The Rooster Bar

by John Grisham

  “Then we’re not leaving either,” Mark said. “We’re staying here.”

  “Why? I don’t need a babysitter. Get out.”

  Todd, still standing, walked to the sofa and stared down at Gordy. “Let’s talk about you, Gordy, you and your condition. You’re not sleeping or eating, or bathing for that matter. Are you taking your meds?”

  “What meds?”

  “Come on, Gordy. We’re your friends and we’re here to help.”

  “What meds?” he demanded.

  “Come on, Gordy, we know what’s going on,” Mark said.

  Gordy turned to Zola and growled, “What have you told them?”

  Zola was about to respond when Todd said, “Nothing. She’s told us nothing, but we’re not blind, Gordy, we’re your best friends and you need some help.”

  “I don’t need meds,” he snapped back, then bolted to his feet, brushed by Todd, and went to his bedroom. Seconds later he yelled, “Get out of here!” and slammed the door. They took a deep breath and stared at each other. Seconds later, the door opened and Gordy came out. He grabbed the bottle of tequila, said, “Leave! Now!” and disappeared again into his bedroom.

  A minute passed without a sound. Zola stood and crossed the den. She put an ear to his door and listened. She stepped away and whispered, “I think he’s crying.”

  “Great,” Mark whispered.

  Another minute passed. Softly, Todd said, “We can’t leave him.”

  “No way,” Mark said. “Let’s take turns. I’ll pull the first shift on the sofa.”

  “I’m not leaving,” Zola said.

  Mark looked around the den and finished his beer. Almost in a whisper he said, “Okay, you take the sofa and I’ll take the chair. Todd, you sleep on Zola’s sofa and we’ll swap in a few hours.”

  Todd nodded and said, “Okay, I guess that will work.” He stepped to the fridge, got another beer, and left. Mark turned off the lights and settled into the battered leather chair. A few feet away, Zola curled up on the sofa. He whispered, “This could be a long night.”

  “We shouldn’t talk,” she said. “The walls are thin and he might hear us.”

  “Right.”

  The digital clock on the microwave emitted a bluish light that seemed to grow brighter as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. It defined the shadows of the small dining table, the computer, and printer. Though they were still wide awake, the room was perfectly still. No sounds from the bedroom. Soft, distant music from down the hall. After ten minutes, Mark pulled out his phone and checked his messages and e-mails. Nothing important. The next ten minutes seemed like an hour as the chair grew more uncomfortable.

  He stared at the wall. He couldn’t see the picture of Hinds Rackley, but he could feel his eyes gazing smugly down at them. At the moment, though, Mark wasn’t concerned with Rackley and his grand conspiracy. He was worried about Gordy. Their challenge tomorrow would be getting their friend to the doctor.

  5

  At 2:00 a.m., Todd slipped into Gordy’s apartment without a sound and found both Mark and Zola asleep. He shook Mark’s arm and whispered, “My turn.” Mark stood, stretched his stiff joints and muscles, and walked across the hall, where he fell onto Zola’s sofa.

  Before dawn, Gordy got out of bed and put on his jeans, sweatshirt, socks, and denim jacket. Holding his hiking boots, he stood by the door and listened. He knew they were in the den, waiting for him to make a move. He gently opened the bedroom door and listened. He took a step into the den, saw their silhouettes on the sofa and in the chair, heard their heavy breathing, and silently walked to the door. At the end of the hallway, he put on his boots and left the building.

  At the first hint of sunlight, Zola awoke and sat up. Seeing the bedroom door open she jumped to her feet, turned on the lights, and realized Gordy had managed to escape. “He’s not here!” she yelled at Todd. “He’s gone!”

  Todd scrambled out of the chair and walked past her to the bedroom, a small square space where hiding would be impossible. He poked through the closet, looked in the bathroom, and yelled, “Shit! What happened?”

  “He got up and left,” she said. They stared at each other in disbelief, then walked over to break the news to Mark. The three hurried down the stairs and along the first-floor hallway to the building’s rear door. There were a dozen cars in the parking lot but none of them belonged to Gordy. His little Mazda was gone, as they feared it would be. Zola called Gordy’s cell but of course there was no answer. They returned to the apartments, locked the doors, and walked three blocks to a diner where they huddled in a booth and tried to regroup over black coffee.

  “There’s no way to find him in this city,” Mark said.

  “He doesn’t want to be found,” Todd said.

  “Should we call the police?” Zola asked.

  “And tell them what? Our friend’s missing and might hurt himself? These cops are busy with last night’s murders and rapes.”

  Todd asked, “What about his parents? They probably have no idea what shape he’s in.”

  Mark was shaking his head. “No, Gordy would hate us forever. Besides, what can they do? Hurry over to the big city and start searching?”

  “I agree, but Gordy has a doctor somewhere, either here or back home. A doctor who knows him, who’s treated him, who’s prescribed the meds, someone who should know that he’s in bad shape. If we tell his parents, they can at least inform the doctor. Who cares if we piss off Gordy as long as he gets some help?”

  “That makes sense,” Zola said. “And the doctor is here. Gordy sees him once a month.”

  “Do you know his name?”

  “No. I’ve tried to find out, but no luck.”

  Mark said, “Okay, maybe later, but for now we gotta find Gordy.”

  They drank coffee and pondered the impossibility of finding him in the city. A waitress stopped by and asked about breakfast. They declined. No one had an appetite.

  “Any ideas?” Mark asked Zola.

  She shook her head. “Not really. In the past week he’s disappeared twice. The first time he took a train to New York and was gone for three days. When he got back he didn’t say much, just that he was on the trail of the Great Satan. I think he talked to some people up there. He hung around for a day or so; we were together most of the time. He was drinking and slept a lot. Then I came home from work and he was gone again. For two days, nothing. That was when he found the law professor who’d been fired from Foggy Bottom.”

  “Did you know what he was doing?” Todd asked.

  “No. Two days ago he locked himself in his apartment and wouldn’t see me. I think that was when he moved the furniture and went to work on the wall.”

  “How much do you know about his condition?” Mark asked.

  She took a deep breath and hesitated. “This is all confidential, guys, you understand? He swore me to secrecy.”

  “Come on, Zola, we’re all in this together,” Mark said. “Of course it’s confidential.”

  She glanced around as if others were listening. “Back in September, I found his pills, so we talked about it. He was diagnosed as bipolar when he was in college and didn’t tell anyone, not even Brenda. He told her sometime later, so she knows. Through therapy and meds he’s kept things together nicely.”

  “I never knew it,” Mark said.

  “Neither did I,” Todd said.

  Zola continued. “It’s not unusual for people who are bipolar to reach a point where they believe they no longer need the meds. They feel great and convince themselves they can live just fine without them. So they stop taking them, things soon begin to spiral down, and they often turn to self-medication. That’s what happened to Gordy, though he was also feeling a lot of other pressures. All this law school mess, couldn’t find a job, the loans, and to make it all worse he felt as though he was getting pushed into a wedding. He was in bad shape by Thanksgiving but worked hard to conceal it.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “Becau
se he would hate me. He was convinced he could man up and somehow survive. And, looking back, most of the time he was okay. But the mood swings got worse, as did the drinking.”

  “You should have told us,” Mark said.

  “I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never dealt with something like this before.”

  “Pointing fingers will not help right now,” Todd said to Mark.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Todd glanced at his cell phone and said, “It’s almost eight. Nothing from Gordy. I’m supposed to go to the bar at noon and work a shift. What’s everybody else doing today?”

  Zola said, “I go in at ten for a few hours.” She was working as a temp in a small accounting firm.

  Mark said, “Well, I came back early to get away from home and hopefully put together a plan to start studying for the bar exam, but I really don’t want to. I suppose I’ll drift on over to Ness Skelton and kill the day sucking up to my future bosses, trying to appear needed and relevant. For no pay, of course. I’m sure they need some help in the copy room.”

  “Gotta love the law,” Todd said. “I’ll accomplish more in the bar.”

  “Thanks.”

  Zola said, “I suppose all we can do is wait.”

  Todd paid for the coffee and they left the diner. They had walked a block when Zola’s phone vibrated. She pulled it from a pocket, looked at it, stopped, and said, “It’s Gordy. He’s at Central Jail.”

  —

  AT 4:35 A.M., Gordy was stopped after an officer noticed his Mazda weaving along Connecticut Avenue. He stumbled during a field sobriety test and eventually agreed to blow. He registered 0.11 on the mobile monitor and was immediately handcuffed and placed in the rear seat of the police car. A tow truck hauled his car to the city lot. At Central, he blew again with the same result. He was fingerprinted, photographed, booked, and thrown into the drunk tank with six others. At 8:00 a.m., a bailiff led him to a small room, handed him his phone, and told him he could use it once. He called Zola, and the bailiff took his phone and led him back to the cell.

  Thirty minutes later, his three friends walked through the front door at Central, got themselves scanned by a metal detector, and were directed to a large room where, evidently, families and friends came to retrieve their loved ones after a bad night. It was lined with chairs along three walls, with magazines and newspapers scattered about. Behind a large window at the far end two uniformed clerks were busy with paperwork. Cops milled around, some chatting with dazed and nervous people. There were about a dozen of them—parents, spouses, friends—all with the same spooked looks and fidgety manners. Two men in bad suits and battered briefcases seemed right at home. One was chatting up a cop who appeared to know him well. The other was huddled with a middle-aged couple. The mother was crying.

  Mark, Todd, and Zola found seats in a corner and took in the surroundings. After a few minutes, Mark walked to the window and offered a sappy smile to a clerk. He said he was there to get his friend Gordon Tanner, and the clerk checked some paperwork. She nodded toward the seats and said it would take some time. Mark returned to his chair between Todd and Zola.

  The lawyer chatting with the cop watched them carefully and soon came over. His three-piece suit was made of a slick bronze fabric. His shoes were shiny and black, with long pointed toes that flipped up at the tips. His shirt was baby blue and his thickly knotted tie was pale green and matched nothing else. On one wrist he wore a large gold watch with diamonds and on the other he displayed two bulky gold bracelets. His hair was greased back and bunched behind his ears. Without a smile he delivered his standard line, “Here for a DUI?”

  Mark said, “Yes.”

  The lawyer was already passing out his business cards. Darrell Cromley, Attorney-at-Law. DUI Specialist. Each of the three got a card as Darrell asked, “Who’s the lucky guy?”

  “Our friend,” Todd said.

  “First time?” Darrell asked happily.

  “Yes, first time,” Mark replied.

  “Sorry to hear. I can help. It’s all I do, DUIs. I know all the cops, judges, clerks, bailiffs, the ins and outs of the system. I’m the best in the business.”

  Careful not to say anything that might show the slightest interest in hiring the guy, Mark asked, “Okay, so what’s he looking at?”

  Darrell deftly pulled over a folding chair and faced the three. Without missing a beat, he asked, “What’s his name?”

  “Gordon Tanner.”

  “Well, Tanner blew a 0.11, so there’s not much wiggle room. First you gotta pay two hundred bucks to get him out. PRB, personal recognition bond. They’ll process him in about an hour and he can go. Cost you another two hundred to spring his car. It’s over at the city pound. Take half an hour or so to get it out. He’ll have a court date in a week or so. That’s where I come in. My fee is a thousand bucks cash.”

  “He keeps his license?” Todd asked.

  “Sure, until he’s convicted, in about a month. Then he’ll lose it for a year, pay a fine of five thousand, but I can get some of that knocked off. I’m really a bargain, you know? Plus he’s facing five nights in jail, but I can work some magic there too. We’ll sign him up for community service and keep him out. Believe me, I know the ropes. You guys in school or something?”

  Mark said, “Yes, we’re law students.” He was not about to give the name of their school.

  “Georgetown?”

  Todd quietly said, “No. Foggy Bottom.”

  Cromley smiled and said, “That’s my school. Finished there twelve years ago.”

  The door opened and two more worried parents walked in. Cromley eyed them like a hungry dog. When he looked back at the three, Todd said, “So we need four hundred cash right now.”

  “No, you need fourteen hundred. Two hundred for the bond. Two hundred for the car. A thousand for me.”

  Zola said, “Okay, but our friend probably had some cash on him. How do we find out how much?”

  “I can find out. Hire me now and I go to work. Your friend needs protection and that’s where I come in. The DUI treadmill in this town will chew him up and spit him out.”

  Zola said, “Look, our friend is not doing well. He’s, uh, well, he’s having some problems and he’s off his meds. We need to get him to the doctor.”

  Darrell liked it! His eyes narrowed as he moved in for the kill. “Sure. Once we get him out I can file a motion for an expedited hearing. Again, I’m tight with the judges and I can speed things along. But the fee will go up, of course. Let’s not delay things.”

  Mark said, “All right, all right, give us some time to think about it.”

  Cromley bounced to his feet and said, “You have my number.” He slithered away, found another cop to chat with as he surveyed the crowd for his next victim. As they watched him, Mark whispered, “That could be us in a couple of years.”

  “What a slimeball,” Todd said, barely under his breath.

  Zola said, “I have $80. Let’s pass the hat.”

  Mark frowned and said, “I’m light. Maybe thirty.”

  Todd said, “Me too, but I’ve got enough in the bank. I’ll run find an ATM while you guys wait here.”

  “Good plan.” Todd hurried from the room as more people arrived. Mark and Zola watched Cromley and the other lawyer work the crowd. Between victims, Cromley either chatted with a cop or took important calls on his cell. Several times he left the room, always on the phone, as if attending to urgent legal matters elsewhere. But he always returned, and with a purpose.

  Mark observed, “The things they haven’t taught us in law school.”

  “He probably doesn’t even have an office,” Zola said.

  “Are you kidding? This is his office.”

  —

  TWO HOURS AFTER arriving at Central, the three left with Gordy. Since Zola didn’t own a car, and since Mark’s Bronco could not be trusted in traffic, they piled into Todd’s Kia hatchback and made their way to the city’s car lot in Anacostia near the naval yard. Gordy rode in
the rear seat next to Zola with his eyes closed and said nothing. Indeed, there was little conversation, though there was much to be said. Mark wanted to get it all on the table with something like “Well, now, Gordy, are you even remotely aware of what a DUI will do to your already miserable employment opportunities?” Or, “So, Gordy, do you realize that, even assuming you pass the bar exam, you’ll find it virtually impossible to get admitted to the bar because of a DUI?”

  Todd wanted to drill him with something like “So, Gordy, where, exactly, were you headed at four in the morning with two empty