The Summons (14 page)

Perhaps a third of a garbage bag—three hundred thousand dollars. Much more than enough to get him arrested or knifed. Nonchalance was what he desperately wanted, but there was nothing fluid about his steps and movements. Eyes straight ahead, though the eyes wanted to dart up and down, right and left, nothing could be missed. A frightening teenager with studs in his nose stumbled by, stoned out of his wasted mind. Ray walked even faster, not sure if he had the nerves for eight or nine more trips to the parking garage.

A drunk on a dark bench yelled something unintelligible at him. He lurched forward, then caught himself, and was thankful he had no gun. At that moment, he might’ve shot anything that moved. The cash got heavier with each block, but he made it without incident. He spilled the money onto his bed, locked every door possible, and took another route back to his car.

During the fifth trip, he was confronted by a deranged old man who jumped from the shadows and demanded, “What the hell are you doing?” He was holding something dark in his hand. Ray assumed it was a weapon with which to slaughter him.

“Get out of the way,” he said as rudely as possible, but his mouth was dry.

“You keep going back and forth,” the old man yelled. He stank and his eyes were glowing like a demon’s.

“Mind your own business.” Ray had never stopped
walking, and the old man was in front of him, bouncing along. The village idiot.

“What’s the problem?” came a clear crisp voice from behind them. Ray stopped and a policeman ambled over, nightstick in hand.

Ray was all smiles. “Evening, Officer.” He was breathing hard and his face was sweaty.

“He’s up to something!” the old man yelled. “Keeps going back and forth, back and forth. Goes that way, the bag is empty. Goes that way, the bag is full.”

“Relax, Gilly,” the cop said, and Ray took a deeper breath. He was horrified that someone had been watching, but relieved because that someone was of Gilly’s ilk. Of all the characters on the mall, Ray had never seen this one.

“What’s in the bag?” the cop asked.

It was a dumb question, far into foul territory, and for a split second Ray, the law professor, considered a lecture on stops, searches, seizures, and permissible police questioning. He let it pass, though, and smoothly delivered the prepared line. “I played tennis tonight at Boar’s Head. Got a bad hamstring, so I’m just walking it off. I live over there.” He pointed to his apartment two blocks down.

The cop turned to Gilly and said, “You can’t be yelling at people, Gilly, I’ve told you that. Does Ted know you’re out?”

“He’s got something in that bag,” Gilly said, much softer. The cop was leading him away.

“Yes, it’s cash,” said the cop. “I’m sure the guy’s a bank robber, and you caught him. Good work.”

“But it’s empty, then it’s full.”

“Good night, sir,” the officer said over his shoulder.

“Good night.” And Ray, the wounded tennis player, actually limped for half a block for the benefit of other characters lurking in the darkness. When he dumped the fifth load on his bed, he found a bottle of scotch in his small liquor cabinet and poured a stiff one.

He waited for two hours, ample time for Gilly to return to Ted, who hopefully could keep him medicated and confined for the rest of the night, and time perhaps for a shift change so a different cop would be walking the beat. Two very long hours, in which he imagined every possible scenario involving his car in the parking garage. Theft, vandalism, fire, towed away by some misguided wrecker, everything imaginable.

At 3 A.M., he emerged from his apartment wearing jeans, hiking boots, and a navy sweatshirt with VIRGINIA across the chest. He’d ditched the red tennis bag in favor of a battered leather briefcase, one that would not hold as much money but wouldn’t catch the attention of the cop either. He was armed with a steak knife stuck in his belt, under the sweatshirt, ready to be withdrawn in a flash and used on the likes of Gilly or any other assailant. It was foolish and he knew it, but he wasn’t himself either and he was quite aware of that. He was dead-tired, sleep-deprived for the third night in a row, just a little tipsy from three scotches, determined to get the money safely hidden, and scared of getting stopped again.

Even the winos had given up at three in the morning. The downtown streets were deserted. But as he entered
the parking garage, he saw something that terrified him. At the far end of the mall, passing under a street lamp, was a group of five or six black teenagers. They were moving slowly in his general direction, yelling, talking loudly, looking for trouble.

It would be impossible to make a half-dozen more deliveries without running into them. The final plan was created on the spot.

Ray cranked the Audi and left the garage. He circled around and stopped in the street next to the cars parked illegally on the curb, close to the door to his apartment. He killed the engine and the lights, opened the trunk, and grabbed the money. Five minutes later, the entire fortune was upstairs, where it belonged.

______

At 9 A.M., the phone woke him. It was Harry Rex. “Wake your ass up, boy,” he growled. “How was the trip?”

Ray swung to the edge of his bed and tried to open his eyes. “Wonderful,” he grunted.

“I talked to a Realtor yesterday, Baxter Redd, one of the better ones in town. We walked around the place, kicked the tires, you know, whatta mess. Anyway, he wants to stick to the appraised value, four hundred grand, and he thinks we can get at least two-fifty. He gets the usual six percent. You there?”

“Yeah.”

“Then say something, okay?”

“Keep going.”

“He agrees we need to spend some dough to fix it
up, a little paint, a little floor wax, a good bonfire would help. He recommended a cleaning service. You there?”

“Yes.” Harry Rex had been up for hours, no doubt refueled with another feast of pancakes, biscuits, and sausage.

“Anyway, I’ve already hired a painter and a roofer. We’ll need an infusion of capital pretty soon.”

“I’ll be back in two weeks, Harry Rex, can’t it wait?”

“Sure. You hungover?”

“No, just tired.”

“Well, get your ass in gear, it’s after nine there.”

“Thanks.”

“Speaking of hangovers,” he said, his voice suddenly lower, his words softer, “Forrest called me last night.”

Ray stood and arched his back. “This can’t be good,” he said.

“No, it’s not. He’s tanked, couldn’t tell if it was booze or drugs, probably both. Whatever he’s on, there’s plenty of it. He was so mellow I thought he was falling asleep, then he’d fire up and cuss me.”

“What did he want?”

“Money. Not now, he says, claims he’s not broke, but he’s concerned about the house and the estate and wants to make sure you don’t screw him.”

“Screw him?”

“He was bombed, Ray, so you can’t hold it against him. But he said some pretty bad things.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m tellin’ you so you’ll know, but please don’t get upset. I doubt he’ll remember it this mornin’.”

“Go ahead, Harry Rex.”

“He said the Judge always favored you and that’s why he made you the executor of his estate, that you’ve always gotten more out of the old man, that it’s my job to watch you and protect his interests in the estate because you’ll try to screw him out of the money, and so on.”

“That didn’t take long, did it? We’ve hardly got him in the ground.”

“No.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“Keep your guard up. He’s on a binge and he might call you with the same crap.”

“I’ve heard it before, Harry Rex. His problems are not his fault. Somebody’s always out to get him. Typical addict.”

“He thinks the house is worth a million bucks, and said it’s my job to get that much for it. Otherwise, he might have to hire his own lawyer, blah, blah, blah. It didn’t bother me. Again, he was blitzed.”

“He’s pitiful.”

“He is indeed, but he’ll bottom out and sober up in a week or so. Then I’ll cuss him. We’ll be fine.”

“Sorry, Harry Rex.”

“It’s part of my job. Just one of the joys of practicin’ law.”

Ray fixed a pot of coffee, a strong Italian blend
he was quite attached to and had missed sorely in Clanton. The first cup was almost gone before his brain woke up.

Any trouble with Forrest would run its course. In spite of his many problems, he was basically harmless. Harry Rex would handle the estate and there would be an equal division of everything left over. In a year or so, Forrest would get a check for more money than he had ever seen.

The image of a cleaning service turned loose at Maple Run bothered him for a while. He could see a dozen women buzzing around like ants, happy with so much to clean. What if they stumbled upon another treasure trove fiendishly left behind by the Judge? Mattresses stuffed with cash? Closets filled with loot? But it wasn’t possible. Ray had pored over every inch of the house. You find three million bucks tucked away and you get motivated to pry under every board. He’d even clawed his way through spiderwebs in the basement, a dungeon no cleaning lady would enter.

He poured another cup of strong coffee and walked to his bedroom, where he sat in a chair and stared at the piles of cash. Now what?

Through the blur of the last four days, he had concentrated only on getting the money to the spot where it was now located. Now he had to plan the next step, and he had very few ideas. It had to be hidden and protected, he knew that much for sure.

CHAPTER 16

There was a large floral arrangement in the center of his desk, with a sympathy card signed by all fourteen students in his antitrust class. Each had written a small paragraph of condolences, and he read them all. Beside the flowers was a stack of cards from his colleagues on the faculty.

Word spread fast that he was back, and throughout the morning the same colleagues dropped by with a quick hello, welcome back, sorry about your loss. For the most part the faculty was a close group. They could bicker with the best of them on the trivial issues of campus politics, but they were quick to circle the wagons in times of need. Ray was very happy to see them. Alex Duffman’s wife sent a platter of her infamous chocolate brownies, each weighing a pound and proven to add three more to your waist. Naomi Kraig brought a small collection of roses she’d picked from her garden.

Late in the morning Carl Mirk stopped by and closed the door. Ray’s closest friend on the faculty, his journey to the law school had been remarkably similar. They were the same age, and both had fathers who were small-town judges who’d ruled their little counties for decades. Carl’s father was still on the bench, and still holding a grudge because his son did not return to practice law in the family firm. It appeared, though, that the grudge was fading with the years, whereas Judge Atlee apparently carried his to his death.

“Tell me about it,” Carl said. Before long he would make the same trip back to his hometown in northern Ohio.

Ray began with the peaceful house, too peaceful, he recalled now. He described the scene when he found the Judge.

“You found him dead?” Carl asked. The narrative continued, then, “You think he speeded things up a bit?”

“I hope so. He was in a lot of pain.”

“Wow.”

The story unfolded in great detail, as Ray remembered things he had not thought about since last Sunday. The words poured forth, the telling became therapeutic. Carl was an excellent listener.

Forrest and Harry Rex were colorfully described. “We don’t have characters like that in Ohio,” Carl said. When they told their small-town stories, usually to colleagues from the cities, they stretched the facts and the characters became larger. Not so
with Forrest and Harry Rex. The truth was sufficiently colorful.

The wake, the funeral, the burial. When Ray closed with “Taps” and the lowering of the casket, both had moist eyes. Carl bounced to his feet and said, “What a great way to go. I’m sorry.”

“Just glad it’s over.”

“Welcome back. Let’s do lunch tomorrow.”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“Friday.”

“Lunch it is.”

For his noon antitrust class, Ray ordered pizzas from a carry-out and ate them outside in the courtyard with his students. Thirteen of the fourteen were there. Eight would be graduating in two weeks. The students were more concerned about Ray and the death of his father than about their final exams. He knew that would change quickly.

When the pizza was gone, he dismissed them and they scattered. Kaley lingered behind, as she had been doing in the past months. There was a rigid no-fly zone between faculty and students, and Ray Atlee was not about to venture into it. He was much too content with his job to risk it fooling around with a student. In two weeks, though, Kaley would no longer be a student, but a graduate, and thus not covered by the rules. The flirting had picked up a bit—a serious question after class, a drop-in at his office to get a missed assignment, and always that smile with the eyes that lingered for just a second too long.

She was an average student with a lovely face and a
rear-end that stopped traffic. She had played field hockey and lacrosse at Brown and kept a lean athletic figure. She was twenty-eight, a widow with no kids and loads of money she’d received from the company that made the glider her deceased husband had been flying when it cracked up a few miles off the coast at Cape Cod. They found him in sixty feet of water, still strapped in, both wings snapped in two. Ray had researched the accident report online. He’d also found the court file in Rhode Island where she had sued. The settlement gave her four million up front and five hundred thousand a year for the next twenty years. He had kept this information to himself.

After chasing the boys for the first two years of law school, she was now chasing the men. Ray knew of at least two other law professors who were getting the same lingering routine as he. One just happened to be married. Evidently, all were as wary as Ray.

They strolled into the front entrance of the law school, chatting aimlessly about the final exam. She was easing closer with each flirtation, warming up to the zone, the only one who knew where she might be headed with this.