Barrett held his eyes for a long time and then said, “I want Wade.”
“Okay,” Arlen said. “Well, we’re the best chance you’ve got of getting him. And a damn sight less useful in jail than out.”
“I could reach a different conclusion.”
“You won’t,” Arlen said, and then he nodded to Rebecca. “Tell it.”
She told it. Started with her father and wound through the past six months and the threats that had been levied at her brother. When she got to the part about Wade delivering Sorenson’s hands, Barrett’s face darkened, and he said, “You let that pass? You took evidence and tossed it into the sea? That’s the level of cooperation you care to show?”
“Cooperation with whom?” she shot back. “Was I supposed to call Tolliver? All you were to me was another local. And, I thought, a friend. Back then I didn’t know you were waiting to lock me up.”
He scowled and put a cigarette in his mouth but didn’t light it. “Go on.”
She went on. Up through Owen’s return and Paul’s last-minute disclosure. Then she showed him the bag with the five thousand dollars. Barrett accepted the money in the way Paul had-as if too harsh a touch would cause it to vanish. He studied the bills, and then he put them back into the bag and returned them to her.
“Stealing from Wade isn’t a real bright idea,” he said. “You been around here long enough to know that.”
“Well,” Arlen said, “you see, I intended to kill him. Today.”
Barrett stared at him.
“Yes,” Arlen said. “Believe it. We didn’t see any other way to get out of this. Now we’re hoping you’re the way.”
Barrett took the unlit cigarette out of his mouth and blew out a long breath, then rubbed a hand over his face.
“There are fifteen agents coming in tonight,” he said. “Two boats on the water, five cars on the roads. We had it set.”
“What you’d have gotten,” Arlen said, “was Owen for money-handling, and the McGraths for dope-handling. Maybe you could have thrown something at Rebecca. I’m sure you would have. And, if your boys had been paying enough attention, you’d have had me for murder.”
Barrett looked at him in silence.
“You could run the operation tonight,” Arlen said, “and get the same things. Except don’t count on me to kill Wade now. It wouldn’t seem prudent.”
That actually raised a smile, however faint.
“We could still get the McGraths,” Barrett said. “If I can convince the boys from Tampa to trust you, then we’ll still come away with the McGraths.”
“Is that enough?” Arlen said.
“They’re damned dangerous men. And important to Wade.”
“But will they help you? Will they tell you anything that can help? I don’t see Tate McGrath rolling on Wade.”
Barrett’s silence confirmed that he didn’t see it either.
“You can help, though,” he said eventually. “Rebecca can help. You’ve got plenty to tell. And are Sorenson’s hands still around?”
“They are,” Rebecca said.
“Well, that’s something.”
“Is it?” Arlen said. “Seems to me he could lawyer his way out. You got two witnesses who say he brought them in. He’ll find at least one, McGrath, who will say that box was filled with chocolates when he dropped it off for Rebecca.”
“Yeah,” Barrett said softly.
“You’ve got to get him with something solid,” Arlen said. “Get him with his hand actually in the jar. And it doesn’t sound like he reaches in too often. Not with his own hand.”
“You’re saying we let it go off without a hitch?” Barrett said. “Let them bring in their dope and take it out in trucks, without saying a word? It ain’t going to happen. Trust me on that. The badges in Tampa aren’t going to let it happen.”
“Look,” Arlen said, “what it boils down to is this: without us, nothing happens tonight. You don’t get a damned thing, except for maybe the Cubans. Maybe. You don’t get anybody in Corridor County, that’s for sure. With us, you can get the McGraths. That leaves Wade, though, and it also leaves him knowing damn well who set him up. So what do we do then? Shake your hand and go on our way and wait for him to cut our throats?”
Barrett sighed and got to his feet, setting the cigarette down carefully on the edge of the tire.
“Let me call Tampa,” he said. “I’m not authorized to decide such a thing.”
He went back inside the shop, and they could hear him speaking in low tones to his wife. Then it went quiet. Arlen put his hand on Rebecca’s shoulder. She touched it briefly with her own but didn’t look at him.
They’d been in the garage with Barrett for maybe an hour, and already the morning sun had faded beneath gray clouds. It would rain again today. Barrett was gone for about twenty minutes before he stepped back inside. He closed the door and leaned against it and studied them.
“Tampa’s ready to grant you immunity,” he said, “provided you keep the exchange in motion tonight. If you derail it-if anything derails it-they’ll come at you with charges.”
“That’s a hell of a fair thing,” Arlen said. “More of tonight is out of our control than is in it.”
Barrett shrugged. “They aren’t impressed with your story.”
“Aren’t impressed with it?” Rebecca said. “They aren’t impressed with the idea that this man, this judge, murdered my father, murdered Walter Sorenson, threatened my brother, threatened me? They aren’t-”
Arlen put his hand on her shoulder again, and she stopped and shook her head, her mouth tight with anger.
“Look,” Barrett said, “I think it’s a square deal. All you’ve got to do is make sure things get off as they’re supposed to. That’s on your brother more than you. He’s the one running the show, right?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Well, make sure he runs it right,” Barrett said, “and then you’re good. You can watch in shock and surprise when the McGraths are arrested.”
“That’ll be awfully convincing,” Arlen said, “when they’re arrested and we’re not.”
“Oh, you will be.”
Rebecca said, “What?” but Arlen finally began to get it, and he nodded.
“This is how you remove us from Wade,” he said. “Anything else, and he smells the truth. If we all go down, he can’t be sure who the leak is.”
“That’s right. And you’ll be jailed out of county. You and the McGraths.”
“We’ll be jailed?” Rebecca said.
“Only on paper,” Barrett said. “It all works right, we’ll get you out of here and to someplace safe. But you’ve got to testify against him when it comes time.”
She looked at Arlen, and he turned his palms up. “I don’t like it either,” he said. “But I don’t see another way.”
Barrett nodded. “Your man’s right. There ain’t no other way. Not at this point.”
There’d been another way, and it was the way Arlen had been planning on until Paul’s disclosure. He wasn’t convinced yet that it hadn’t been a better plan either. A man like Wade was easier to kill than he was to convict.
“So we just go home now?” Rebecca said. “That’s the plan?”
“Not just yet,” Barrett said. “First we wait on Tampa. There are a few men coming up who’d like to meet you. I think they’ll have some paperwork.”
“And what will that say?”
“That you’re protected,” Barrett said, “provided tonight’s little game plays out like it was supposed to.”
46
THEY SAT AROUND THE GARAGE as the heat seared in and choked the air and Barrett continued to ask questions. The longer he went at it, the more Arlen thought that he would probably make a damned fine lawman. He played all the right notes. The harder his edge, the more he was bluffing you; the more casual he got, the more focused his interest. Rebecca answered everything he had for her. Told him details of her time at the Cypress House down to the last ounce of morphine. She hid nothing.