won’t back him off, just make him bring something himself for next time. And if he was bluffing, showing him steel might just turn him serious. You can buy anything Inside. Even guys to do your work for you.
Whoever wants you, if he knows you’re carrying, he’s going to come in careful. Maybe even bring along some backup. And you never want that.
A guy who’s gunning for you should never know you’re carrying steel, until he feels it go in.
After a few weeks, I started to get steady mail from a woman. The letters sounded like we’d been together for a long time. And she always put in a little note, telling me she’d just put more money on the books for me.
This woman, she was always promising to wait for me, no matter how long that turned out to be. Solly, paying the premiums on his insurance policy.
I knew that much just from the woman’s name. Marcy. That’s what they call the loony bin—where they put you if they decide you’re “criminally insane.” Solly telling me, maybe I wanted to go the NGI route, say I got hit on the head and I couldn’t remember anything, crap like that.
He was just reminding me that I could take a plea to the rape, and nobody would think it was for real. Wouldn’t hurt my rep when I got out.
You pull off a job, every man gets his share. The planner, he’s supposed to take care of anyone who gets caught, make sure they stay quiet. That’s one of the reasons he gets half of the whole haul.
So, yeah, I got the messages. Both of them. I was being railroaded on the rape charge, but there was no point in me taking passengers along on the ride. And my money would still be there when I finally got off the train.
I wondered when that would be.
It took over a month for that slick Puerto Rican lawyer to come by and answer my question. Under his charcoal suit, he was wearing a dark-purple shirt with a white collar and cuffs, silk tie same color as the shirt. On the left cuff, “HSR,” embroidered in thread the same color as the shirt, too. Some woman was dressing him, all right.
“If they max you on the rape, you’re looking at half of twenty-five before you even see the Board.”
The first time up’s an automatic hit, so I had to figure on at least thirteen and a half. That’s a tattoo you see a lot on old-time cons: “13½.” Means twelve jurors, one judge, half a chance.
I shook my head. Not saying no, just … tired, I guess.
“I don’t want to take this to trial,” the lawyer said.
“I’m not gonna—”
“I know,” he said. “But here’s something else I know—they don’t want to try it, either.”
“You said the lineup—”
“I also said the lineup was all they had,” he said, tapping a yellow legal pad with a fancy-looking pen—black enamel, with a touch of gold around the point. “And that’s weak as water.”
“But it’s still a dice roll, right?”
“Right. And they don’t like playing unless it’s their dice.”
“That much I know. But I got nothing to trade. And I wouldn’t if I did. Only thing is …”
“What?”
“How come you don’t like it?” I asked him. Not only did I know 18-B lawyers get paid by the hour, I could tell this guy wasn’t scared of trials.
He waited until he was sure he had my eyes. Then he said, “There’s one kind of client no defense attorney ever wants. You know what kind that is?”
“The kind that can’t pay the freight.”
“Sure,” he said. Meaning, What else?
“I give up,” I told him.
“An innocent one. That’s every defense attorney’s nightmare.”
“So you believe me, too?”
“I talked to the cops who interrogated you. One of them, he as much as said it, flat out. You wouldn’t even need that polygraph.”
“The older guy, right?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see the other one. Detective Woods, that’s all I can tell you.”
“Yeah. Well, if he told you he knows I didn’t do that rape, he must’ve also told you why, too.”
The lawyer nodded.
“So what’s the difference? Time is time. Maybe I can’t beat the rape case, but it’s no slam dunk for them, either. I don’t know why that girl picked me out of the lineup, but—”
“She’s already been in the Grand Jury,” the lawyer said, making sure I understood what he was telling me. Which was, if anything happened to her before the trial,