Pagan Babies

So when she said, "I met a friend of yours at the funeral."

He knew right away who she meant and said, "Does he have bad teeth and stands real close when he's talking?"

"His breath could use some help, too," Debbie said. "How'd you know?"

"You've been working up to this," Terry said, "and now you're there. You met Joh

She looked over at him, this time with a smile.

"He's a beauty."

"You want to use him in your routine."

"I'm thinking about it."

The light changed and they were moving again, Debbie keeping to the right-hand lane, taking her time. She said, "He thought you'd be at the funeral."

"Was Dickie there?"

"He's still in. Joh

"What else did he say?"

"He mentioned you owe them each ten thousand."

"Just happened to mention it?"

"It seemed to be on his mind."

"He thinks I stiffed him?"

"He seemed a little bummed, yeah. Mostly he wanted to know if you still had the money."

"That was five years ago. Why was he asking you?"

"He seemed to think I was your girlfriend."

"Come on-doesn't he know I'm a priest?"

"Your old girlfriend."

As she said it, watching the road, Debbie turned into a lane that ran along a strip of storefronts and angle-parked close to a party store.

She said, "I have to get some cigarettes," and opened her door.

"Wait a minute. What old girlfriend?"

"The one you were living with in L.A.," Debbie said, "when your mom thought you were in the seminary. I'll be right back."

10

HE COULD SEE HER INSIDE the store talking to the young Arab-looking guy behind the counter, the guy laughing at something she said, Debbie wi

The guy would tell his friends about this cool blond chick who came in and was fu

He should never've told Joh

Debbie had moved away from the counter, down an aisle toward the back of the store, out of view. Now she was at the counter again, the Arab-looking guy ringing up the sale with a big grin, Debbie standing in her raincoat talking, opening a pack of cigarettes, the guy stopping to give her a light, then handing her the Bic, or whatever it was. Terry couldn't see what she'd bought, but it looked like more than cigarettes the guy was putting in the paper bag.

The whole time in the car had been an interrogation: Debbie showing a keen interest in his life, more than just curiosity. But now where would she go with it? He'd have to bring her along to find out.

So when she came out and got in the car Terry said, "I can understand why Joh

"I can, too," Debbie said, "thirty thousand in cash."

She started the car, but then sat back with her cigarette, the grocery bag on the seat next to her.

"He thinks I took off with it, uh?"

"Didn't you?"

"Let me tell you," Terry said, "how it worked on a run to Kentucky.

We'd come back with a load, drop it off, and return the U-Haul. The next day we'd go to an office downtown in the Penobscot Building and the woman there, Mrs. Moraco, would pay us.

Count out hundred-dollar bills without saying a word, mostly old bills, and we'd put the money in athletic bags we'd brought along."

"You know who the buyer was?"

"I didn't ask. Anyway, the first couple of times we made the run, no problem," Terry said. "The time we're talking about, only Joh

Debbie said, "Mercy?"

"Regina's born again."

"Don't tell me," Debbie said, "this is about Mercy and Uncle Dickie."

"Yeah, but which one needed protection? Dickie said Mercy was always showing off her young body-and it was all there, believe me. I stopped by to pick Joh

"At the wake," Debbie said, smoking her cigarette, "he asked me to go have a drink with him."

"What'd you tell him?"

"I met him at the Cadieux Caf, looking for Joh

The name alone. So then what happened?"

She'd zing him and Terry would have to remind himself this nicelooking girl was not only an entertainer, she'd done time. And smoked a lot. He pressed the button to lower his window halfway.

"Regina comes home from working a checkout counter at Farmer Jack's and finds Mercy and Dickie in the bathroom together." Terry paused. "You had a drink with Joh

"He wanted to go to a motel."

"Yeah…?"

"I told him I was a nun."

It hung there, Terry not sure if she was kidding, had actually said that.

"I handled it, Terry. Okay? So Regina finds Mercy and Dickie in the shower."

"They were in the bathroom with the door closed."

"The shower ru

"I don't know if they were doing anything or not. I wasn't around to hear. But what happened, Regina called the cops. They arrive and find Dickie trying to stash about a hundred cartons of cigarettes under his bed, ones Dickie sold on the side. Joh

Moraco "

Debbie stopped him. "Did you tell her?"

"I told her she better close the office for a while, and left town."

"You had a passport?"

"I told you, I'd already made plans to leave, go to Africa. But that doesn't mean I pla

She shrugged, maybe not caring one way or the other. "So the Paio

"They gave me up. The prosecutor worked on them a few days and offered a plea deal. They said I hired them; I was the one always delivered the load and collected the money. They knew better than to give 'em Mrs. Moraco. But then once I was involved Fran got on it and talked to the prosecutor. Fran said there must be some mistake, as I was an ordained Catholic priest at a mission in Rwanda. By now a few weeks had passed. I'm over there and the genocide's going on, hundreds of thousands of people being killed and I'm in the middle of it. Did the state really want to indict me? Fran says I'm in the clear, but still have to talk to an assistant prosecutor, Gerald Padilla, downtown at the Frank Murphy, what they call Recorders Court; it's all criminal. I have to get a black suit and a collar and shine my shoes."