Jackie's Week (19 page)

"I’m bringing a friend with me," Jackie said.
"Be sure and put his name on the list at the guard station. If
you’re serving hors d’oeuvres, I hope you have plenty of meatballs,
because he is a big eater."

"Sounds interesting," Marsha said. "What’s
his name?"

"His name is Heinz," Jackie said. "He’s a big
stud. But don’t go getting excited. He’s not your type. He’s a
cop."

Chapter 31

"Before we leave Mulholland and head down the
hill," Jackie said to the driver, "stop by Lake Hollywood. I want
to walk the dog."

The limo followed the feeder road to the
Hollywood Reservoir. Jackie opened the door and released the
man-hunting beast, which set in motion his time-honored doggy
routine of marking his turf along the gravel road leading to the
shore. Afternoon shadows began to paint the hills surrounding the
reservoir, deepening the mood of the place.

Jackie checked the handgun. Fully loaded. The
silence inside the cabin of the limo was shattered by the cell
phone. With a shrug, she opened the line without announcing herself
and listened.

"Jackie?" There was no mistaking that
voice.

"Hi, Johnson," she answered.

"Are you okay?" he said. "You sound a little
down."

"I am. I just had a very depressing
conversation with a very young girl. She’s having an affair. You’ll
never guess with whom. And she wants to start another affair. With
me. By the way, I can’t see you tonight. I’m going to a party at
Bienenfeld’s bank."

"I should go with you," he said.

"You wouldn’t fit in," she said. "The place
is going to be crawling with movie types. There’ll be plenty of
security around. I’m taking Heinz. I should be okay."

"I’m sorry I won’t be seeing you," Johnson
said. "Listen, the reason I called is because I’ve got Father Larry
here in the office. He wants to talk to you about this whole
marriage thing. I’m putting him on."

"Jackie? This is Father Larry."

"Hello, Father," she said. "What are you
doing in Johnson’s office?"

"We’re old friends," Father said. "I came
right over when he called."

"I don’t know how much Johnson’s told you,
but we need your help patching up our checkered past so we can get
married in the Church."

"Can you come in tomorrow at 8 o’clock in the
morning?" he said.

"Sure thing, Father," Jackie said.

"We can all meet at Our Lady of Grace on
Ventura," he said. "Do you know it?"

"I do," Jackie said. "For the past six
months, I’ve been living at the White Oak Garden Apartments right
down the street."

"Ah," he said. "That’s quite a place. It’s
really a small international city within a large international
city."

"Father," Jackie said. "I was just thinking.
This is spur of the moment, like everything else in my life lately,
but I wonder if you would hear my confession?"

"Of course," he said. "I can hear it tomorrow
morning when we meet."

"No, Father," she said. "I mean right now,
right here on the phone."

"I’m sorry," he said. "We can’t do it over
the phone."

"We can’t?"

"We have to meet face-to-face," Father
said.

"Father, this is why I sometimes get so
irritated with the Church. This is the new millennium. We have the
technology. What difference does it make how we do the
confession?"

"The sacrament requires every priest who
hears confessions to be bound to absolute secrecy. Unfortunately,
you can’t just tweet a confession on your Ipod. It’s not as though
your sins are stored on a microchip or something."

"Maybe they are," she said. "Oh. Sorry
Father."

"I’ll tell you what," Father said. "I’m
headed back to the rectory. Why don’t you meet me there in half an
hour?"

"I can’t," Jackie said. "I’m parked up here
by Lake Hollywood. The rush hour commute has Mulholland completely
backed up in your direction. It’d take me hours to reach you."

"May I ask why the urgency?" he said.

"I don’t want to die before I make a good
confession," Jackie said. "How’s that for urgent?"

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Ask Johnson, he’ll tell you. A man named
Viktor Bout is trying to kill me. I am being hunted down."

"Are you sure?" he said.

"This isn’t some deranged fantasy, Father.
It's called witness elimination. Viktor Bout is in jail today on
account of me. He has his friends coming after me because I
represent a very important number to him. The number 3 to be exact.
It is also possible that Bout will be out of jail shortly and will
come for me personally."

"Three, as in Three-Strikes?" Father
said.

"You’re a quick study, Father," Jackie said.
"That’s why Bout wants me dead. I could send him to prison for 25
years. So I wanted to make my confession. But that’s okay. I’m
sitting here in a limousine with a fully stocked mini-bar. If I
can’t confess my sins, I may as well have another drink."

"Why not hide out?"

"I threw away six months of my life hiding
out," Jackie said. "Forgive me, but I’m through hiding. I’ve got
severe mental problems. If I went into hiding, I’d wind up killing
myself."

"You say you’re at Lake Hollywood?" Father
said.

"That’s right, Father," she said.

"May I make a suggestion?" he said.

Twenty minutes later, Jackie’s amazed eyes
followed the chopper from LAPD’s Air Support Division as it touched
down in the parking lot by the lake. Father Larry climbed past the
ASD pilot and his observer, scurrying clear of the prop wash as the
unit lifted off and banked sharply before descending into the thick
haze of photochemical smog blanketing the Hollywood basin.

"Jackie," he said. "I’m Father Larry."

"You must have a lot of juice with the cops,"
Jackie said.

"Not really," Father Larry said. "But Johnson
does. It only took him one phone call."

"So how did you meet Johnson?" she asked.

"He was my brother’s partner in the good old
days," Father said.

Heinz trotted by the pair, flashing a
loose-tongued grin.

"I see Heinz is enjoying himself," Father
said.

"You know Heinz?" Jackie said.

"I do," he said.

"He’s a beautiful animal," Jackie said. "At
first I was afraid of him, but we’re closing the gap on being
friends. He used to belong to a cop named Visio. Visio was shot and
killed."

"I know," Father Larry said. "Jack Visio was
my brother."

"I’m sorry, Father. I feel like an idiot. I
didn’t know."

"That’s okay, Jackie. My brother was also
Johnson’s partner back in the late 1970’s."

"Johnson lost his partner?

Father Larry nodded.

"Father, I have been so absorbed in my own
problems, I haven’t noticed that everybody else has their problems,
too. Johnson lost a dear friend, and I have offered him no
comfort."

"Johnson has a lot of class," Father Larry
said. "Visio and Johnson met in Vietnam and handled dogs over
there. When they came back, they joined the force together. They
were instrumental in expanding the K-9 program. Because of their
efforts, a lot of lives have been saved over the years. It’s the
dog’s job to take a bullet, you know."

Across the lake, Heinz flushed a long-eared
rabbit and broke forth in joyful chase into the thorny brush,
apparently uninterested in taking a bullet for the moment.

"At the funeral Mass," Father said, "the
Bishop permitted us to break precedent and allowed Heinz to enter
the church."

"He’s on loan to me now," Jackie said. "In
the couple of days I’ve known him, I’ve discovered he goes a lot of
places other dogs aren’t allowed."

"I’m glad he’s in good hands," Father Larry
said. "But listen, we don’t have much time. The ASD is heading back
to their fuel depot over by Union Station. We’ve got about thirty
minutes before they return. If you like, we can take a walk and
I’ll hear your confession."

They started slowly alongside the reservoir,
its mirrored surface reflecting the roseate, cathedralesque light
in a way that suggested one could, if one chose, simply walk out
onto the heavenly surface and enter eternity directly.

"Father, I have a serious question to ask
you," Jackie said, "regarding something I’m about to do. But brace
yourself, because it’s a doozy."

"Okay," Father said. He carefully intoned the
time honored, ritual words heralding the Church’s welcome to its
penitent daughter, inviting her to participate in the mystery of
the removal of one’s sins.

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned," Jackie
said. "I found a way to have Viktor Bout executed on the street.
All I have to do is refuse to do the lineup and the police will
have to release him. Once he does, he is going to be killed by
someone I know."

"Go on," Father Larry said.

"Also, to stack the deck even more, I may
have found another way to get rid of Bout, a way which would spare
the man I know from having to do it. What if I told you that
tonight I’m considering bringing my problem with Viktor Bout to the
attention of a certain venerable gentleman of Sicilian
ancestry?"

"My knee-jerk reaction is, don’t do it,"
Father said. "If for no other reason than it’s messy to get
involved with the mob. And of course you know the Fifth Commandment
forbids direct and intentional killing," Father said. "Except of
course in self-defense and time of war."

"Bout is the one who’s intent on killing,"
Jackie said. "I’m just defending myself the only way I know
how."

"This is a complex issue," Father said. "But
the Church does teach that someone who kills another while
defending their own life is not guilty of murder. The gray area
here is the fine line between reacting in self-defense and
cold-blooded murder. In cases like this, we’re supposed to rely on
the duly-appointed authorities to protect us."

"I can’t wait until I’m attacked again to
start defending myself," Jackie said. "The man who’s after me is a
smart, aggressive killer. He struck without warning last New Year’s
and nearly finished me then. He declared war on me again the other
day when one of his associates paid me a visit. I have a chance to
enlist the aid of what you might call unduly-appointed
authorities—soldiers under a different banner who may take up my
cause."

"I’ll tell you what I think," he said. "I
personally believe you should cancel any arrangement you already
made to assassinate Bout. And you should not take the situation to
the Sicilians. But I also believe this to be one of those issues
whose name is Legion. It’s an issue that nobody else wants to
touch. Perhaps only the Holy Spirit can really make the call as to
whether you’re wrong or right. Due to the urgency of your
situation, I’m going to go out on a limb, here, and simply advise
you to follow your conscience."

"Thank you, Father," Jackie said. "I’ll try
and pray about it before I talk to the enforcer. Perhaps God will
speak to my heart."

"I’m sure He will," Father said.

"If it’s okay with you," Jackie said, "I’ll
finish the rest of my confession now. I’m a forty-eight year old
single woman with a past I’m not proud of. I haven’t been to Holy
Communion in what seems like a million years. Actually, I dropped
the church right after confirmation."

She worked her way through the ups and downs
of her thoughts and words, of things she’d done and things she’d
failed to do, her tears flowing freely as she felt the weight being
lifted from her soul, her journey guided expertly by Father Larry’s
gentle questions.

"Are you sorry for your sins?" he asked.

"I am," she said. "But I forgot to tell you a
couple of them. For one thing, I think somebody got murdered last
night by two men I know of, and I don't plan to tell the police
about it. For another thing, I’ve become a boozer. I tried to quit
yesterday and started back up again this afternoon. Also, I should
have told you that I lusted after a woman while receiving a massage
yesterday, and also that I hate God for what he allowed to happen
to me. It’s a very strong feeling. One I’m not sure I can ever get
rid of."

"I understand," he said. "We can’t change
ourselves. But are you willing to let God try to?"

"Yes. But I have no idea how that could be
done."

"The main thing is to be willing. But it’s up
to you. Now I’m afraid I have some bad news. You just confessed
that you are involved in a conspiracy to murder a man, instead of
following the law. So I cannot give you absolution."

"But you said it’s a gray area. That I could
follow my conscience."

"It is, but something tells me you should
cancel your plans. If you do that, you can receive absolution."

"So I’m in mortal sin?"

"Not yet. But if you have Bout killed, you
could be."

"Okay, Father. What you’re saying is that I’m
in danger of hell if I defend myself. On the other hand, I’m in
danger of death if I let Bout live."

"You’re not thinking clearly," he said. "We
really should spend more time on this. Right now, the real issue
isn’t about going to hell. The real issue is that you’re yielding
to temptation to murder. Good fruit cannot come from a bad tree.
That is to say, something bad is going to happen to somebody if you
pursue this. Innocent people could be hurt. You’ve heard the
saying, ‘the wages of sin is death?’ That means that somebody
innocent dies whenever somebody else is committed to acts of
serious sin. I think you need to give this more time."

"Which is what I don’t have, Father."

"Jackie, you need to think long and hard
about what you’re doing. At least promise me you’ll do that
much."

The whup-whup-whup of the returning ASD unit
could be heard in the distant sky, as though the Holy Spirit was
descending like a big mechanical dove. It touched down and Father
Larry ran through the prop wash and waved good-bye. While Father
Larry ascended into the evening sky, she walked back toward the
limo and its amazed driver.