The man in the alpaca suit shifted position, moving his hands behind his back.
“You’re a minute-of-angle man, aren’t you?” he said to the rifleman.
“I’m better than that,” the rifleman said, “and you know it. I can do a hundred yards on iron sights and a bipod. Give me the right scope, I could work a quarter-mile.”
“You have everything you need?” the man in the alpaca suit asked.
The rifleman and the spotter nodded together, synchronized gears, meshing.
1959 October 07 Wednesday 09:10
“What may I tell Mr. Gendell this is in reference to?”
“A legal matter,” Dett said into the phone.
“Yes, sir, I understand,” the receptionist said. “But if you could be more specific, so we would know how much time to set aside for your appointment…?”
“Fifteen minutes is all I’ll need,” Dett said.
“Well, sir, we often find that the client’s estimate is-”
“It’s a real-estate transaction,” Dett interrupted. “A very simple one.”
“Well, let’s say a half-hour, shall we?” the receptionist said, brightly. “Mr. Gendell won’t be available until around four this afternoon. Would that be-”
“Perfect,” Dett said.
1959 October 07 Wednesday 09:13
“You come see me on your lunch break, Rosa Mae.”
“I will, Daddy. Did you speak to-?”
“I tell you all about it then, girl.”
1959 October 07 Wednesday 09:15
“What we need is a fulcrum,” Beaumont said.
“What’s a fulcrum, Roy?” Luther asked.
“Well, let’s say you got a big rock that you need to move,” Beaumont replied. “Way too heavy for even a few strong men to budge. What do you do?”
“Put something under it,” Luther said, promptly, making a fist of one hand and placing stiffened fingers beneath, at a forty-five-degree angle. “Then you push down,” he said, bringing his stiffened fingers parallel to the ground to raise his fist.
“And you put a barrel under the stick, so you can lever it up easy, right, Luther?”
“Right!”
“Well, that’s exactly what a fulcrum is, see? The balance point everything turns on, so you can move a big weight.”
“What weight are you talking about, Beau?” Cynthia asked.
“Ernest Hoffman,” the man in the wheelchair said. “Because, right now, we’re against the wall. Shalare says he’ll get Dioguardi to back away, and, after the elections, stay away. Maybe he will; maybe he won’t. That’s the future. If we say ‘no’ now, if we don’t promise to deliver, there’s no ‘maybe’ left. So we have to go along. But even though Shalare’s been working the whole state, I don’t think he’s gotten to Hoffman.”
“Why not?” Cynthia said.
“Because, if he had, he wouldn’t have come here asking us for anything, Cyn. A man who’s holding all the cards doesn’t have to deal a hand to anyone else.”
1959 October 07 Wednesday 09:19
“Put him on.”
“Put who on? You must have the wrong-”
“Put Procter on, Elaine. And don’t be afraid: I’m not working for your husband.”
The leggy redhead who had once been a pageant contestant carefully placed the telephone receiver under a pillow, then rolled onto her side. “Jimmy,” she whispered.
“Uh,” Procter half-grunted.
“There’s a man on the phone. He asked for you.”
“You think your-” Procter said, instantly alert.
“No. He, the man on the phone, he said not to be afraid of that. What should I do? If Bobby-”
Procter sat up, pulled the redhead over his lap, and took the phone from under the pillow.
“What can I do for you?” he said, coldly.
“It’s what I can do for you,” said the voice Procter last heard six hours ago. “I just wanted to show you that I know things, so you’ll listen to me when the time comes.”
“Maybe you don’t know as much as you think you do.”
“You’ll see for yourself,” the voice said. “Need more proof first?”
“Just get to it,” Procter said.
“Soon enough,” the voice promised.
1959 October 07 Wednesday 10:15
“Who wants him?”
“He’s expecting my call,” Dett said. “You got thirty seconds to get him.”
The hum of a live line was broken by Dioguardi’s distinctive voice. “You called for your answer?”
“Yes.”
“That’s your answer, pal. Yes.”
“Yes to what?” Dett said.
“Yes to the noncompetition fee. The ten large. Just come by my-”
“You’re a funny guy,” Dett said.
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am. All right. How do you want to do it?”
“Just put it in the mail,” Dett said. “I’ll give you the address.”
1959 October 07 Wednesday 11:33
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you,” Tussy told Dett, her arms wrapped tightly around his chest.
“Why? I… I don’t mean that, Tussy. You just seemed, I don’t know, so surprised.”
“It’s all my fault,” she said, taking his hand and pulling him toward the kitchen. “Even though it was me saying you couldn’t stay all night, I kept thinking about all those stories you hear. You know, how the man’s not there in the morning…”
“You’re crying,” Dett said, touching her face.
1959 October 07 Wednesday 12:06
“Rufus is a good man,” Moses said. “I don’t mean that the way you young folks talk, child. I mean, he’s a righteous man.”
“Rufus? You know he’s got all kinds of hustles, Daddy.”
“That’s just for now, Rosa Mae. He’s got plans. Big plans.”
“Every man who ever talked to me, that’s what he had,” the young woman scornfully said. “Big plans.”
“Not those kind of plans,” Moses said. “Not… personal plans. Not for himself. For all of us.”
“You and me?”
“Our people, child.”
“Oh. You mean, he’s one of those…?”
“Not one of those, girl. He might be the one.”
“The one for me?”
“Ah, that’s the thing, little girl. Rufus, he wouldn’t run around on you. Wouldn’t get drunk and beat you up. He wouldn’t toss the rent money across no poker table. But he’s a bound man. He’s bound to what he’s going to do.”
“I don’t understand, Daddy.”
“I got to be truthful with you, Rosa Mae. You put your trust in me, I got to do that. Rufus, the kind of man he is, you might only see him when you come to visit. Maybe the jailhouse, maybe the graveyard. Understand?”
“No!”
“Yeah, I think you do, child. I think you do. Rufus, he’s a leader. A brave man. You been in this world long enough to know what happens to a brave colored man.”
“You don’t think I should… see him?”
“I think you got to make up your own mind on that, Rosa Mae. But I tell you this: Rufus, he’s no halfway man. He wants you for his woman. Not his girlfriend, his wife. I know he’ll be a good man, loyal and true. I know he’ll take care of you. But, a man like Rufus, you can’t go to be his wife without knowing you got a good chance to be his widow.”
1959 October 07 Wednesday 12:16
“I invited you,” Tussy said.
“Sure, but…”
“But what, Walker? You don’t have to run around spending money on me every second. When I asked you for lunch, I wasn’t asking you to take me to lunch. I can make something right here.”
“That would be great.”
Tussy walked around behind the kitchen chair where Dett was seated. She put her hands on his shoulders, and leaned forward so her lips were against his ear.
“There’s another reason I want to stay here,” she whispered.