There was a long pause on the other end. “Reggie, I’m not going to release Mark under any circumstances, not today anyway. Let’s see what happens over the weekend. He’s much safer where he is.”
“I agree.”
“Have you talked to his mother?”
“Yesterday. She was lukewarm on the idea of witness protection. It might take some time. Poor thing is nothing but ragged nerves.”
“Work on her. Can she be present in court today? I’d like to see her.”
“I’ll try.”
“See you at noon.”
She poured another cup of coffee and returned to the balcony. Axle slept under the rocker. The first light of dawn crept through the trees. She held the warm mug with both hands and tucked her bare feet under the heavy bathrobe. She sniffed the aroma and thought about how much she despised the press. So now the world would know about the hearing. So much for confidentiality. Her little client was suddenly more vulnerable. It was obvious now, the fact that he knew something he shouldn’t know. If not, why wouldn’t he simply have talked when the judge instructed him to?
This game was growing more dangerous by the hour. And she, Reggie Love, Attorney and Counselor-at-Law, was supposed to have all the answers and dispense perfect advice. Mark would look at her with those scared blue eyes, and ask what to do next. How the hell was she supposed to know?
They were after her too.
Doreen woke Mark early. She’d fixed blueberry muffins for him, and she nibbled on one and watched him with great concern. Mark sat in a chair, holding a muffin but not eating it, just staring blankly at the floor. He slowly raised the muffin to his mouth, took a tiny bite, then lowered it to his lap. Doreen watched every move.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked him.
Mark nodded slowly. “Oh, I’m fine,” he said in a hollow, hoarse voice.
Doreen patted his knee, then his shoulder. Her eyes were narrow and she was very troubled. “Well, I’ll be around all day,” she said as she stood and walked to the door. “And I’ll be checking on you.”
Mark ignored her, and took another small bite of his muffin. The door slammed and clicked, and suddenly he crammed the rest of it in his mouth and reached for another.
He turned on the television, but with no cable he was forced to watch Bryant Gumbel. No cartoons. No old movies. Just Willard in a hat eating corn on the cob and sweet potato sticks.
Doreen returned twenty minutes later. The keys jangled outside, the lock popped, and the door opened. “Mark, come with me,” she said. “You have a visitor.”
He was suddenly still again, detached, lost in another world. He moved slowly. “Who?” he said in that voice.
“Your lawyer.”
He stood and followed her into the hallway. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, squatting in front of him. He nodded slowly, and they walked to the stairs.
Reggie was waiting in a small conference room one floor below. She and Doreen exchanged pleasantries, old acquaintances, and the door was locked. They sat on opposite sides of a small round table.
“Are we buddies?” she asked with a smile.
“Yeah. I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Mark. Believe me, I understand. Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah. Much better than at the hospital.”
“Doreen says she’s worried about you.”
“I’m fine. I’m much better off than Doreen.”
“Good.” Reggie pulled a newspaper from her briefcase and placed the front page on the table. He read it very slowly.
“You’ve made the front page three days in a row,” she said, trying to coax a smile.
“It’s getting old. I thought the hearing was private.”
“Supposed to be. Judge Roosevelt called me early this morning. He’s very upset about the story. He plans to bring in the reporter and grill him about it.”
“It’s too late for that, Reggie. The story is right here in print. Everybody sees it. It’s pretty obvious I’m the kid who knows too much.”
“Right.” She waited as he read it again and studied the pictures of himself.
“Have you talked to your mother?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am. Yesterday afternoon around five. She sounded tired.”
“She is. I saw her before you called, and she’s hanging in there. Ricky had a bad day.”
“Yeah. Thanks to those stupid cops. Let’s sue them.”
“Maybe later. We need to talk about something. After you left the courtroom yesterday, Judge Roosevelt talked to the lawyers and the FBI. He wants you, your mother, and Ricky placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program. He thinks it’s the best way to protect you, and I tend to agree.”
“What is it?”
“The FBI moves you to a new location, a very secret one, far away from here, and you have new names, new schools, new everything. Your mother has a new job, one that pays a lot more than six dollars an hour. After a few years there, they might move you again, just to be safe. They’ll place Ricky in a much better hospital until he’s better. Government pays for everything, of course.”
“Do I get a new bike?”
“Sure.”
“Just kidding. I saw this once in a movie. A Mafia movie. This informant ratted on the Mafia, and the FBI helped him vanish. He had plastic surgery. They found him a new wife, you know, the works. Sent him off to Brazil or someplace.”
“What happened?”
“It took them about a year to find him. They killed his wife too.”
“It was just a movie, Mark. You really have no choice. It’s the safest thing to do.”
“Of course, I have to tell them everything before they do all these wonderful things for us.”
“That’s part of the deal.”
“The Mafia never forgets, Reggie.”
“You’ve watched too many movies, Mark.”
“Maybe so. But has the FBI ever lost a witness in this program?”
The answer was yes, but she couldn’t cite a specific example. “I don’t know, but we’ll meet with them and you can ask all the questions you want.”
“What if I don’t want to meet with them? What if I want to stay in my little cell here until I’m twenty years old and Judge Roosevelt finally dies? Then can I get out?”
“Fine. What about your mother and Ricky? What happens to them when he’s released from the hospital and they have no place to go?”
“They can move in with me. Doreen’ll take care of us.”
Damn, he was quick for an eleven-year-old. She paused for a moment and smiled at him. He glared at her.
“Listen, Mark, do you trust me?”
“Yes, Reggie. I do trust you. You’re the only person in the world I trust right now. So please help me.”
“There’s no easy way out, okay.”
“I know that.”
“Your safety is my only concern. The safety of you and your family. Judge Roosevelt feels the same way. Now, it’ll take a few days to work out the details of the witness program. The judge instructed the FBI yesterday to start working on it immediately, and I think it’s the best thing to do.”
“Did you discuss it with my mother?”
“Yes. She wants to talk about it some more. I think she liked the idea.”
“But how do you know it’ll work, Reggie? Is it totally safe?”
“Nothing is totally safe, Mark. There are no guarantees.”
“Wonderful. Maybe they’ll find us, maybe they won’t. That’ll make life exciting, won’t it.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Sure. It’s very simple. We collect the insurance money from the trailer. We find another one, and we move into it. I keep my mouth shut and we live happily ever after. I don’t really care if they ever find this body, Reggie. I just don’t care.”