

  That what you want? says Tom. I'll do it.

  What I want, Jimmy says, I want Markie not to be dead.

  Tom nods. Yeah, he says. Yeah, no shit, man. So do I.

  A fireboat steams by, the John J. Harvey maybe, Jimmy was on the Harvey once, doing some training. Jimmy thinks, Good for them, good for those guys, on their way to a job. He thinks about the fire under his skin that he feels at a job, not feeling it now, now he's too cold, now he can't feel anything.

  I have an idea, says Tom.

  Jimmy turns to stare. You have an idea? You have a fucking idea?