The little grin was still there. "Man, I hope n.o.body"s telling stories on me, giving me a bad name."
"They didn"t say it was you. I"m saying it."
"Why would I do a thing like that?"
"So I"ll lose my crop."
"I think you must be a little mixed up," Kopas said. "Don"t know where your head"s at. Here you are standing in deep s.h.i.t and you"re worried about a little d.i.n.ky melon crop."
"You"ve been talking to somebody," Majestyk said.
"Who"s that?" Kopas said, giving him the grin.
"I can fix it you"d have a hard time smiling again."
Kopas tensed and the grin vanished. "Listen, I"m not kidding. You even make a fist, man, you"re back in jail."
"Are you working for him?"
"Who"s that?"
"He get you to drop the complaint?"
"I think I"m tired of talking to you," Kopas said. He moved to the car door and opened it, then looked back at Majestyk.
"I"ll tell you one thing though. Somebody"s going to set your a.s.s on fire. And I"m going to be there to see it."
The Olds started off as Kopas got in and slammed the door.
Majestyk caught a glimpse of the driver"s profile-looking at Kopas, saying something-and for a moment he thought he knew the man or had seen him before. But the car was moving away and it was too late to get another look at him and be sure. Big shoulders, curly hair. Maybe he was one of the guys who had been with Kopas a week ago, the day it began. Or a different one. The car was different.
What difference did it make? He had enough people to think about without bringing in new ones. Faces to remember. Frank Renda"s. Telling him he was going to kill him. Now Kopas and Renda. The man had already started to make his move. He didn"t waste time. He found Kopas and hired him. That was plain enough. Now they were beginning to play a game with him. Let him know they were coming. Give him something to keep him awake nights. He thought of telling the deputy in the State Highway Department truck. Get him after them, quick, before they turned off the highway somewhere. Maybe they would lead him to Renda.
But Renda didn"t have any reason to hide. He was free.
And what does the cop do, arrest them? For what?
No, whatever"s going to happen is going to happen, Majestyk thought. So go home and pick your melons.
8.
"I"M NOT s.h.i.tTIN" YOU," Kopas said. "I was thinking of dropping the complaint anyway, so I could take care of the son of a b.i.t.c.h myself." Kopas said. "I was thinking of dropping the complaint anyway, so I could take care of the son of a b.i.t.c.h myself."
Eugene Lundy wasn"t listening to him. He was staring straight ahead, over the hood of the Olds 98, at the vacant land of dust-green mesquite and sun glare and bugs rising with the airstream and exploding in yellow bursts against the windshield. Like somebody was spitting them there.
"Load up the pump gun and wait for him," Kopas said. "Or stick it in his window some night. See him sittin" on the toilet. Bam Bam. Scatter the motherf.u.c.ker all over the room."
Lundy was counting the bug stains, more than a dozen of the yellow ones: some kind of bug flying along having a nice time and the next thing sucked into the wind, coming up fast over the hood and wiped out, the bug not knowing what in the name of Christ happened to him. Maybe they had been b.u.t.terflies. Seeing the bugs suddenly, there wasn"t time to tell what they were.
"I got to p.i.s.s," Kopas said.
Lundy looked at the speedometer and up again. He was holding between seventy and seventy-five down the country road that rose and dropped through the desert, seeing no other cars, no people, not even signs.
"Man, I"m in pain," Kopas said. "All you got to do is stop the car."
"We"re almost there," Lundy said. "I"m not going to stop twice."
"How long you think it"s going to take me, an hour? All I want to do is take a p.i.s.s."
"Hold it," Lundy said.
Maybe they were all different kinds of bugs, but all bugs were yellow inside. Like all people were red inside. Maybe. Lundy had never thought about it before. His gaze held on the stained windshield as he waited for a bug to come up over the hood.
He felt so good his eyes were watering, and kept going like he was never going to stop. Jesus, what a relief. Son of a b.i.t.c.h Lundy made him hold it twenty minutes, refusing to stop the car. He"d finally pleaded with him. Christ, just slow down, he"d p.i.s.s out the window, but the son of a b.i.t.c.h wouldn"t even do that. A very cold son of a b.i.t.c.h who didn"t say much, sitting on two pieces under his seat, a Colt .45 automatic and a big f.u.c.king Colt .44 mag. He had asked the guy if he had been in on the bus job and the guy had looked at him and said, "The bus job. Is that what you call it?" And that was all he"d said.
Bobby Kopas zipped up his fly and walked around to the front of the Olds where Lundy was standing, squinting up at the sky.
"Hurry up and wait," Kopas said. "I never seen a plane come in on time in my life. Not even the airlines, not once I ever went out to the airport. Everybody sitting around waiting. Go in the c.o.c.ktail lounge you"re smashed by the time the f.u.c.king plane arrives. You ever seen a plane come in on time?"
Staring at the sky and the flat strip of desert beyond the road, Lundy said, "Why don"t you shut your mouth for a while?"
Christ, you couldn"t even talk to the guy. Kopas moved around with his hands in his pockets, kicking a few stones, looking around for some shade, which there wasn"t a bit of anywhere, squinting in the hot glare, squinting even with his wraparound sungla.s.ses on. The gla.s.ses made him sweat and he had to keep wiping his eyes. Lundy stood there not moving, like the heat didn"t bother him at all. Big, heavy son of a b.i.t.c.h who should"ve been lathered with sweat by now, like a horse.
They heard the plane before they saw it, the faraway droning sound, then a dot in the sky coming in low, the sun flashing on its windshield. The Cessna pa.s.sed over them at about a hundred feet. As it banked, descending, coming around in a wide circle, Lundy finally spoke. He said, "Wait here," and walked out into the desert.
Kopas was excited now. He wanted to appear cool and make a good impression. He put his hands on his hipbones and c.o.c.ked one leg, pointing the toe of the boot out a little. Like a gunfighter. So the guy was big time. He"d act cool, savvy, show the guy he wasn"t all that impressed.
He watched the plane come to a stop about a hundred yards away. Lundy, going out to meet it, was holding up his arm, waving at the plane. Big jerk.
Renda came out first and then the girl-white slacks and a bright green blouse. Even at this distance she looked good. Blond, nice slim figure. Now they were coming this way and Lundy was talking to them, gesturing, probably telling Renda how the murder charge against him had been dropped. Renda wouldn"t have known about it, though the pilot might have told him. As the plane started its engine to take off, the prop wash blew sand at them and they hunched their shoulders and turned away from the stinging blast of air. Lundy was talking again. Renda stopped and they all stopped. Renda was saying something.
Then Lundy was talking again. As they came up to the road Kopas heard Lundy say, "You could have rode up here barea.s.s on a white horse, n.o.body would"ve stopped you."
"What about the bus thing?" the girl asked him.
She was something. Maybe the best-looking girl Bobby Kopas had ever seen.
"There"s nothing they can stick you with," Lundy said. "The bus, nothing. They tried to, naturally. There"re three cops involved and they don"t like that one bit. But what"re they going to stick you with? You didn"t shoot the cops. You didn"t take the bus. The guy did, Majestyk. But they don"t even jam him for that. You see what I"m getting at?"
Kopas had never heard Lundy talk so much.
The good-looking girl said, "G.o.d, nothing like a little dumb luck."
"Luck, bulls.h.i.t," Renda said. "Timing. Make it happen. And never run till you see you"re being chased."
"With a fast lawyer available at all times," the girl said. She didn"t seem to be afraid of him.
"They had to let him go," Renda said. "I could see that right away, the cops coming up with this great idea. Don"t stick him with the bus, no, let him go so I"ll show up and try for him."
"That"s the question," Lundy said. "What"re the cops doing?"
"No, the question is what"s the guy doing? Is he still sitting for it or what?"
"He"s around," Lundy said. "We just saw him."
Kopas stepped out of the way as they approached the Olds. He set a grin on his face and said, "Probably home by now waiting on you, Mr. Renda."
Renda looked at him. Christ, with the coldest look he"d ever gotten from a person. Like he was a thing or wasn"t even there. Christ, he"d been arrested, he"d been in the can. He wasn"t some lightweight who didn"t know what he was doing.
He said, "Mr. Renda? I wonder if I could ask you a favor." Renda was looking at him again. "I know it"s your party, but-after you finish the son of a b.i.t.c.h-you mind if I put a couple of slugs in him?"
Renda said to Lundy, "Who"s this a.s.shole?"
"Bobby Kopas. Boy Majestyk hit."
"You pay him to drop it?"
"Five hundred."
"Then what"s he doing here?"
"He"s working for us," Lundy said, "to see n.o.body works for Majestyk. So there won"t be a crowd hanging around there. He knows the guy"s place, back roads, ways in and out. I thought he might come in handy."
Kopas thought he could add to that. He said, "I been watching that Polack melon picker since they let him out. He doesn"t fart that I don"t know about it."
The girl said, probably to Lundy, "Is he for real?"
Kopas wasn"t sure what she meant. He kept his eyes on Renda, who was staring at him, and tried not to look away.
"You"re telling me you know him pretty well?" Renda asked.
"I know he"s a stuck-up son of a b.i.t.c.h. Got a two-bit farm and thinks he"s a big grower."
"How long"s he lived here?"
Kopas grinned. "Not much longer I guess, huh?"
"I ask you a question," Renda said, "you don"t seem to want to answer it."
Jesus, that look again. "Well, I"m not sure how long exactly he"s been here. Couple years, I guess. I just got into this labor business recently, when I seen there was money in it."
"Show me where he lives," Renda said.
"Yes sir, any time you say."
"Right now."
"Frank," Lundy said, "your lawyer got the house, it"s all set. Up in the mountains, n.o.body can bother you or know you"re there. I thought maybe you"d want to go up to the house first, you know, take it easy for a while."
Renda said, "Gene, did I come here to take it easy? I could be home, not at some place in the mountains. But I"m not home."
"I know you"re anxious," Lundy began.
"Gene, I want to see the guy"s place," Renda said. "I want to see it right now."
The two Anglo kids in the white T-shirts quit at noon and Mendoza paid them off. That left nine. So Majestyk went out in the field and picked melons all the rest of the day with Nancy Chavez and her friends from Yuma. Maybe next year he could stand around and watch, or sit in an office like a big melon grower. Sit on the porch and drink iced tea. That would be nice.
He wasn"t used to this. He could feel the soreness in his back, and each time he reached the end of a row it would take him a little longer to straighten up. All day, dirty and sweaty and thirsty-drinking the lukewarm water in the canvas bag. Tomorrow he"d get a tub of ice and some pop, cover it with a piece of burlap. He"d forgotten how difficult and painful stooped labor was. Around 5:30, after eleven hours of it, the pickers began to straggle out of the field and unload their last melon sacks at the trailer parked on the road.
Majestyk was finishing a row, finally, when Nancy Chavez crossed through the vines and came toward him, a full sack hanging from her shoulder.
She said, "I"ve been watching you. For a grower you"re pretty good."
"Lady, I"ve picked way more"n I"ve ever grown." He got up with an effort, trying not to show it, and the girl smiled at him. As they moved off toward the trailer, where Mendoza and two of his small sons were emptying the sacks and stacking the melons, Majestyk said, "I meant to ask if you ever sorted."
"All the time. It"s what I do best."
"Maybe you could start things going in the packing shed tomorrow. If you"d like to."
"Whatever you say."
"We ever get it done, I"d like to pay everybody something extra."
"You worried we won"t take it?"
"I just want you to know I appreciate your staying here and all."
"Don"t mention it. You"re paying, aren"t you?"
"Are the quarters all right? They haven"t been used in a while. Couple of years at least."
"They"re okay," the girl said. "We"ve lived in worse."
They were approaching the trailer and he wanted to say something to her before they reached it and Mendoza might hear him.
"You want to have supper with me?"
She turned her head to look at him. "Where, your house? Just the two of us, all alone?"
"We can go down the highway you want. I don"t care."
They were at the trailer now. She handed up her sack to Mendoza before looking at Majestyk again.