A Walk Among the Tombstones

by Lawrence Block

Page 41

 

  We had cleared off the table. All of the money, repackaged to hide the counterfeit bills, was packed into two suitcases. I spread the map on the table and traced a route to the cemetery, indicating the two entrances on the graveyards western border. I explained how it would work, where wed set up, how the exchange would be made.

  "Puts you right out in front," Kenan observed.

  "Ill be all right. "

  "If he tries anything-"

  "I dont think he will. "

  You can always kill me, Id told him. Yes I could, hed said.

  "I am the one who should carry the bags," Yuri said.

  "Theyre not that heavy," I said. "I can manage them. "

  "You make a joke, but I am serious. It is my daughter. I should be out in front. "

  I shook my head. If he ever got that close to Callander, I couldnt trust him not to lose it and go for him. But I had a better reason to offer him. "I want Lucia to run to safety. If youre there shell want to stay with you. I need you here," I said, pointing to the map, "so you can call to her. "

  "Youll tuck a gun in your belt," Kenan said.

  "I probably will, but I dont know what good itll do. If he tries anything I wont have time to get it out. If he doesnt I wont have any use for it. What I wish I had is a Kevlar vest. "

  "Thats the bulletproof mesh? I heard it wont stop a knife. "

  "Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It wont always stop a bullet, either, but it gives you a sporting chance. "

  "You know where you can get one?"

  "Not at this hour. Forget it, its not important. "

  "No? It sounds pretty important to me. "

  "I dont even know that theyve got guns. "

  "Are you kidding? I didnt think there was anybody in this town doesnt have a gun. What about the third man, the sharpshooter, guy hiding behind a tombstone covering everybody? What do you figure hes doing the job with, a fucking Wham-O slingshot?"

  "Thats if there is a third man. I was the one who mentioned him, and Callander was bright enough to follow my lead. "

  "You think theyre doing this with two guys?"

  "They only had two when they kidnapped the girl on Park Avenue. I cant see going out and recruiting an extra person for an operation like this. This is lust murder that developed a commercial hook to it, not an ordinary professional criminal operation where you can go out and put a string of men together. There are some witnesses who would seem to indicate the existence of a third man in the two abductions that were witnessed, but they may just have assumed there was a driver, because thats the way you would expect people to do it. But if you only had two people to start with, one of them would double as the driver. And thats what I think happened. "

  "So we can forget the third man. "

  "No," I said. "Thats the aggravating thing about it. We have to assume hes there. "

  I went into the kitchen for more coffee. When I came back Yuri asked how many men I wanted. He said, "We have you, me, Kenan, Peter, Dani, and Pavel. Pavel is downstairs, you met him coming into the building. I got three more men ready to come, all I got to do is tell them. "

  "I can think of a dozen," Kenan said. "People I talked to, whether they had money to kick in or not, everybody said the same thing. You can use a hand, tell me, be right there. " He leaned over the map. "We can let them get in position, then bring in a dozen more men in three or four cars. Seal up both exits, plus the rest of them, here and here. Youre shaking your head. Why not?"

  "I want to let them get away with the money. "

  "You dont even want to try for it? After weve got the girl back?"

  "No. "

  "Why not?"

  "Because its crazy to get into a firefight in a graveyard at night, or shoot at each other from cars careening around Park Slope. An operation like thats no good unless you can control it, and there are too many ways this one can slip out of control. Look, I sold this by setting it up as a standoff, and I did a good job designing it that way. It is a standoff. We get the girl, they get the money, and everybody goes home alive. A few minutes ago that was all we wanted out of the deal. Is that still how we feel?"

  Yuri said it was. Kenan said, "Yeah, sure, its all I ever wanted. I just hate to see them get away with anything. "

  "They wont. Callander thinks hes got a week to pack his valise and get out of town. He hasnt got a week. It wont take me that long to find him. Meanwhile, how many men do we need? I think were fine with the people weve already got. Say three cars. Dani and Yuri in one, Peter and… is it Pavel in the lobby downstairs? Peter and Pavel in the Toyota, and Ill ride with Kenan in the Buick. Thats all we need. Six men. "

  The phone rang in Lucias room. I answered it and spoke to TJ, who was back at the laundromat after having no luck looking in driveways and at curbs for the Honda.

  I went back to the living room. "Make that seven," I said.

  Chapter 21

  In the car Kenan said, "I figure the Shore Parkway and the Gowanus. That sound okay to you?" I told him he knew more about it than I did. He said, "This kid were picking up. Hows he fit into the picture?"

  "Hes a kid from the ghetto who hangs out in Times Square. God knows where he lives. He goes by his initials, assuming theyre his initials and he didnt find them in a bowl of alphabet soup. Hes been a big help, believe it or not. He put me on to the computer wizards, and he saw Callander tonight and got the license number. "

  "You think hes gonna do anything for us at the cemetery?"

  "I hope he doesnt try," I said. "Were picking him up because I dont want him wandering around Sunset Park being resourceful when Callander and his friends are on their way home. Id like to keep him out of harms way. "

  "You say hes a kid?"

  I nodded. "Fifteen, sixteen. "

  "Whats he want to be when he grows up? A detective like you?"

  "Thats what he wants to be now. He doesnt want to wait until he grows up. I cant say I blame him. So many of them dont. "

  "Dont what?"

  "Grow up. A black teenager living on the streets? Theyve got the average life expectancy of a fruit fly. TJs a good kid. I hope he makes it. "

  "And you really dont know his last name. "

  "No. "

  "You know whats funny? Between AA and the streets, you know a hell of a lot of people without last names. "

  A little later he said, "You get any sense of Dani? He a relative of Yuris or what?"

  "No idea. Why?"

  "I was just thinking, the two of them riding around in that Lincoln with a million dollars in the backseat. We know Danis got a gun. Say he pops Yuri and takes off. We wouldnt even know who to look for, just a Russian guy with a jacket that dont fit him too good. Hes another guy with no last name. Must be a friend of yours, huh?"

  "I think Yuri trusts him. "

  "Hes probably family. Who else you gonna trust like that?"

  "Anyway, its not a million. "

  "Eight hundred thousand. You gonna make me a liar for a lousy two hundred thousand?"

  "And almost a third of its counterfeit. "

  "Youre right, its hardly worth stealing. Were lucky if these two jokers were meeting are willing to haul it away. If not it goes in the basement, save it for the next Boy Scout paper drive. You want to do me a favor? When youre up there with a suitcase in each hand, you want to ask our friends a question?"

  "What?"

  "Ask em how the hell they picked me, will you? Because its still driving me nuts. "

  "Oh," I said. "I think I know. "

  "Seriously?"

  "Uh-huh. My first thought was that he was in the dope business on some level or other. "

  "Makes sense, but-"

  "But hes not, Im almost certain, because I had somebody run a check and he hasnt got a criminal record. "

  "Neither have I. "

  "Youre an exception. "

  "Thats true. How about Yuri?"

  "Several arrests in the Soviet Union, no serious jail tim
e. One bust here for receiving stolen goods but the charges were dropped. "

  "But nothing involving narcotics. "

  "No. "

  "All right, Callanders got a clean slate. So hes not in the dope business, so-"

  "The DEA was trying to make a case against you a while ago. "

  "Yeah, but it didnt get anywheres. "

  "I was talking to Yuri before. He said he backed out of a deal last year because he sensed that some agency was trying to trap him with a sting. He had the sense it was federal. "

  He turned to look at me, then forced his eyes front and swung out to pass a car. "Jesus Christ," he said. "This a new national law-enforcement policy? They cant make a case against us so they kill our wives and daughters?"

  "I think Callander worked for the DEA," I said. "Probably not for very long, and almost certainly not as an accredited agent. Maybe they used him once or twice as a confidential informant, maybe he was strictly office help. He wouldnt have gone very far and he wouldnt have lasted very long. "

  "Why not?"

  "Because hes crazy. He probably got into it because of a low-grade obsession about dope dealers. Thats an asset in that line of work but not when its out of proportion. Look, Im just going on a hunch. There was something he said on the phone when I told him I was Yuris partner. It was as if he was starting to say that explained why they hadnt been able to rope Yuri in. "

  "Jesus. "

  "Its something I can find out tomorrow or the next day, if I can get a hook into the DEA and see if his name rings a bell with them. Or take an unauthorized dip into their files, if my computer geniuses can swing it. "

  Kenan looked thoughtful. "He didnt sound like a cop. "

  "No, he didnt. "

  "But the guy you described wouldnt really be a cop, would he?"

  "More like a buff. But a buff with the Feds, and fixated on the subject of narcotics. "

  "He knew the wholesale price of a kilo of cocaine," Kenan said, "but I dont know what that proves. Your friend TJ probably knows the wholesale price of a key. "

  "I wouldnt be surprised. "

  "Lucias classmates at this girls school, they probably know it, too. Kind of world we live in. "

  "You should have been a doctor. "

  "Like my old man wanted. No, I dont think so. But maybe I should have been a counterfeiter. You meet a nicer class of people. At least I wouldnt have the fucking DEA on my back. "

  "Counterfeiting? Youd have the Secret Service. "

  "Jesus," he said. "If its not one goddamn thing its another. "

  "THAT the laundromat? There on the right?" I said it was, and Kenan pulled up in front but kept the motor running. He said, "How are we on time?" then glanced at his watch and the dashboard clock and answered his own question. "Were fine. Running a little early. "

  I was watching the laundromat, but TJ emerged instead from a doorway on the other side of the avenue and crossed over, getting in the back. I introduced them, and each claimed to be pleased to meet the other. TJ shrank back against the seat and Kenan put the car in gear.