by Manuel Ramos
Finally. He asked a damn good question.
“Bad enough. If it’s something you need that I can help with, be happy to.” Not exactly happy. I wanted to see where he was headed with his little game.
“You screw with me and you’re going back to prison. You get that, right?”
The guy was a fan of the obvious. “You don’t have to remind me that you have me by the nuts.”
“Remember that, and we’ll be okay.”
“Jesus.” I tensed up again. “What is it?”
He circled his desk and stood in front of me.
“It’s not that much, when you think about it. Maybe take you a couple of hours.”
“Yeah?”
“You met Ed Dillings.” He waited a beat. “No secret that we don’t get along. He’s a weak man, inside, but he has the power in this office. He’s worked as a bureaucrat for the state too long and it’s gone to his head.”
I guessed I was supposed to agree. I nodded.
“He’s been out sick for two days now. It’s a pattern with him. About every four months.”
“You think he’s not sick?”
“He’s sick, but not like with the flu or anything.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been here in this crummy office for five years, almost six. He won’t promote me, says I still have a lot to learn. Meanwhile, the son of one of his pals has moved up, out of the trenches. He was hired two years after me. Got a nice office over in the new courthouse. Pushes paper, talks to politicians. Doesn’t have to interact with lowlifes directly.”
Lowlifes like me.
“Dillings doesn’t appreciate you?”
“You could say that. I dated his daughter for about a year. He was my friend then. Promised me more responsibilities and more pay.”
“Good to have the man’s daughter for a girlfriend, right?”
“Good and bad. He never let me forget that Barbara was his daughter.”
“What happened?”
“We were engaged when I screwed it up, bad. All my fault. I accept that. I tried to make it right but it didn’t end well. She went from love to hate overnight. I tried to get her back but there was no changing her mind. It’s not like she was the great love of my life or anything like that. But the bitch has no compassion.”
I didn’t feel sorry for him. “Must have made it awkward around the office.”
“Dillings told me that he wouldn’t let the personal interfere with our professional relationship. That was a bunch of shit.” A thin spot of sweat appeared at his temples and along his upper lip. “He started payback and hasn’t eased up yet.”
“I don’t see how I can do anything about any of what you’ve told me.” I wanted him to sweat even more.
“When Barbara and I dated, one of the things she talked about was her relationship with her father. She went through some rocky times as a teenager. Her mother died in a car accident that Barbara blames on Dillings. She was a real wild child for a few years, in and out of trouble. The way she explained, her old man worried that her troubles would interfere with his career. They had some mighty blow-outs. She ran away like a half-dozen times, spent time on the streets. So she and her father aren’t exactly close. She’d get real wound up talking about her daddy. She told me things she probably regrets now.”
“Love, or hate, will loosen lips in more than one way.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He picked up a pen from his desk and chewed on it for a few seconds. “Looks like Dillings has a booze habit. He likes to drink all alone in his house. That’s nothing. But according to her, when he gets too deep into the booze, he’ll disappear for days. During those times, he often calls up an escort service. He’s a regular customer. Gets special treatment for special performances. That’s what Barbara called them.”
“Kinky stuff?”
“Oh yeah. Weird.”
“How’s the daughter know this?”
“She busted him one night. She stopped by because he hadn’t been seen for a few days. Called in sick here at work. Apparently he was on a genuine bender. She let herself in to check on him, make sure he hadn’t croaked. Turns out, Dillings was enjoying one of his kinkier episodes.”
“Because he’s out sick now, you’re thinking you can use that against Dillings? Give you some leverage for a promotion?”
“What do you think?”
I looked around his office, checked that the door was still closed. “You know, most of that kind of stuff doesn’t raise too many eyebrows these days. Everybody has their kinks. Nothing illegal or underage, right? If he’s in his own home, not out in public exposing himself, there’s not much to help you.”
He shook his head. “It’s not the legality of what he does. It’s that he’s such a power figure around here that anything that could tarnish that view would at least embarrass him. He’s the man, the main horse. Knocking him down a peg or two would be okay with me.”
“Again, not sure I can help with that.”
He threw the pen in a wastebasket. “From what Barbara told me, her father was in some humiliating situations when she walked in. Freaky stuff involving bodily functions and fluids. Just Dillings knowing that I know about those things might be enough for him to cut me some slack. That’s all I want.”
“But you don’t have any proof?”
“Right. Barbara will never back me up. She’s my only source but she hates me almost worse than her father.”
“You sure she told you the truth? If she doesn’t like her father, she could have lied about him to you.”
“Nah. The way she talked about him, the way she described what he did, what she saw, she was telling the truth. But I need something tangible that I can hold over his head.”
The guy had certainly opened up to me.
“Like what?”
“Photographs. Video. Recording.”
“You mean of him doing whatever it is that you think is humiliating?”
“You got it, Gus.”
I acted like I was thinking it over.
“Let’s assume I can get this proof you want,” I said. I placed my bet. “Then you’ll approve my request for temporary absence from the state?”
“Let’s say that I would be more amenable to such a request if I knew that I had a better chance of getting out of this hole. You help me, I’ll help you.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah. But you gotta take care of it tonight. He won’t do this again for another four months, at least. You miss out tonight and we don’t have a deal.”
I quit acting.
“Give me his address. I’ll see what I can do.”
I called Harry first thing the next morning. No one else was in the office.
“You got what I need?” he asked. “What happened?”
“You’re set. I’ll tell you all about it tonight. I think you’ll like it.”
“He was up to his tricks, right? Great. He’s out sick again today. Must have been quite a party.”
“I can’t even talk about it.”
He laughed. “Yeah, the perv. Makes me want to puke. I got him now. Come to my place after work. We can talk there.”
“Uh, no thanks. I’d rather be somewhere I know. Let’s meet here at Móntez’s office about nine. Can you do that?”
“Strange place for this kind of meeting.”
“I have a key and a good reason to be here. It’s where I spend most of my time. We’ll be alone. No one will bother us, but if anyone does come by, you can say you were looking over some of the work I’ve done for Luis. If anyone saw me at your house, it might raise questions.”
“Yeah, maybe. Okay. Who cares? I’ll see you at the lawyer’s office at nine. Don’t be late.”
“Don’t worry about that. Remember our deal.”
I made coffee, fired up my computer and kept busy while I waited for Rosa by entering my notes into a couple of files where I’d done basic grunt work.
I trudged on throu
gh the morning helping Rosa close out files and finish up final billings for many of Luis’ long-term clients. At noon I left the office and walked several blocks to a hamburger joint that recently opened on the Sixteenth Street Mall. Maxine waited for me in one of the wooden booths.
“Hey, bro. About time.”
“Sorry. The walk took longer than I thought. Good to see you. You look good.”
Maxine was beautiful and, since she had fallen in love, she looked better than ever. She had the dark features of my mother—hair and eyes—and the healthy look of my father, who at the end of his life was heavy into exercise and eating the right food. Maybe the fact that she reminded me of our parents was why I thought she was beautiful.
“How’s the wedding plans? Everything still a go?” “So far so good. I’m waiting for Sandra to come to her senses and tell me, ‘See ya, sucker.’”
Max insisted on downplaying the emotional attachments she created in her life, although she had several over the years.
“You and I both know that ain’t gonna happen. Still set for the summer?”
“Yeah. That’s why I wanted to see you today. But let’s get something to eat. I’m starved.”
We waited in line to order our burgers. The mall was packed with the typical downtown lunchtime crowd of young men in suits, young women in suits, construction workers in hardhats and muddy pants, homeless guys panhandling, kids dressed in black hoodies and boots sitting on the sidewalk leaning against the building, and an older man strumming a guitar while he tried to find a song that would catch someone’s attention.
When we finally made it to the counter, I went all out and had something called a California Whirl, which turned out to be a thick slab of ground beef smothered with avocado, bacon and sprouts on a toasted multigrain roll. I picked off the sprouts. Maxine demolished her turkey burger in about a minute. The girl never lacked for appetite.
“You’re sure about this?” I asked between bites. “No doubt that Sandra is the one?”
“I’m as sure as anything I’ve ever done. Sandra and I are good together, and I don’t mean just in our music or the band or the other projects we have going. We’re good in everything. It’s wonderful to be in love. I hope it happens for you soon, Gus.”
The way she emphasized “everything” said it all.
“Sandra and I are going to have a full-blown wedding, Gus,” she continued. “A good friend is going to be the official—she’s done it for many of our other friends—and we want to keep as many of the traditions we can, that we feel comfortable with, of course. We are pretty untraditional, after all. But there’s going to be a dance, for sure.”
“With the Rakers playing?”
She laughed. “I think so. My band’s gonna rock the house.”
“Food, presents, champagne, all that?”
“Yeah, food, what do you think? Plenty of food. Corrine’s coordinating. Who else, right?”
I nodded at that.
“So I want you to be a part of my wedding, too, Gus. I hope you can. It would mean a lot.”
Maxine had gone through issues with our father when she came out, and that had carried over to how much she wanted to talk to me about her personal life and the tumult of what she lived through when she was younger. She figured that my father and I were similar in so many ways that she was skittish about confiding in me. That had changed in the past few years, and I hoped that she was as comfortable with me as I was with her.
“Whatever you need, Max. Eager to help. Very happy that you want to include me.”
She reached across the greasy table and covered my hand. “I want you to give me away, Gus. Walk me down the aisle and hand me off to Sandra. Can you do that?”
I squeezed her fingers. “No problem, Max. You can count on me.”
“Thank you. Its means so much.”
“Who’s the minister or judge, or whatever you’re gonna have to make it official?”
“Our old friend Jackie O.”
I laughed. “Really?”
She leaned back in the booth. “What’s so funny? She’s been great at many of our friends’ weddings. And she always brings color and, uh, panache to the celebration. Choosing her was obvs.”
“Jackie is fine with me. Can’t wait to see what outfit she chooses for this.”
“Me, too. Just hope she doesn’t outshine the bride.”
We finished our lunch telling stories about Jackie O. We ended up remembering how Javier Ortega had become Jackie O and the heartache that process had caused in her family until finally the chaos, fighting and tears had settled and only Jackie’s laughter and good humor remained. Jackie had proven that she was a good friend, and I couldn’t think of a better person to preside over my sister’s wedding.
I turned on only a few lights in the office. For what I was about to do I didn’t want too much exposure. I sat at my desk where I had a view of the main door but not much else.
I hadn’t told Luis anything about what I was doing with Dirty Harry. The less he knew, the better for him, I calculated.
Harry showed up right at nine. He walked in the office and took his bearings in the dim light. Then he swaggered over to my desk.
“What you got for me?” he asked.
“Not even a hello, or how did it go, or was there any problem or trouble?”
“I don’t really care about that. I just want the dope on Dillings.”
“Are you sure about this? What you’re talking about is coercion, blackmail. Dillings could go to the cops.”
“If you have what I want, there’s no way he’s talking to anybody about this. You did get something, right?” He paced across the room. His right fist slammed into the palm of his left hand.
“You told me to find some concrete evidence about Dillings’ sexual hang-ups. According to the deal we made, if I did that, you would do what you could to get me a pass out of state. And it gives you the upper hand with Dillings.”
“I know all that. Get with it. What’s the delay? Why are you stalling?”
“No stall, Harry. I’m only making sure that I understand you and everything you intend.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s it. Let’s see the pictures, or whatever you got.”
Someone moved a chair in the dark. Harry and I turned to the noise.
“How about me in person? Will that do for proof, Harry?” Ed Dillings walked out from the shadows at the back of the office. He stopped at my desk about three feet from Harry.
The smell of stale booze leaked off his skin. His hands shook.
“What is this?” Harry said. He backed away from Dillings into the semi-darkness.
“The end of your scam, Harry. That’s what this is.” Dillings pulled a gun from inside his jacket.
I should have searched him before I let him in the office. “Oh no,” I shouted. “That’s not what’s happening here.”
I jumped to my feet and grabbed Dillings’ wrist. He turned in surprise towards me and that’s when I wrenched the gun from him. Sweat glistened from the large white spot of his forehead. His breath reeked like a bar at closing time.
“Goddamn you,” he said. “Give me that gun. I’m gonna kill this son-of-a-bitch.”
Harry bent over. It looked like he was trying to hide behind my desk. His head dangled only six inches from the floor. “You double-crossing motherfucker.”
I barely heard the words.
“Dillings has the power, Harry,” I said. “Direct quote from you. Can’t go wrong with that.”
Harry acted like he wanted to jump me. His half-hearted movements stalled. Dillings clenched his fists and held them rigidly at his sides. I pointed the gun at Harry and Dillings.
“Both of you relax. No one’s gonna get killed tonight. But we are ending this.”
Harry looked up. “You screwed yourself, Corral. You think Dillings won’t use this? You were part of the plan. The most important part. He’s got you now.”
“You’re the only one he’s got, Harry. I told h
im about your scheme last night. He sobered up enough to understand what you were trying to do. And now that we have your admission on tape, I don’t think Ed or I have anything to worry about from you.” I showed him the recorder hidden in my pocket. He collapsed completely to the carpet.
“You’re done, Harry. Can’t say I’m sorry.” A woman’s voice whispered from the front of the office. I jerked the gun in her direction.
“What are you doing here?” I assumed it was Dillings’ daughter, Barbara.
“I told her everything,” Dillings said. “I didn’t think she’d show up. But it’s good she’s here.”
“Ain’t no way there’s anything good about any of this,” I said.
Barbara’s pale face contrasted with the darkness of her clothes. Everything she had on was black, including a purse that dangled from her shoulder. She constantly moved her trembling hands.
My anxiety lurched upward. I was outnumbered by a trio of whacked-out, nervous people who hated each other.
“Everyone take it easy. What the three of you do to one another is not my concern. Just don’t do it here. I’m done with you all. I got the tape. That takes care of Harry. I know what you’re up to when you call in sick, Dillings. That takes care of you and my future obligations to your office.”
“And what about me?” Barbara asked.
“You’re not really part of this, as I see it. You shouldn’t even be here.” She didn’t look like she’d heard any of my words.
“But I am. And now I get what I want.” She casually opened her purse and pulled out a small pistol.
“Drop that, Barbara.” I held Dillings’ gun on her but I didn’t intend to use it. If she wanted to waste either of the two assholes, I wasn’t going to stop her.
“Barbara! What are you doing?” Dillings hollered his words.
“You’re a sick man, father. We both know that. You showed me how sick many years ago. You ruined my life, you ruined me. You killed mother. You killed me. And him . . .” She pointed the gun at Harry. “Another worthless piece of garbage.”
“Don’t do anything crazy, Barbara.” Dillings interrupted but she continued to mumble. “Be careful with that gun. You can’t shoot me. I’m your father.”