Riding the Rap

“But I haven’t done anything.”

Raylan walked over and dropped the Guidelines Manual on the table. He said, “Look up what you get for kidnapping, page forty-six,” and crossed to Harry’s desk, the phone sitting there, a white one.

“I told you,” Dawn said, “my God, all I did was ask Harry a few questions.”

“You were aiding,” Raylan said, “taking part. That puts you in it.” Raylan picked up the phone.

She said, “If I do this…”

“I’ll show you my gratitude,” Raylan said. He dialed the number and held the phone toward her. He could hear ringing and after a few moments a voice saying “Ganz’s residence.”

Dawn came over, took the phone from him and started right in. “Louis?” She said, “I want to ask you something,” turning away as she spoke, but still close enough to Raylan that he heard Louis’s voice again, Louis saying, “What’s wrong, baby?”

She had her back to Raylan now, walking away, going to a front window to stand looking out, Raylan seeing her nighttime reflection in the glass. He heard her say, “Bobby’s gone, isn’t he?” and watched her listening for a moment before she said, “Because I know. How do I know anything?” The psychic, using her stuff on Louis, slipping into her role. Raylan had to admire the way she did it, so easily. He heard her say, “Where is he then?” and watched her listening to Louis, staring at her own reflection in the glass. Now she said, “You’re lying to me, I know you are.” Listened and said, “’Cause he’s dead that’s why.” Listened and said, “I can see him. Louis, I know he’s dead.” She listened another few moments, then lowered the phone coming over to the desk and Raylan heard Louis’s voice again saying, “Dawn?” Saying, “Baby, you still there?” before she put the phone down and stood with her hand on it.

Raylan said, “What’s wrong, baby?”

It got him a mean look, Dawn turning nasty on him, saying, “You want to ask me if he’s really dead, and if I tell you yes you’ll say, ‘Oh, is that right? How do you know?’ ‘Cause you think you’re smarter than I am, you think I make things up. But you know what? You don’t know shit. If you don’t believe he’s dead, go find out for yourself. I’m not helping you anymore.”

Chip was in the bathroom during the call but had heard the phone ring; he came in the study asking who it was. Louis told him Dawn, and Chip frowned and asked what was wrong, Louis having a strange look on his face.

“She knows Bobby’s dead.”

“Who told her?”

“Nobody told her, she just knows. It’s the kind of thing she knows, man.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her she was crazy, but she knows, she say she could see him.”

“We got to pay her,” Chip said. “Jesus.”

“She hung up on me. I’m trying to tell her no, the man left, but she can see him.”

“In the swimming pool?”

“She didn’t say, but she knows. You know what I’m saying?”

“You see what she’s doing?” Chip said. “We got to pay her. Tomorrow, I’ll get some money.”

“We leaving tomorrow.”

“Before we go,” Chip said. “I’ll score, don’t worry. And I’ll sell some of my mother’s clothes, make a couple hundred bucks that way. Those Hugger chicks love to dress up and dance around on the grass. They all smell the same, that scent they wear, that patchouli?”

“She say Bobby’s dead, I felt the hair stand up on my neck.”

“I’ll go pick out some things,” Chip said and left the study.

Louis sat down on the sofa. He found a good-looking roach in the ashtray, lit it and sucked hard and held it in his lungs till he had to breathe.

He told himself, Okay now, be cool. What did he have to do outside of take Harry his supper? Louis put Harry on the TV screen, Harry among the trash with his bathing cap.

He told himself it was good he hadn’t put Chip in the pool just yet and have Dawn see him in there with Bobby and freak thinking he was taking everybody out and she was next, nobody left to tell nothing.

He told himself, Let the man go to the Hugger thing in the park and do whatever he does, sell his mama’s dresses. Don’t tell him where Dawn was. Put him on Mr. Walker’s boat when it came later on and when they got out in the ocean and couldn’t see land, push the man over the side.

What else?

Be cool. That’s all you have to do, Louis told himself. Be cool till the time comes to leave, then get your ass out, fast.

twenty-seven

They sat at the dining table in Harry’s living room, Joyce looking at the deck of tarot cards in Dawn’s hands, noticing the slender fingers, the nails bitten down.

Dawn said, “I should tell you before we begin, I do know who you are.”

Joyce raised her gaze to Dawn’s face, the long, straight hair, the demure Maria

“I know you’re a close friend of both Raylan and Harry Arno.”

Joyce said, “Do you know where Harry is?”

She watched Dawn look up to say, “No, I don’t,” and shrug her hair away from her face.

Joyce said, “What do you know?” and said right away, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

Whether she did or not didn’t seem to bother Reverend Dawn, the little-girl psychic in a man’s starched white shirt this morning, and jeans. Joyce wished now she had worn jeans instead of the daisy-pattern sundress.

“If you’ll shuffle these, please, and cut them into three stacks…” Dawn handed her the tarot deck. “The first time Raylan came I saw you and his former wife. I didn’t see Harry in the picture, but I do now.”

Joyce finished shuffling and cut the deck twice.

“You see Harry in the picture as what?”

“Your lover at one time. You still feel an affection for him.”

“Raylan told you that?”

“Anything I know about you,” Dawn said, “I told him.” She looked down at the table and turned over the top three cards on the stacks. “The Ace of Rods, reversed, the Ace of Swords, and the Judgment card. You’re planting seeds, thinking of starting a new life. It’s not without stress, ‘cause you don’t know what will grow out of this situation and become your karma.”

Joyce sat back in her chair. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you have to use the cards?”

Dawn said, “Let’s see,” and turned over three more cards. “The Knight of Pentacles, the Seven of Pentacles, and”-raising her eyebrows-“the Knight of Swords. Okay, you have to understand I’m reading from vibrations, too. When I access your higher self I’m no longer reading the cards. If you want me to simplify this, not tell you what the cards mean… It looks like you have a choice to make, the Knight of Pentacles or the Knight of Swords. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“Go on,” Joyce said.

“The Judgment card is the focus; you’ll have to live with the decision you make, so be careful. The Knight of Swords is fearless, ready to fight. In a lot of ways he’s very aggressive. Jumps on his horse and takes off without always knowing where he’s going. The Knight of Pentacles is more stable, good at business, financial matters. He’s a Taurus.”

Joyce said, “You’re making this up.”

“I am, in a way,” Dawn said, looking up, tossing her hair. “I interpret what I see and what I feel, but it’s your call. The cards so far aren’t positive or negative. In other words, you’re on the fence. Like, Oh, my, what am I go

“I’m not sure,” Joyce said, “what my true feelings are.”

“You’re introspective,” Dawn said. “Take a look. You’re also somewhat spiritual by nature.”

“What does that mean?”

“You think a lot. But sometimes what you see as a logical conclusion goes against what you feel, the spirit moving you. The one who’s represented by the Knight of Swords killed a man…”