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  After that, we took off our disguises and gloves and went to the house.

  “It’s best to leave her in the box,” Nancy said.

  “She’ll lose circulation, tied up like that. Got to have her out more. I think two hours and a short night is all she can stand. We got to have a body to deliver.”

  Nancy and I were standing at the sink, near the coffeepot. I had already drunk so much coffee, my stomach was churning. My head felt as if it were stuffed with cotton.

  “I mailed the letter,” Nancy said. “They should have it tomorrow at the latest. I was just a few minutes ahead of mail pickup.”

  “I’m having second thoughts. Maybe we ought to let her go and forget the whole thing.”

  “We’ll let her go after we get the money.”

  (53)

  Monday morning, I drove Nancy’s car over to a phone booth at a filling station on the far side of town, bought some gas, and made the call.

  The phone rang once and a man answered.

  I held a handkerchief to my mouth, talked through it. “Rose?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’re the ones.”

  “Heavens, don’t hurt her.”

  “She’s fine. Let’s make this simple. We need fifty thousand dollars and you get your daughter back.”

  “Fifty thousand?”

  “I think I said it clearly.”

  “I don’t have that kind of money. I’m an insurance agent. The company has money.”

  “Then they can pay it.”

  “They won’t. Even I don’t have insurance for this sort of thing.”

  “That’s not good for your kid.”

  “I’ll give you everything my wife and I own, but don’t hurt her.”

  “Fifty thousand.”

  “I might be able to get that if I have time. But I don’t have that handy. I can’t sell my house and cars that fast. I got maybe thirty thousand in the bank. Our life savings.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it. I do fine, but it’s all tied up. I’m living over my head slightly.”

  “Would you lie to me, Mr. Rose?”

  “With you having my daughter, not even a little bit.”

  “You get that thirty thousand. Make sure the bills are not in sequence. You know what I mean. And you put it in twenties and pack it in a suitcase. Might take two suitcases. You get the suitcases and you drive out to Evangeline Road, and you pull over close to where they have the boat ramp. Right before it is a hill. You toss the case or cases, whatever it takes, down the hill. Don’t bring cops, because I won’t have Julie with me.”

  “Then how will I know you’ll let her go?”

  “You won’t, but if I’m not back in a short time, my partner will kill her. Do you understand?”

  “Completely. I’ll do as you say. No police.”

  “Best not. We’ll let her go within a couple of hours of receiving the money. Hear?”

  “Yes. When?”

  “Make it tonight at nine on the dot. No cops. You hear? No cops. And be home until eight p.m. We might change up things and call you then to let you know.”

  “Please don’t hurt my little girl.”

  “She’ll be fine.”

  (54)

  There’s a lake outside of town, and it’s off Evangeline Road. There’s a boat dock down from it, and the water out there is deep and clear.

  I was thinking about it, about picking up the money there. Our plan was for me to hide and grab it, run to where the car was parked, Nancy at the wheel. We could loop around some trees and take a back road that would come out near the drive-in.

  I thought on that, and for me, the pickup was the weakest part of our plan.

  I was out in the shed with Julie, giving her a sandwich and a Coke, considering all that. I was watching Julie eat, little delicate bites. I was thinking about Frank’s motorboat, about how to change plans.

  I let Julie stay out of the box for a couple of hours, brought her up to the house so Nancy could take her to the bathroom.

  Covered in sweat, trembling, weak in the knees, she was still a teenage beauty. I think I had some bad thoughts about her at first, but now I was thinking about how much she reminded me of my sister, not in appearance, but being young and all. I had yet to give Melinda the fake birth certificate. I had to do that. I had to do that soon.

  When I put Julie back in the box, I didn’t tie her hands and feet. With the setup we had, she wasn’t going anywhere. And now I was feeling more like a big brother than a horny old goat.

  When I finished there, I went back to the house and told Nancy about my idea. “We take the motorboat and come across the lake, opposite the drop-off. We grab the money, leave by boat, hook it on the car’s hitch, and drive it back.”

  “That could be all right,” Nancy said.

  “I think we take the girl with us. We let her out on the opposite side if the money is there. Then we’re through with her.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “It’s not like she’s a wildcat. She’s pretty passive about the whole thing. This way, we don’t have to keep her and worry about something going wrong after that point. We got the money, Rose has the kid. Another thing—we’re not getting fifty thousand.”

  “What?”

  “He doesn’t have it. We’re getting thirty.”

  “He lied to you.”

  “Possible, but I don’t think so. Believe me, he wants his kid back, and thirty thousand, that’s nothing to sneeze at.”

  “That wasn’t our plan.”

  “Plans change. Longer we mess with this, more likely he’s going to bring the cops into it. Hell, maybe he already has. Lover boy went to them, we can bet on that. I told Rose not to bring the cops, but he might, or they might be watching him on account of her boyfriend telling his story.”

  “You think that, then we don’t pick up the money tonight.”

  “It’ll be the same every night. But we mess with Rose a bit. We call him about seven p.m. He’ll be at home, I’m sure. My guess is he’s already gone to the bank and got the money. We tell him what we want now is for him to drive out and make the drop. We’ll make it an hour earlier, and we’ll tell him to leave right then as it ought to take him about an hour to get out to the lake. We’ll have him park, and instead of tossing the money over the embankment, we’ll have him bring the money to the edge of the water, on the dock, and wait for us to come out on the dock and meet him. Then we’ll show up with the boat instead, have him toss it to us, let Julie out on the dock, and we’re gone.”

  “It’s risky.”

  “It’s all risky, baby.”

  Nancy thought on the plan. “All right. I’ll be glad to get rid of that girl.”

  “And I’ll be glad to have that money.”

  “We’ll be glad to have that money.”

  “Of course. What I meant.”

  (55)

  I went up to the drive-in about six. It was still a while before dark, but it took some time to get things going before the customers came. I saw Walter there.

  “Thought you were looking after a sick grandma.”

  “She’s all right now. I can’t stay tonight, though.”

  “That’s a shame.”

  I ignored him. I went into the concession. The pimple-faced girl whose name I could never remember was there.

  She was so glad to see me I felt bad about not knowing her name.

  “How’s your grandmother?”

  “Fine. It’s still going to be yours and Walter’s tonight.”

  Her face fell. “He makes me kind of nervous.”

  “He makes everyone kind of nervous. But it’s all right. After tonight, I’ll be back at it. Thing is, I’m feeling a little under the weather myself. I might have got something from my grandmother. What I’m going to need is for you to make sure things are done right. Popcorn is kept fresh. We don’t want a reputation for serving popcorn that tastes like Styrofoam.”

  She looked
like her feelings were hurt. “I always keep it fresh.”

  “I know you do, but Walter, I’m not so sure about him. I have to depend on you.”

  That perked her right up. “Okay. Hope you feel better.”

  “Sure. I’m just going to look at the books before I go.”

  I went into my room and closed the door. I didn’t look at anything. I was thinking about tonight and the boat and the money.

  I sat there long enough to get myself together, then started walking up to the house.

  That’s when I saw a car pull up near the theater. A black man got out. It was Cecil. He leaned on the side of his car and grinned at me. He had on a big hat and a nice blue suit and two-tone shoes.

  I knew what this would be about. I’d been wondering what was taking him so long. I walked over to the car, wishing I had my gun or my sap.

  When I got up close, I could see he was still banged up from me working him over.

  “Hey, brother. Glad to see you. You are the whitest coon I ever did see.”

  My spine went rigid. He knew. “Okay, Cecil. What do you want?”

  “I want what makes the world go around. There’s two things do that, least for me. Women and money. And as I always say, you got the money, you got the other.”

  “You’re blackmailing me.”

  “Only a little bit. Got this nice drive-in and all.”

  “I just work here.”

  “Not what I heard. Dash said you and that white girl been sharing the sheets.”

  “Dash doesn’t know shit.”

  Cecil smiled at me. “He knew a lot after I worked him over some. You see, you surprised me the other night. But now, you want to boogie, I’m ready. It’ll come out different. And I brought my own sap.” He pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s bigger than yours, a little heavier.”

  “I’ll take that away from you and make you eat it.”

  He kept smiling, put the sap back in his pocket. “Here’s the thing, brother. You got to pay me so you can keep walking around in that white skin, going to white places, and going in the front door to boot. You got to pay me, you hear? This is what I’m thinking. Three thousand a month and I don’t let on you got that colored blood.”

  “Are you crazy? Haven’t got that kind of money. Like I said, I just work here.”

  “Like I said, I heard different.”

  “You’re hitting on Dash, he’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

  “What he told me seemed sincere, especially after I knocked that damn gold tooth out. That thing’s worth some money. Everyone over there saw your car and your near-white ass going into his place, and I had to wonder why that was, so, you know, I asked Dash what the deal was, and you know what? He told me he did a birth certificate for you and your sister, and so, curious motherfucker that I am, I asked him why you had him do that. That’s when, with a little persuading, he told me about the chocolate drop in the vanilla.”

  “You’re out of your mind. I can’t pay three thousand dollars a month to you if I wanted to.”

  “Well, we can negotiate some. I like a little haggle. But just a little. I mean, you don’t have to pay shit, but if you don’t, everyone going to know you and your sister are just a couple of niggers, and your mother is a nigger fucker.”

  I gave it a bit of thought. He wouldn’t have liked my thoughts. “I’ll pay you ten thousand and we’re done. That’s it. Not a dime more. I’ll give you half up front, the other half in a month.”

  “Not the plan I had in mind.”

  “It’s the plan you better decide on or I’ll take my chances with you in any kind of way you want.”

  Cecil, still leaning against the car, lifted his head and considered the sky, which was cloudy, and then looked at me and smiled. “That’ll do, my man. How about five large now?”

  “How about no. I don’t walk around with five thousand stuck up my ass, and I don’t keep it in a coffee can buried in the backyard neither.”

  “Now, that is a disappointment. That it’s not in the coffee can. The other, that could be messy.”

  “Week from tonight, an hour or so after the drive-in closes. It’ll take me that long to put it together. Make it one a.m. Drive up to the drive-in then, and I’ll have the chain down. Come through, park in front of the concession, and I’ll give you the money.”

  “Just show up late by myself and you’ll hand me five thousand dollars with a smile? That what you’re telling me?”

  “It’s worth it to me if you’ll leave us alone.”

  “I run out of money, don’t have a monthly payment, I could start feeling left out, could talk about our racial relations at any time.”

  “You could. I’m having to trust you. You offer me a better plan and I’ll listen.”

  “I can think of a better plan for you, but it’s not so good for me.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “You already have. I got this clicking in my jaw.”

  “You’ll be fine, and you’ll have the money, and I’ll have some peace of mind. But you talk, you don’t get the other five thousand, and I’ll kill you. You get the other five thousand and you talk, I’ll kill you. You try and fuck me over, even if I just think you’re thinking about it, I’ll kill you.”

  “That there is fucking confidence, brother.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  Cecil grinned big. He loved messing with me. “Ah, now, come on. You got the blood.”

  “Do we have a deal?”

  He went back to considering the cloudy sky again.

  Then he opened his car door, stood with one foot in the car. “All right, brother. We got us a deal. Play it straight, now. A week from today.”

  (56)

  I had Julie in a box, a trailer hitch to fasten on Nancy’s car, a motorboat to hook to it, and a trip to make across the lake at night, possibly followed by an escape from the police. I had to ensure Melinda and Mom had some money after the ransom was paid, and then I had Cecil to consider and this whole drive-in and cemetery thing to figure out.

  And, of course, there was Nancy, who was becoming testier by the day, not to mention Walter, who was beginning to get on my nerves big-time.

  Now if it would only rain.

  In that moment, I wished I were selling used cars and going home at night to drink and jack off.

  As I was walking up to the house, I felt a drop of rain on my face.

  Damn me for asking.

  (57)

  At the allotted time, I got my pistol from the glove box of my Cadillac, put it under my shirt, poked it into my waistband.

  In the garage, I hooked up the motorboat. The boat was a light thing and easy to spin around and link up. I took the license plate off the back of it and chunked it aside. I found a rusty file in Frank’s toolbox, filed off the little numbers on the trailer that connected it to its source of purchase, checked the outboard motor’s gas content. It wasn’t full, so I found a can of gas in the garage and topped it off. It wasn’t much of a boat, but that was all right. As long as it would get us across the lake and back, it was okay.

  I had been thinking that making our getaway dragging a trailer would slow us down, so I had come up with new ideas on how to deal with that. I got the ax off the wall and put it in the boat. I got the frog gig too.

  I put on my disguise and gloves and got Julie out of the box just as Nancy came in wearing her disguise. We probably didn’t need them, the way Julie was masked up, but it seemed like a good idea.

  Nancy brought a Coke and another sandwich.

  I steered Julie to the chair. She sat and I took the food from Nancy and gave her the drink and the sandwich.

  “How is daddy’s girl?” Nancy said.

  She was talking to me. I didn’t answer that.

  “Julie,” I said. “Listen up. You’re going home tonight.”

  “Oh, please. Thank you.”

  “To make this work, you got to not give us any trouble. We’re going to take you an
d trade you for the money.”

  “Damn good trade in my book,” Nancy said. “At least on our end.”

  “You are going to give me back for real, aren’t you? I mean, you’re not going to hurt me?”

  “You’ll be fine, kid,” I said. “Just listen to us, do as we say, and everything will click along like clockwork. Okay?”

  “Yes. Okay.”

  We waited until it was about time to go, then we took off our disguises and made sure Julie’s mask was on right. I drove Nancy’s car, pulling the boat hooked to the hitch, out of the garage. Nancy had me put Julie in the trunk.

  As we left the property, I glanced in the mirror. I could see the rain-fuzzed drive-in finger of lights poking up into the rain.

  I drove along carefully and hoped like hell I wouldn’t see any cops, just because I felt guilty, not because there was a reason for them to stop me.

  Taking some back roads, I made decent time, even in the rain, to the opposite side of the lake than where we needed to be. I backed the car down to a dirt landing that fishermen used, and then I put on my silly disguise and got out and used the crank to lower the boat off the trailer and down to the water’s edge.

  It was starting to rain harder.

  We helped Julie out of the trunk, making sure she hadn’t taken off her mask, and she hadn’t. I unhitched the trailer and got in the motorboat with Nancy and Julie. I turned on my flashlight and looked at my watch.

  “I think we’re late,” Nancy said. I couldn’t help but think she looked ridiculous in that hat and bat mask.

  “No,” I said. “We’re fine.”

  “We’re not across the lake yet.”

  “I tell you, we’re fine.”

  I had them sit down in the boat, and I used the frog gig to push us farther out from the bank. There was a boat paddle in the bottom of the boat, and I used that to get us a little more out in the water. I put the paddle away and pulled the rope on the motor.

  Nothing happened.