Breakout p-21

by Richard Stark

  ‘Oh, God,’ Henry said, and covered his eyes with one hand, head bowed.

  There was a chair against the side wall, with some of Henry’s clothing on it. Saying, ‘This is gonna take a while, these people are slow,’ Williams walked over to the chair, dumped the clothing off it, and sat on it.

  Henry lowered his hand to gape at his clothes on the floor. Darlene said, ‘Even if’

  Mackey looked at her with polite interest. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Even if you’re telling the truth,’ Darlene said, ‘even if she wasn’t a partof it, she was herewith you, she’s still an accomplice.’

  Mackey said, ‘Is Muriel an accomplice? They still have those old blue laws on the books in this state, did you know that? Who knows how many different felonies you two already committed in that bed there, but the point is, is Muriel your accomplice?’

  ‘That’s absurd,’ she said.

  ‘You’re right,’ Mackey agreed. ‘And Brenda’s my accomplice the same way.’

  She frowned, trying to find some way around this comparison, then impatiently shrugged and said, ‘It isn’t up to me, it’s up to the police. If whatever-her-name-is was morethan just “being around,” they’ll find out.’

  ‘Oh, but that’s the problem, Darlene,’ Mackey said. ‘It isn’t the police that make trouble for Brenda, it’s you.’

  ‘It’s up to them now,’ she insisted. ‘If she wasn’t doing anything wrong, they’ll let her go.’

  ‘But they don’t want to let her go, do they, Darlene?’ Mackey asked her. ‘They told you themselves, they don’t have a single thing to hold her on, but they don’t want to let her go because they’re suspicious of her because they can’t find out who she is, so that’s why they want you to go back tomorrow morning and sign a complaint against her.’

  Henry jerked to a crouch, hands clasped together, staring at Mackey as though he were some kind of evil wizard. ‘How did you know that?’

  Parker said, ‘I told you, Henry. We know everything.’

  Darlene said, ‘They asked me to cooperate.’

  Mackey said, ‘To sign a complaint that she made false statements on a credit application.’

  ‘Well, they were false,’ she said.

  Mackey shook his head. ‘It wasn’t a credit application.’

  She started to snap something, angry and impatient, but then stopped herself, as though she hadn’t realized till that second what the law had asked her to do. Maybe she hadn’t. She shook her head, rallied: ‘They were false statements.’

  ‘Not on a credit application. Not a crime.’

  Until now, Darlene and Henry had not looked at each other even once, both being too involved with the three men who’d broken into their room, but now they did turn to gaze at each other, a quick searching look will you be any help? and then faced Mackey again. Her voice lower, less pugnacious, she said, ‘I already said I’d do it.’

  Parker said, ‘What time you supposed to go in there, in the morning?’

  ‘Nine o’clock.’

  ‘So we got three and a half hours,’ he told her, ‘to figure out what you’re gonna do.’

  Mackey said, ‘Brenda’s never been in jail before. She’s never been fingerprinted before, that’s why the cops can’t get a handle on who she really is. You put an innocent woman in the lockup.’

  Trying for scorn, not quite making it, Darlene said, ‘An innocent woman!’

  ‘More innocent than you two,’ Mackey told her.

  ‘Give them a few minutes,’ Parker said.

  Mackey turned to him. ‘You mean, leave them alone awhile, let them get dressed, talk it over?’

  ‘That’s the best way,’ Parker said.

  Mackey looked around the room. ‘But what if they decide to use that phone there?’

  Parker said, ‘Then Muriel’s got a problem she can’t ignore,’ and the two on the bed gave each other startled looks.

  Mackey said, ‘Yeah, but what if they aren’t as smart as they look?’

  ‘No problem,’ Williams said. He stood, went over to the bed both people in it flinched, which he didn’t seem to notice and stooped to unplug the phone. ‘I’ll take it with me,’ he said.

  Mackey kept looking around the room. ‘What if they decide to go out the window?’

  Williams, carrying the phone, went to the room’s one window. ‘It’s locked,’ he said. ‘But it’s just the thing you turn, they could unlock it.’

  A dresser stood between the window and the chair Williams had been sitting in. Parker said, ‘We’ll move the dresser in front of the window. If they move it to get out, we’ll hear them from the hall.’

  Mackey said, ‘Let me see what’s what in the bathroom.’

  While Mackey went into the adjoining bathroom, Parker and Williams slid the heavy dresser over in front of the window, where it reached halfway up the lower pane. Then Williams stooped to pick up Henry’s trousers, go through the pockets, remove the wallet and keys. The couple on the bed watched, tense, together but not together.

  Mackey came back to the bedroom and said, ‘It’s okay. No phone in there, and the window’s high and small, looks like it’s painted shut.’

  The three moved toward the door, Williams carrying the wallet and the keys and the phone. Parker turned back to say, ‘You got one chance to get out from under. We’ll open the door in fifteen minutes.’

  6

  ‘In the darkness of the hall, with only faint distant streetlight illumination to define the space, Williams put the phone on the floor, and they moved down closer to the living room to have a quiet talk. Mackey said, ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I think she’s smart,’ Parker said. ‘She’ll figure it out.’

  ‘That’s the thing,’ Mackey said. ‘It’s got to come from her.’

  Williams said, ‘I think it will.’

  ‘If we just scare her,’ Mackey said, talking out his tension, ‘and we send her out scared when she talks to the cops, afraid maybe we’re back here roasting Henry for lunch, they’ll smell it on her. They won’t believe the conversation.’

  Williams said, ‘It’ll be a tough sell anyway.’

  ‘She’s tough enough to do it,’ Parker said. ‘He couldn’t do it, but she could.’

  Mackey said, ‘But it has to come from her. Her decision, how to make everything okay again.’

  Williams said, ‘You gonna stay here while she’s doing it?’

  Mackey shrugged. ‘No place else I can think of. And we’ll need to keep track of Henry.’

  ‘This place could be chancy,’ Williams said.

  Parker said, ‘I know what you mean. No matter how good she is, they’ll think maybe there’s something wrong. They’ll send somebody here.’

  ‘Not with a warrant,’ Mackey said. ‘No time, and no excuse.’

  Parker said, ‘No, just to eyeball it, while they’ve still got her there.’ He nodded toward the front door. ‘So we’ll have to fix that, make it work again. If the beat cop comes around, looks in the windows, tries the doors, everything’s okay, then that’s it. But if a door’s unlocked, that’s suspicion, that’s probable cause, he’ll come right in.’

  Williams said, ‘I’m gonna leave it all to you guys. You don’t need me any more, and I’m taking Henry’s car.’

  Mackey laughed. ‘A step up from the Honda.’

  ‘This time,’ Williams said, ‘I’m getting out of this state.’

  Parker said, ‘Switch all the cars around. Put ours in the garage, hers outside, then take off with his. That way, in the morning, she drives off, there’s no red Saab sitting there that nobody ever saw before.’

  Williams nodded, grinning. ‘There’s always another detail, huh?’

  ‘Sooner or later,’ Parker said, ‘you get to them all.’

  7

  ‘I don’t think I can do it,’ she said.

  They were in the kitchen now, seated around the Formica table, because lights at the rear of the house wouldn’t draw as much attention. Henry,
unshaven, brow creased with worry, wore a pale blue dress shirt, the trousers to a dark blue pinstripe suit, and black oxfords. Darlene was in a high-necked plain white blouse and severe long black skirt; apparently, what she intended to wear to the meeting this morning, a meeting that had now become something else, leaving her uncertain and afraid. She said, ‘How can I tell them I just changed my mind?’

  ‘People do it all the time,’ Mackey assured her.

  Parker said, ‘You were hot, you were angry, but now you’re cooled off, now you don’t want to make trouble for somebody if she really didn’t do anything.’

  ‘Which she didn’t,’ Mackey said.

  ‘But they’re going to look at me,’ Darlene said. ‘They’re going to want to know why I changed my mind, and all I’ll be able to think about is you two back here, threatening Henry.’

  Mackey turned to Henry. ‘Do you feel threatened?’

  ‘Yes,’ Henry said. He sounded surprised.

  Mackey gave him his full attention. ‘Then let me ask you this,’ he said. ‘What do youwant Darlene to do?’

  ‘I don’t want anyone to be hurt,’ Henry said. ‘I don’t want anybody to be

  ruined.’

  ‘Henry,’ Mackey said, ‘you’re a braver guy than you know you are. You risk ruin all the time, I know you do, and why? Because you love Darlene. You got your father the jewelry guy to cover for you tonight, because Darlene didn’t want to be alone after what happened to her dance studio. That was tough to ask him that, wasn’t it?’

  Henry nodded. He looked miserable. ‘Yes,’ he said.

  ‘I was hysterical,’ Darlene said. She was apologizing.

  ‘Sure you were,’ Mackey told her, and said to Henry, ‘But you did it. You risk everything because you love Darlene, and that’s what I’m doing with Brenda. So I’ll ask you, what do you want Darlene to do?’

  Henry was already shaking his head halfway through the question. ‘I can’t put that on’

  ‘Yes, you can, Henry,’ Mackey said. ‘She’s gonna leave here at eight-thirty glance at kitchen clock less than three hours from now. We’re gonna let her walk out the door, get in the car, drive away. Do you want her to go tell the cops she changed her mind, she doesn’t think that was Brenda parked there late at night after all, she doesn’t want to file a complaint she knows is a lie? Or do you want her to say there’s two armed and desperate criminals in her house, and they’re holding her lover, you, holding him hostage there? Because then there’s a big standoff, a shootout, and a lot of things happen, maybe even the house burns down’

  ‘The law does that sometimes,’ Parker said. ‘They always say it was an accident.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Mackey agreed. ‘Took down a whole neighborhood in Philly a few years ago.’ To Henry he said, ‘So all kinds of things could happen, if Darlene tells the law we’re in here, and you’re in here with us, but the one thing that will definitelyhappen is that you’ll be dead. My guarantee, Henry. You won’t have to worry about ruin any more.’

  Darlene, sounding desperate, said, ‘I want to do it, I knowyou two are capable of anything, but I don’t know if I cando it. I think they’ll look at me, and they’ll know,and then the police will come here and everything will happen just the way you say it will, even though I tried, and we’ll allbe destroyed, every one of us.’

  Parker said, ‘The meeting this morning. Is this with the detectives?’

  ‘No, it’s an assistant district attorney,’ Darlene said, ‘in her office. She’s Elise something, I don’t remember what.’

  Parker nodded. ‘We heard about her,’ he said. ‘Let me tell you the exact words we were told about her, by somebody who’s seen her and knows her. He said, “She’s a young woman with little experience and no feel for the job.” Is that the way Elise strikes you,Darlene?’

  Darlene, wide-eyed, said, ‘How do you people knowall these things?’

  Parker said, ‘Is that a good description of Elise?’

  Darlene thought, then nodded. ‘Yes. You can tell, she’s really mostly bluffing.’

  You can outbluff Elise,’ Parker told her.

  Mackey said, ‘Henry? Do you think she can do it?’

  Henry looked at the table, deliberately meeting no one’s eye. ‘Honestly,’ he said, ‘I pray she can do it.’

  Mackey grinned at Darlene. ‘So it’s gonna work out. It isn’t gonna be a piece of cake, we all know that, but you can deal with Elise.’

  ‘I’ll try,’ Darlene said. She looked at Henry. ‘I really will do my best.’

  ‘I know you will,’ he said.

  Leaning back, a pleased smile on his face, Mackey said, ‘So now we got plenty of time for a nice breakfast, and we could even rehearse if you want, up to you. I wouldn’t want you to be overtrained. And when you leave, your car’s in the driveway.’

  Henry sat up. ‘You mean, that man took mycar?’

  ‘He’s a local boy,’ Mackey explained. ‘He’s too well known around here, it seemed a good idea to leave while he could. Don’t worry, he’ll treat your car well, he won’t be going over any speed limits, you can be sure of that. And once Brenda’s out of that Fifth Street station, you can call in a stolen car report, no problem. He’ll be into some other transportation by then.’ Getting to his feet, he said, ‘Darlene, I’m no sexist. Lemme help you make breakfast.’

  8

  At eight-thirty she left, with a rueful look at the ruined front door on the way by. Parker had found hammer and nails in a kitchen drawer, and ripped a piece of jamb from an interior door. With the front door lock in place and the splintered pieces of the old jamb back in position, he’d nailed the new length of wood over the old. From the inside, it looked like hell, but nothing showed on the outside, and the door would lock.

  Parker watched her cross to her car, parked now where Henry’s had been last night. Her step was firm. She had herself under control.

  This was the unknown, starting now. Any time you put somebody on the send, off with the instructions but on their own, you could never be completely certain the glue would hold. She could doublethink herself in the car, on the way to the meeting. She could be blindsided by an unexpected question from somebody there. She could lose her nerve at any step along the way. Or she could hold together and this thing would finally be over.

  Darlene got behind the wheel. Carefully she fixed her seat belt. She backed to the street and drove away, not looking toward her house.

  Parker turned away from the window. Henry sat slumped on the sofa; he, too, didn’t know if she’d hold up. Mackey stood in the doorway, looking at Parker. ‘Time to make the call?’

  He meant to Li. It wouldn’t be good to mention that name in front of Henry, just in case things fell apart somewhere down the line. They might still need Li in the near future, and they would need him thinking about them and not thinking about saving his license. Parker said, ‘Henry, I’ll have to lock you in a closet now.’

  Startled, frightened all over again after a long time of calm, Henry said, ‘No, you don’t! I’ll just sit here, I won’t make any trouble.’

  ‘We have to phone somebody,’ Parker explained, being slow and patient because it would be better to keep Henry dialed down. ‘We can’t have you listen to it, but I’m not gonna just ask you to wait in the kitchen, right next to that back door.’

  ‘It won’t be long, Henry,’ Mackey said, and then he said, ‘I tell you what. You just go back into the bedroom and close the door. If you open the door, we can see you from here, so don’t open the door.’

  ‘I won’t,’ Henry promised.

  ‘It’ll just be a few minutes, like my friend told you,’ Mackey assured him. ‘And then we’ll call oley oley in-free, and you come back to the living room. Go now, Henry.’

  Henry got to his feet. ‘I won’t make any trouble,’ he said, and went away down the hall.

  They watched until the bedroom door closed, and then Mackey said, ‘I believe him. Henry will not make us trouble.’

&
nbsp; ‘Make the call,’ Parker said.

  Mackey went over to sit on the sofa, next to the phone. He pulled Li’s card from his shirt pocket and dialed, while Parker stood where he could hear Mackey and watch the hall.

  ‘Mr Li, please. I’m calling on the Brenda Fawcett matter.’ Mackey nodded at Parker, and said, ‘They’re patching him through again. I don’t think he’s ever in his office.’

  ‘He doesn’t need to be,’ Parker said.

  ‘No.’ Mackey looked at Li’s card. ‘He’s got all these partners to watch the office.’ Then, into the phone, he said, ‘Mr Li. This is Brenda’s friend. No, I know that, you don’t have any news yet, but within the hour I think maybe you will. You might even have good news. Yeah, it would be. The thing is, if the news is as good as I think it’s gonna be, Brenda’s gonna be out from under before we know it. Yeah, that wouldbe very nice. Now, if it works out like that, maybe you could give her some change to make a phone call, let me know what’s happening. Yeah, I think she should use change to make that phone call. The number’s‘ and he read off the number from the phone he was using. ‘I’ll be here, hoping for the best. Thank you,Mr Li.’

  Mackey hung up, and grinned at Parker. ‘Tell the stud he can come out now,’ he said.

  Parker did, and when Henry got back to the living room he said, ‘Is it all right if I use the phone?’

  Mackey said, ‘You gotta cover your tracks.’

  ‘Muriel believes,’ Henry said, ‘I’m spending the night at my father’s place. But she’ll expect me back some time this morning. So I’ll have to call her, tell her I’ll stay with my father while they assess the damage at the company, and then I’ll have to call my father and say we have to pretend we’re still together because I have problems I have to work out even more than before.’