The Racketeer

by John Grisham

  “Turn around, sir,” Fremont said again, but Nathan did not comply. Instead, he yelled even louder, “Reed! I’ll get you for this! Nice joke! I hear you laughing out there!”

  The other two officers stepped forward and each took an arm. Nathan wisely realized that resisting would not work. When the handcuffs were in place, they led him from the room and into the hallway. Nathan spun around wildly, looking for Reed or anyone else who might step forward and put an end to this. They walked past rooms with open doors, small rooms with two and three beds practically touching each other. They walked past comatose patients on gurneys parked against the walls, and nurses writing in charts, and orderlies watching television. Everyone is black, Nathan noticed. I really am in Jamaica. They shuffled down a set of stairs and through an exit door. When he stepped into the thick air and brilliant sun, Nathan knew he was on foreign soil and unfriendly territory.

  A cab takes Vanessa back to the airport where she’ll catch a 9:40 flight to Atlanta. She is scheduled to arrive in Roanoke this evening at 6:50. She will drive to Radford and check into a motel. I will not be joining her for a few days.

  I take another cab to the downtown area of Montego Bay. Unlike Kingston, the capital, which is three hundred years old, Montego Bay is a new city that developed as resorts, hotels, condos, and shopping villages sprawled inward, away from the ocean, and finally met up with the neighborhoods. There is no main avenue, or central plaza, or stately courthouse in the center of town. Government buildings are scattered over a wide area, as are most of the professional buildings. My driver finds the law office of Mr. Rashford Watley. I pay the fare and hustle up a flight of stairs to a landing where a bunch of lawyers keep small, separate offices. Mr. Watley explained on the phone that he rarely works on Saturdays, but he’ll make an exception for me. His ad in the Yellow Pages boasts of thirty years’ experience in all criminal courts. When we shake hands, I can tell he’s pleasantly surprised to see that I, too, am black. He probably assumed that as an American tourist I was like all the rest.

  We take our seats in his modest office, and after a few pleasantries I get to the point. Sort of. He suggests that we dispense with the formalities and use first names only. So it’s Reed and Rashford. I quickly go through the narrative about my background as a filmmaker, my current project involving one Nathan Coley, and so on, but before long I’m veering off course. I tell Rashford that Nathan and I came to Jamaica for a few days of fun. He got drunk and blacked out on the airplane, causing a medical emergency upon our arrival. I’m not sure, but I think he tried to smuggle in some drugs and was packing a gun. I managed to get away last night in the confusion. So I wish to retain Rashford for two purposes: first, and most important, to represent me and protect me from whatever hot water I might be in; second, to make some calls and pull some strings to find out about Nathan and the charges against him. I want Rashford to visit Nathan in jail and assure him I’m doing all I can to secure his release.

  No problem, Rashford assures me. We agree on a fee and I pay him in cash. He immediately gets on the phone and checks with contacts in Customs and the police. I can’t tell if he’s hamming it up for me, but the guy knows a lot of people. After an hour, I excuse myself and walk down the street for a soft drink. When I return to his office, Rashford is still on the phone, scribbling away on a notepad.

  I’m reading a magazine in the lobby, under a noisy ceiling fan, when Rashford appears and sits on his secretary’s desk. Things are grim and he’s shaking his head. “Your friend is in big trouble,” he says. “First, he tried to enter with a bogus passport.”

  No kidding, Rash. I listen intently.

  “Did you know this?” he asks.

  “Of course not,” I reply. I assume Rashford has never chartered a private jet and therefore does not know the routine.

  “But much worse,” he continues, “he tried to smuggle in a handgun and four kilos of cocaine.”

  “Four kilos of cocaine,” I repeat, acting as shocked as possible.

  “Found the powder in two nylon first-aid kits in his gym bag, along with a small pistol. What a fool.”

  I’m shaking my head in disbelief. “He mentioned buying drugs once he got here but said nothing about smuggling the stuff in.”

  “How well do you know this gentleman?” Rashford asks.

  “I just met him a week ago. We’re not exactly close friends. I know he has a history of drug violations in the States, but I had no idea he was an idiot.”

  “Well, he is. And he’ll probably be spending the next twenty years in one of our fine prisons.”

  “Twenty?!”

  “Five for the coke, fifteen for the gun.”

  “That’s outrageous. You gotta do something, Rashford!”

  “The options are limited, but allow me to go about my business.”

  “What about me? Am I okay down here? I mean, they checked my bags at Customs and everything was cool. I’m not an accomplice or guilty by association, right?”

  “As of now, nothing. But I suggest you leave as soon as possible.”

  “I can’t leave until I see Nathan. I mean, I gotta help this guy, you know?”

  “There’s not much you can do, Reed. They found the coke and the gun in his bag.”

  I start pacing around the small room, deep in thought, worried sick. Rashford watches me for a moment, then says, “They’ll probably allow me to see Mr. Coley. I know the boys at the jail, see them all the time. You’ve hired the right lawyer, Reed, but, again, I’m not sure what can be done.”

  “How often do you see this-American tourists busted for drugs down here?”

  He thinks about this, then says, “Happens all the time, but not like this. The Americans get caught on the way out, not bringing the stuff in. It’s rather unusual, but the drug charges are not that crucial. We’re soft on drugs but hard on guns. We have very tough laws, especially with handguns. What was this boy thinking?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Allow me to go see him and make contact.”

  “I need to see him too, Rashford. You gotta work this out. Lean on your friends at the jail and talk them into it.”

  “It might take some cash.”

  “How much?”

  He shrugs and says, “Not much. Twenty bucks U.S.”

  “I got that.”

  “Allow me to see what I can do.”

  CHAPTER 35

  The pilots are calling my cell phone, but I refuse to answer. Devin leaves four frantic voice mails, all pretty much the same: the police have seized the airplane and the pilots have been told they cannot leave the island. They are staying at the Hilton, but not having any fun. Their office in Raleigh is screaming and everybody wants answers. The pilots are taking the heat for submitting a fake passport and will probably lose their jobs. The airplane’s owner is threatening, and so on.

  I don’t have the time to worry about these people. I’m sure a man who owns a $30 million jet can figure out a way to get it back.

  At 2:00 p.m., Rashford and I leave his office and he drives us ten minutes to the police department. The city jail is attached to it. He parks in a crowded lot and nods at a low-slung, flat-roofed building with narrow slits for windows and razor wire for decoration. We walk down a sidewalk and Rashford says a pleasant hello to the guards and orderlies.

  He goes to a door and whispers with a guard he obviously knows. I watch without being obvious and no cash changes hands. At a desk, we sign a sheet on a clipboard. “I told them you’re a lawyer working with me,” he whispers as I scribble one of my names. “Just act like a lawyer.”

  If he only knew.

  Rashford waits in a long narrow room the lawyers use for meetings if the police are not using it for anything else. There is no air-conditioning and the room feels like a sauna. After a few minutes, the door opens and Nathan Coley is shoved inside. He looks wild-eyed at Rashford, then turns to his guard, who leaves and closes the door. Nathan slowly sits down on a metal stool and gawks at Ras
hford. The lawyer thrusts a business card at him and says, “I’m Rashford Watley, attorney. Your friend Reed Baldwin has hired me to look into this situation.”

  Nathan takes the card and inches the stool closer. His left eye is partially closed and his left jaw is swollen. There is dried blood at the corner of his lips. “Where’s Reed?” he asks.

  “He’s here. He is very concerned and wants to see you. Are you okay, Mr. Coley? Your jaw is swollen.”

  Nathan looks at the large, round black face and tries to absorb the words. It’s English all right, but with a strange accent. He wants to correct this guy and explain that it’s “Cooley” not “Coley,” but then maybe the guy is trying to say “Cooley,” but it just comes out differently in Jamaica.

  “Are you all right, Mr. Coley?” the lawyer repeats.

  “I’ve had two fights in the past two hours. Lost both of them. You gotta get me outta here, Mr.…” He looks at the card but can’t focus on the words.

  “It’s Watley. Mr. Watley.”

  “Fine, Mr. Watley. This is a big misunderstanding. I don’t know what happened, what went wrong, but I ain’t guilty of anything. I didn’t use a fake passport and I damned sure didn’t try to smuggle in drugs and a gun. Somebody planted that stuff in my bag, you got that? That’s the truth and I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles. I don’t use drugs, don’t sell ’em, and I damned sure don’t smuggle them. I want to talk to Reed.” He sort of spits his words through clenched teeth and rubs his jaw as he talks.

  “Is your jaw broken?” Rashford asks.

  “I ain’t no doctor.”

  “I’ll try to get one, and I’ll try to get you moved to another cell.”

  “They’re all the same-hot, overcrowded, and dirty. You gotta do something, Mr. Watley. And fast. I’ll never survive in here.”

  “You’ve been in prison before, I think.”

  “I just spent a few years in a federal pen, but nothing like this. I just thought that was bad. This is pure hell. I got fifteen guys in my cell, all black but me, with two beds and a hole in the corner to piss in. No air-conditioning and no food. Please, Mr. Watley, do something.”

  “You’re facing very serious charges, Mr. Coley. If convicted as charged, you could be sentenced to twenty years in prison.”

  Nathan drops his head and takes a deep breath. “I won’t last a week.”

  “I’m confident I can get a reduction, but still you’re facing a lot of time. And not in a city jail like this. They’ll send you away to one of our regional prisons where the conditions are not always as pleasant.”

  “Then give me a plan. You’ve got to explain to the judge or whoever that this is all a mistake. I’m not guilty, okay? You gotta make somebody believe that.”

  “I’ll try, Mr. Coley. But the system has to run its course, and unfortunately things move rather slowly here in Jamaica. The court will schedule your first appearance in a few days, then formal charges will be handed down.”

  “What about bail? Can I post a bond and get outta here?”

  “I’m working on that now with a bail bondsman, but I’m not optimistic. The court would consider you a flight risk. How much money is at your disposal?”

  Nathan snorts and shakes his head. “I don’t know. I had a thousand bucks in my wallet, wherever it happens to be now. I’m sure the money’s gone. I had five hundred bucks in my pocket too, and it’s gone. They’ve picked me clean. I got a few assets back home but nothing liquid. I’m not a rich man, Mr. Watley. I’m a thirty-year-old ex-con who was in prison about six months ago. My family has nothing.”

  “Well, the court will look at the amount of cocaine and the private jet and think otherwise.”

  “The cocaine is not mine. I never saw it, never touched it. It was planted, okay, Mr. Watley? So was the gun.”

  “I believe you, Mr. Coley, but the court will likely be more skeptical. The court hears such stories all the time.”

  Nathan opened his mouth slowly and picked at the dried blood at the corner of his lips. He was obviously in pain and shock.

  Rashford stood and said, “Keep your seat. Reed’s here. If anyone asks, tell them he’s just one of your lawyers.”

  Nathan’s battered face lights up somewhat when I enter. I sit on my stool, less than three feet from him. He wants to yell but he knows someone is listening. “What the hell is happening here, Reed? Talk to me!”

  My act at this point is that of a frightened man who is not sure what will happen tomorrow. “I don’t know, Nathan,” I say nervously. “I’m not under arrest but I can’t leave the island. I found Rashford Watley first thing this morning and we’re trying to figure it all out. All I remember is that we got real drunk real fast. Stupid. Got that. You passed out on the sofa and I was barely awake. At some point, one of the pilots called me up to the cockpit and explained that air traffic around Miami was grounded because of weather. Tornado warnings, a tropical storm, really bad stuff. Miami International was closed. The system was moving north, so we circled to the south and were diverted over the Caribbean. We circled and circled and I really can’t remember all of what happened. I tried to wake you but you were snoring.”

  “I don’t remember blacking out,” he says, tapping his sore jaw.

  “Does a drunk ever remember passing out? No, he does not. You were bombed, okay? You had been drinking before we took off. Anyway, at some point we were getting low on fuel and had to land. According to the pilots, we were directed here, to Montego Bay, to refuel, then we were supposed to leave for Miami, where the weather had cleared. I’m drinking coffee by the gallon and so I remember most of what happened. When we land, the captain says just stay on the plane; we’ll only be here for twenty minutes. Then he says that Immigration and Customs want to take a look. We’re ordered off the plane, but you’re in a coma and can’t move. You barely have a pulse. They call an ambulance and everything starts going wrong.”

  “What’s this shit about a fake passport?”

  “My mistake. We fly into Miami International all the time, and they often want to see a passport, even for domestic flights, especially private ones. I think it goes back to the drug wars in the 1980s when a lot of private jets were used to haul drug lords and their entourages. Now, with the war on terror, they like to see a passport. It’s not mandatory to have one, but it’s very helpful. I got a guy in D.C. who can produce one overnight for a hundred bucks, and I asked him to crank one out for you, just in case we needed it. I had no idea it would become an issue.”

  Poor Nathan does not know what to believe. I have the benefit of months of preparation. He’s getting hit fast and furious and is thoroughly bewildered.

  “Believe me, Nathan, a fake passport is the least of your worries.”

  “Where’d the coke and the gun come from?” he asks.

  “The police,” I say casually but with certainty. “It wasn’t you and it wasn’t me, so that narrows the list of suspects. Rashford says this is not unheard of on the island. A private jet from America arrives with a couple of rich guys on board-rich, otherwise they wouldn’t be buzzing around on such a fine airplane. One of the rich dudes is so drunk he can’t hit his ass with both hands. Blacked-out drunk. They get the sober guy off the plane and get the pilots distracted with paperwork, and when the timing is perfect, they plant the drugs. Stuff it in a bag, just that simple. A few hours later, the jet is officially seized by the Jamaican government, and the trafficker is placed under arrest. It’s all about money, cash.”

  Nathan is absorbing this as he stares at his bare feet. His pink-and-orange Hawaiian shirt has blood stains on it. There are scratches on his arms and hands. “Can you get me something to eat, Reed? I’m starving. They served lunch an hour ago, shit so nasty you can’t imagine, and before I could take a bite one of my cellies decided he needed it more than me.”

  I say, “Sorry, Nathan. I’ll see if Rashford can bribe one of the guards.”

  He mumbles, “Please.”

  “Do you want me to call someo
ne back home?” I ask.

  He shakes his head no. “Who? The only person I halfway trust is the guy who runs my bar, and I think he’s stealing. I’m cut off from my family, and they wouldn’t help anyway. How can they? They don’t know where Jamaica is. Not sure I can find it on the map.”

  “Rashford thinks they might charge me as an accomplice, so I might be joining you back there.”

  He shakes his head. “You might survive because you’re black and you’re in good shape. A skinny white boy ain’t got a chance. As soon as I walked into the cell, this big dude says he really likes my Nikes. Gone. Next guy wants to borrow some money, and since I don’t have any money he wants me to promise to get some real soon. This leads to the first fight, which involved at least three of these thugs beating the shit out of me. I remember hearing a guard laughing, saying something about a white boy who can’t fight too good. My spot on the concrete floor is right next to the toilet, which is nothing but an open hole, like an outhouse. The smell will make you gag and puke. If I move an inch or two, then I’m on somebody else’s turf and there’s a fight. There’s no air-conditioning and it’s like an oven. Fifteen men in a tight space, all sweating and hungry and thirsty and no one can sleep. I cannot imagine what tonight will be like. Please, Reed, get me outta here.”

  “I’ll try, Nathan, but there’s a good chance these guys might try to nail me too.”

  “Just do something. Please.”

  “Look, Nathan, this is all my fault, okay? That means nothing at this point, but I had no way of knowing we were flying into a storm. The stupid pilots should’ve told us about the weather before we took off, or they should’ve landed somewhere on U.S. soil, or they should’ve had more fuel on the airplane. We’ll sue the bastards when we get home, okay?”

  “Whatever.”

  “Nathan, I’ll do anything I can to get you out of here, but my ass is still on the line too. It’s gonna come down to money. This is nothing but a shakedown, a grab for money by a bunch of cops who know how to play the game. Hell, they wrote the rules. Rashford says they’ll squeeze the owner of the jet and pocket a handsome bribe. They’ll throw a bone our way and see how much cash we can scrape together. Now that they know we have a lawyer, he thinks they’ll contact him pretty soon. They prefer to work their little bribery schemes before the case gets into court. After that, you got formal charges and judges watching everything. You understand all this, Nathan?”

  “I guess. I just can’t believe this, Reed. This time yesterday I was at my bar, having a beer with a cute girl, bragging about flying to Miami for the weekend. Now look at me-thrown into a filthy jail cell with a bunch of Jamaicans, and they’re all lined up waiting to kick my ass. You’re right, Reed, this is all your fault. You and your ridiculous movie. I should’ve never listened to you.”

  “I’m sorry, Nathan. Believe me, I’m so sorry.”

  “You should be. Just do something, Reed, and hurry. I can’t last much longer back there.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Rashford gives me a ride to my hotel and, at the last minute, graciously extends an invitation to dinner. He says his wife is an excellent cook and they would be delighted to have such an accomplished filmmaker in their home. Though I am tempted, primarily because I have nothing to do for the next eighteen hours, I beg off with the lame excuse of feeling bad and needing sleep. I’m living a lie, and the last thing I need is a long dinner conversation about my life, my work, and my past. I suspect there will be serious people following my trail, sniffing for clues, and a stray word here or there could come back to haunt me.

  It’s July, the tourist season is over, and the hotel is not busy. There’s a small pool with a bar in the shade, and I spend the afternoon under an umbrella, reading a Walter Mosley and sipping Red Stripe beer.

  Vanessa lands in Roanoke at 7:00 Saturday evening. She is exhausted but rest is not an option. In the past forty-eight hours, she has driven from Radford to D.C. to Roanoke, and flown from Roanoke to Jamaica and back by way of Charlotte, Atlanta, and Miami. Other than a fitful three-hour rest in bed in Montego Bay, and several catnaps on airplanes, she has had no sleep.

  She leaves the terminal with her small carry-on bag and takes her time finding her car. As always, she notices everything and everyone around her. We doubt if she’s being followed, but at this point in our project we take nothing for granted. She drives across the highway from the airport and gets a room at a Holiday Inn. She orders room service and eats dinner at the window as the sun goes down. At 10:00 p.m. she calls me and we speak briefly and in code. We’re on our third or fourth prepaid cell phone and it’s highly unlikely anyone is listening, but, again, we’re taking no chances. I conclude with a simple “Proceed as planned.”

  She drives back to the airport, to the general aviation terminal, and parks next to Nathan’s pickup truck. It’s late on a Saturday night and there is no private air traffic, no movements in the empty parking lot. She puts on a pair of thin leather gloves and, using Nathan’s keys, unlocks his door and drives away. It’s Vanessa’s first drive in such a vehicle and she takes it easy. Not far down the road, she pulls in to a fast-food parking lot and adjusts the seat and mirrors. For the past five years she’s been driving a small Japanese model, and the upgrade is astounding and uncomfortable. The last thing we can afford is a fender bender or a set of flashing blue lights. Eventually, she makes it onto Interstate 81 and heads south, toward Radford, Virginia.

  It’s almost midnight when she leaves the state highway and turns onto the country lane to Nathan’s house. She passes the double-wide trailer, home to Nathan’s nearest neighbor, at fifteen miles per hour, making virtually no noise. In her own car, she’s driven this road a dozen times and knows the terrain. The road winds past Nathan’s and through some pastureland before passing another home, almost two miles farther into the country. Beyond that, the asphalt fades