Holding Smoke

by Steph Post

  Elrod smacked his palm on the unpainted concrete above him as he passed through the doorway. She could see that he was hurting. The deep pits beneath his eyes were leaden and there was a kink in his lips, as if even when smiling, he was still trying not to hurl. Dinah pointed to the rusty dispenser wedged in next to the snack machine on the opposite wall.

  “Pepto? I think there’s some little packets of aspirin in there, too. I got a few quarters left.”

  Elrod shook his head as Levi stepped uneasily into the tiny room. He clearly didn’t want to be crammed in there all together any more than she did. Levi grunted and took a pace back to stand in the sun just outside the doorway. Dinah could see the bubbles of sweat glistening on Levi’s upper lip. She glanced toward the screen door on the other side of the dryer, leading out to the back of the motel and the swath of scrubby woods beyond. If one of them made a move to vomit, she was gone.

  Elrod belched and brought the back of his hand to his mouth.

  “Whew. No thanks. You missed a hell of a party last night.”

  “Looks like it.”

  Initially, Dinah had been furious that she’d had to work a night shift, knowing she would miss an opportunity to finally be introduced to the Cannons. She still had to keep up appearances at the diner, though, and she’d also been somewhat relieved to finally have a night off from drinking with, and courting, her quarry.

  Elrod waved his hand toward Levi.

  “Dinah, Levi. Levi, this is Dinah.”

  Levi gave her only the briefest of glances and Dinah arched an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, nice to meet you, too.”

  Elrod laughed and burped again. Dinah was feeling the closeness of the tight space, but she’d rather have this conversation here than in her own room, a few doors down. If one of these oafs collapsed on her bed, she might never get rid of him. Dinah brushed her sticking bangs back from her forehead and nodded to Elrod.

  “You ready to talk?”

  Elrod rubbed the back of his sunburned neck and glanced around absently at the cement walls mortared with cobwebs and dirt dauber nests.

  “You got any hair of the dog stashed in your room?”

  Dinah leaned back against the washing machine.

  “Here’s good.”

  “Right down to business, huh?”

  Dinah kept a straight face.

  “Well, it is laundry day, after all. For some of us.”

  Elrod glanced down at the smear of tomato sauce streaked across his T-shirt. He smacked his gut and then winced. Dinah took advantage of the moment and turned to Levi.

  “So, he already tell you about the horse?”

  Levi braced himself with both forearms against the doorjamb and leaned in, saddling her with a long, dubious look. Elrod had assured Dinah that Levi would be all in. That this was exactly the sort of action his old friend was looking for. Maybe Levi just hadn’t realized the plan was coming from her. Dinah may have just met him, but already she could tell that Levi was the sort of man who made a point to talk only to women who had less brain cells than he did. And that meant he didn’t spend too much time talking. She had him pegged, though. Levi might start off as a bit of trouble, but he was going to be even easier to rope than Elrod.

  Finally, Levi let his eyes wander over to Elrod, who was nodding vigorously.

  “I sketched it out some on the drive over. Levi’s in. He’s good, I promise. Just the guy we need, like I said before. Go on and tell him the plan. You can lay it out better than I can.”

  Dinah turned to Levi and crossed her arms high over her chest. Levi was back to staring down at the balls of lint and dead insect carcasses gathered along the cracks in the threshold of the doorway. Dinah didn’t care if he made eye contact or not, though. He just needed to listen.

  “All right. In a nutshell, we’re going to steal a horse.”

  Dinah had been deliberately flippant so she could gauge Levi’s reaction. He jerked his head up and scowled, not at her, but at Elrod.

  “How you know this girl anyhow?”

  Dinah almost groaned. She figured Elrod would’ve already vouched for her. Dinah liked Levi’s wariness—it meant he was taking her seriously at least—but she didn’t have all day to explain herself. Elrod shrugged and drummed his hairy knuckles on the side of the snack machine.

  “Works with Maize, up at the Mr. Omelet. We all been hanging out for a few weeks now. She and Maize are like glue.”

  Levi’s expression didn’t change.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “She been looking for some folks to help her out with this job and she knows Maize and me got the kid on the way. Hell, I got child support with the two other girls, too. Their mamas just won’t get their damn hooks out of me. So, Dinah here needs manpower and we need the cash. I thought you did, too, bud.”

  Levi just stared at him, his face still clouded, unreadable. Elrod suddenly stood up straight and his sausage fingers curled up into fists at his sides.

  “Hey, man, I thought you was trying to ‘raise the Cannons’ or whatever bullshit you was spouting the other day. You don’t want in on this, fine. Walk away. We tell you the plan, though, and you’re in. I don’t got time to hold your hand, Levi. I need this.”

  Dinah realized she was losing control of the room. Maybe it was the hangovers, or maybe there was just too much history festering between Elrod and Levi, spanning all the way back to when they were boys in high school together, one the son of the feared and respected Sherwood Cannon and the other the son of a plumber who would go on to take his own life before his son could walk across the auditorium stage in cap and gown. Dinah watched the tension ricocheting between the two men. Quickly, she ran through all she knew about Levi Cannon. His temper. His pride. His disappearance from Silas and his return to a younger brother at the helm of the family business. She was counting on all of it. Dinah waited out the men’s silent struggle and was relieved when Elrod finally won. Levi turned his face down again and kicked at the scuffed cement floor.

  “Fine.”

  Elrod plucked at the sweat-soaked armpits of his T-shirt.

  “Listen, I’m telling you. We can trust her. Hell, she been over at my damn house almost every night for weeks. You think I’d let her hang around Maizie if I thought she was trouble? And I wouldn’t bring you into this if I thought it weren’t a good idea, neither. So go on, Dinah, tell him the plan.”

  Dinah nodded.

  “All right.”

  She waited until Levi reluctantly raised his head, not quite looking at her, but listening at least.

  “But let me just go ahead and put this out there. We’re going to need you to bring your brothers on board, too. There’s that much at stake, that much money to go around. The biggest payoff you ever seen, and probably ever will see, in your life. I ain’t messing around here. I need all the Cannons in on this.”

  Dinah continued to stare at Levi, until finally he raised his eyes, locking them with hers.

  “I mean it. Every one of you.”

  *

  The old woman hunched over a blue enamel basin at the far end of the gently sloping yard didn’t bother to look up from her work of soaking thin strips of cane as they approached. Judah tried to catch Ramey’s eye, but she was walking a few steps ahead of him, taking long, casual strides, doing her best to indicate that she wasn’t bothered by Malik and Isaac, close at their heels, pinning them in and herding them down toward their awaiting grandmother. It was all Judah could do not to look back over his shoulder. In a fair fight, Judah thought he might be able to take Malik. The youngest of the Lewis siblings was stacked, but more with attitude than actual muscle or, more importantly, sense. He was probably the one who made use of the weight bench Judah had almost tripped over crossing the porch to the back steps. Isaac, poker-faced with widely spaced eyes and a bulldog’s under bite, worried him more. Isaac might’ve appeared to be a few fries short of a Happy Meal, but Judah knew better. He was sure Isaac
was carrying and watching his every move like a hawk.

  Judah did get a look, however, at the three older men sitting at one of the many picnic tables strewn haphazardly across the dirt lot. As he passed by the table, the man facing him nodded hesitantly, his hand in mid-air with a red checker pinched between his fingers. The other two men—one staring intently down at the checkerboard on the table with his chin in both hands and the other, sitting next to him, worrying at the brim of his floppy fishing hat as he watched the game—ignored him completely. It wasn’t far, but by the time he and Ramey made it down to the creek, Judah had already started to sweat. Despite the slightly cooler weather, the sun was still blazing and the only shade to be found was beneath the rainbow-striped patio umbrella where Sukey Lewis squatted with her legs splayed and yellow housedress drawn up to her knees. Her shins looked as thin and sharp as knife blades and made the men’s brogans she wore appear huge beneath her diminutive frame. It wasn’t until Ramey stopped a few feet away from the umbrella, and Judah came to a halt beside her, that Sukey flicked her eyes their way in acknowledgment.

  “Figures.”

  Sukey used the half-finished cane-bottom chair next to her to pull herself up to standing. There was a look on her face telling Judah she’d have no qualms about scratching out his eyeballs right then and there and tossing them over her shoulder into the Red Creek behind her. She sniffed, cleared her throat, and spat a thick stream of gravy-brown tobacco juice into the dirt at Judah’s feet.

  “First thing mean something different where you come from?”

  Judah glanced at Ramey, but though her gaze was fixed on the tiny woman with the puckered, twitching lips and obsidian eyes, it was obvious that Sukey was talking only to Judah. He swallowed and brushed his outstretched hand back into his hair. Sukey sucked on her teeth and squirted another dart of juice out of the corner of her mouth. Her skin was dusky, almost coal-black, and when she opened her mouth, the yellow of her teeth broke through in a jagged line. She still held one of the long, wet cane strips and now she whipped it out in front of her and flexed it with both hands. Judah shrugged warily and Sukey grunted in disgust.

  “Over here, on this side of the creek, Sukey Lewis tells you she want to meet you first thing, you’d best have your ass outside her door ’fore the sun can shine on it. Right, boys?”

  Malik and Isaac, standing one on either side of Judah and Ramey, bracketing them in, nodded.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Sukey cleared her throat again and then spat what was left of a mushy nugget of tobacco over her shoulder. Her eyes flickered back and forth between her two grandsons, but then she jutted her chin out, gesturing toward the Fish House.

  “Go on. But don’t go too far, you hear?”

  Malik brushed Judah’s shoulder as he reluctantly turned away, but the brothers left at her order. Sukey looked Ramey up and down once with an unreadable expression on her face and then dismissed her with a click of her tongue. Sukey turned to Judah. She continued to ply the cane strip in her hands, but her probing eyes never left his.

  “Judah Cannon. Now, don’t go getting no ideas. I’m doing us both a favor, giving you a chance to set things right ’fore I set those boys on you. And I don’t mean just my own, neither. I got Malik and Isaac trained. They do what I tell ’em. But there’s a host of young’uns out this way ain’t been blooded yet and there’s no telling what they might do given the chance. And I ain’t looking to start no war with the Cannons. Least, not yet no how.”

  Judah just barely managed to conceal how taken aback he was at the animosity bristling behind Sukey’s every word. He quickly turned to Ramey, who only frowned and mouthed a name to him. Levi.

  Judah turned his attention back to Sukey, impatient for him to respond. Since he wasn’t at all sure what the old woman was talking about, he figured the best play was to not treat her threats too seriously.

  “Set things right? Maybe if I had an idea of what you were talking about, I could try.”

  Sukey’s nostrils flared.

  “Huh. I should of knowed you’d go that way, what with you just walking in like you did, like you don’t got no common sense.”

  Her eyes were jumping all over him and she put one hand on her hip.

  “Ain’t even carrying a piece on you. Strolling in here just as right as rain, like you think you going to just sit down and stuff your face with some fried fish.”

  Judah still had no idea what she was talking about, but he did know that she was making him very nervous. And she was right; not thinking they would need them, and out of respect for Sukey and her establishment, Judah and Ramey had both left their guns in the truck. Sukey suddenly sprang in front of him and shoved her face up close to his.

  “Now, you tell me the truth, Judah Cannon. You order that beat down on my niece’s boy Toby? That come from you?”

  It took Judah a moment to process what she was saying. He heard Ramey stifle a groan, but Judah kept his face blank and his voice level, even as he tried to work out what the hell Sukey was going on about.

  “Sukey, I’ve been in jail for the past two months.”

  “You think I ain’t know that? You hear me ask if you raised a hand yourself? No, I asked if the words came out your mouth. You tell me the truth, or Lord, so help me.”

  Sukey’s bulging eyes were boring into Judah’s and he could feel her breath, warm and rancid, on his face. She pointed toward the Fish House behind him.

  “One word from me, Judah Cannon. That’s all they need.”

  Judah and Ramey slowly turned around, their hands open at their sides to show they were unarmed. He wasn’t surprised to see Malik and Isaac, only a few yards behind him, with Glocks drawn and cocksure grins on their faces, but he was startled to see that the old men at the picnic table had traded in their checkers for sawed-offs. The man who had nodded to Judah had twisted around on the bench and the other two men were standing up behind him. All five barrels were pointed straight at Judah, though the first thought that ran through his mind was that if they started shooting, he doubted they would spare Ramey. Together, they turned back around to Sukey. Judah forced himself not to think about the guns at their backs. Forced himself to speak calmly. Convincingly. He didn’t know what else to do.

  “Sukey, I mean it. I never ordered anything. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I swear.”

  Sukey held up one long, yellow nail for him to see and then jammed it into the hollow of Judah’s throat. He could hear the sharp intake of breath from Ramey beside him.

  “Boy, you lie to me and…”

  Judah kept his eyes fixed on Sukey’s, not backing down as she searched them, not shrinking away from the choking pressure at his throat, the sharp, jagged nail lancing his skin. He didn’t say anything. Thankfully, he didn’t have to. Judah was telling the truth and Sukey must have finally seen it.

  “Thought so.”

  Sukey looked past Judah, shook her head, and dropped her hand loosely back to her side. Sukey stepped away from him and swatted at the ground with the length of cane. Judah dabbed at his throat and brought his fingers away with a single spot of blood. He couldn’t bring himself to look over at Ramey.

  “You thought so?”

  Judah twisted around. Malik and Isaac had wandered back up to the porch and the old men had resumed their game of checkers. The shotguns were still laid out across the picnic table, though. Easily within in reach. Judah turned back to Sukey, who only shrugged.

  “Had to be sure. Listen here. You go through life the way I have, you learn that a man lies less when he already got his pants down, his ass showing. Sometimes, the fastest way to find out what you need takes longer than you might think.”

  “Or, you could’ve, you know, just given me a call and asked.”

  Judah crossed his arms and dipped his head slightly. Now that they were no longer in danger of being shot in the back, he could sense Ramey growing restless beside him. It was time to speed th
ings up.

  “Sukey, I said I’d set right what I could, but I need to know what happened to Toby. And what Levi has to do with it.”

  He held out his hand.

  “The short version.”

  Sukey shuffled back to the shade underneath the umbrella, coiled the length of cane between her hands and dropped it into the basin of water. She snorted.

  “The short version. All right. Wednesday night, Isaac sent my sister’s grandbaby Toby, just going on seventeen, up to that honky-tonk you call a bar with the take from the Mayweather fight. Oh, trust me, I’m going to take care of Isaac for putting off his responsibility on a kid don’t got the sense God gave a goose, but that’s ’tween me and my grandson. Fool Isaac off making moon-eyes at some girl over in Brooker like the gene pool’s going to dry up tomorrow. But, then, it ain’t like Toby got to build no rocket ship or nothing. Just take the bag, give it to Colonel Sanders behind the bar, get back to where he belong. ’Cept your brother Levi made sure Toby didn’t get no farther than the parking lot.”

  Judah clenched his jaw.

  “What happened?”

  Sukey sucked on her teeth before exhaling loudly.

  “You Cannon folk ain’t the only ones I do business with. You know that. I made damned sure your father knowed that.”

  Sukey flicked her eyes in Ramey’s direction.

  “Even this hussy here knows that. I got my fingers in so many pies I could put my feet up and start a bakery, I had a mind. Always been that way, always will be.”

  Judah nodded cautiously. He was starting to see where this was going. And it was worse than he thought.

  “Of course.”

  “And your dough-headed brother knows that.”

  Judah cut the conversation to the quick.

  “What did Levi do? Did he hurt Toby?”

  “Only after Toby told him where he could stick his tiny pecker. And that was only after Levi made him hand over all three packages that was in the car. Isaac sent Toby on a full run. To The Ace, to my cousin down at the hog farm in Keystone and to, well, you ain’t need to know everything.”

  Sukey jabbed her knotted fists onto her hips.