Bad Boy Brawly Brown (28 page)

malleable, and I did as I was instructed.

5

We were separated at the downtown station. I was taken to an of-6

fice and manacled to a heavy metal chair.

7

Through the slatted blinds I could see various uniformed police-8

men and plainclothes detectives sitting at desks, drinking coffee, 9

talking on the phone. No one looked at me. No one cared that I had 10

to go to the bathroom. I could see a clock through the slats — two 11

hours had gone by. Somewhere there must have been a window be-12

cause I could tell that the sun was coming in.

13

I would have paid a five-hundred-dollar fine just for a cigarette.

14

A squat man came in at last. He wore a cranberry-colored suit 15

with a nametag that said lt. j. pitale. I didn’t know how to pro-16

nounce the name and I didn’t try. I didn’t ask for a toilet, a cigarette, 17

or a reason that I was chained without being charged.

18

“Rawlins,” the squat man in the ugly suit said.

19

“Lieutenant,” I replied.

20

“Possession of a concealed weapon,” he said as if I had asked for 21

the charges. “Breaking and entering. Resisting arrest. Assault on an 22

officer . . .”

23

I must have frowned at the last charge because Pitale said, “Offi-24

cer Janus sprained his thumb subduing your pal with his club.”

25

I let out a chuckle.

26

“You think this is funny, Rawlins?”

27

“No, sir,” I said simply.

28

“Then why do you laugh?”

29

“To charge a man for assault when you break your fist beatin’

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him,” I said. “I will use that story to teach my kids how to survive.”

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“You got kids?”

2

I didn’t answer.

3

“Because I don’t think your children will be seeing their father 4

for a long time.”

5

I sighed for a cigarette.

6

“Officer Janus can still swing that stick,” Pitale warned.

7

“What do you want from me, Lieutenant?”

8

“Why’d you break into that apartment?”

9

“The door was left open,” I said.

10

“What were you going to do with that gun?”

11

“I found the forty-five on the living-room table. It bothered me 12

that it was right out in the open like that, so I picked it up. When I 13

heard people outside the door I shoved it in my pants, not knowing 14

what to expect. What we intended to do was call the cops and get 15

them to come down and investigate where BobbiAnne was and why 16

that gun was just out lyin’ around.” Two hours chained to a chair 17

gives you lots of time to think.

18

It was Pitale’s turn to smile. He was accustomed to the stories 19

concocted by felons.

20

I saw a flames from the windah, Officer. And I was climbin’ up on
21

the fire escape to see if anyone needed savin’. And . . . and you know
22

when I saw that fine new TV, I thought that the owner would have
23

wanted me to save it. . . .

24

The story I gave was solid. I didn’t think that a judge would ever 25

have to hear it, but a little insurance is always good to have.

26

“What were you doing with members of a communist organiza-27

tion?” he asked.

28

“Communist?”

29

“You heard me.”

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“Yeah,” I said. “You said communist. That’s the first I heard of any 31 R

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communist. Xavier and Christina are friends of my friend’s adopted 1

son. I never knew that they were Russian.”

2

“You could die in this room, Rawlins,” he told me.

3

The threat didn’t bother me so much, but when he took out a 4

Pall Mall I almost came to tears.

5

“May I make my phone call, Lieutenant?”

6

Pitale agreed to dial any number I gave him and hold the phone 7

to my ear.

8

I had two things going for me: one was that I have a good mem-9

ory, and two is that I was pretty sure that D Squad was a twenty-four-10

hour operation. I called Vincent Knorr’s number and when a man 11

answered I said, “This is Easy Rawlins callin’ for Knorr. Tell him that 12

me, Xavier Bodan, and Christina Montes have all been arrested and 13

are being held at the main downtown station. And tell him that 14

Lakeland wouldn’t want me languishing here. Languishing.” I re-15

peated the word because the early-morning cop seemed to have a 16

problem with it.

17

“Knorr your lawyer?” Pitale asked me when he took the receiver 18

from my ear.

19

“In a way,” I said.

20

“Funny that such an innocent man would have a lawyer ready to 21

jump to his defense any hour of the day or night.”

22

“You been a white your whole life, Lieutenant?” I asked.

23

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

24

“I mean that
Father Knows Best
don’t need no lawyer. But you 25

know
Amos ’n’ Andy
got to have one. You’d know what I was talkin’

26

about if you were ever chained to this here chair.”

27

I believe that I saw a glimmer of comprehension in Pitale’s face.

28

I think that he understood me, which wasn’t necessarily a good 29

thing. The one edge black people have always had over whites was S 30

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that they never truly understood our motivations. And just because a 2

man understands you, that doesn’t make that man your friend.

3

“It doesn’t matter how I feel or what I know,” Pitale said. “What 4

matters is what you were doing in that apartment and where that gun 5

came from.”

6

“I already answered that question,” I said. “And I don’t want to 7

say any more until my lawyer comes.”

8

“By that time you won’t be able to talk . . . ,” Pitale replied.

9

I didn’t ask the question, but I believe that my eyes betrayed my 10

fear.

11

“. . . with your teeth being knocked out and all.” Pitale finished 12

his sentence with a smirk.

13

I was wondering when Officer Janus would be called in to in-14

crease the charge to double assault when the phone rang.

15

It was a big black phone with five or six lights along the bottom.

16

Pitale turned his head, watching for the next ring. When it came, 17

one of the center lights flickered. The lieutenant grunted and picked 18

up the receiver.

19

“Yeah?” he said, and then went quiet. While listening his face 20

became softer, almost submissive. “But, Captain, we got ’em red-21

handed on B and E. But . . . Yes, sir. Immediately, sir.”

22

He hung up the phone and stared at me.

23

“Who’d you call just now?”

24

“My insurance agent,” I said.

25

“What the hell is going on? What are you guys into?”

26

“Can I leave now, Officer?” I asked.

27

I couldn’t help smirking.

28

29

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/ “OLYMPIC AND SOUTH FLOWER,”
I said into the 1

pay phone. “Could you come and get me?”

2

“Sure, honey,” Bonnie said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

3

“And don’t forget to bring me some cigarettes from the closet,” I 4

added.

5

I waited on a bus stop bench until Bonnie could get to me. Sit-6

ting there in the chilly morning dew, I thought about how alone I 7

had been for most of my life. Mouse had been my closest friend, but 8

he was crazy. The kids and I had a bond as deep as it gets, but they 9

were still children with needs and desires that kept them from un-10

derstanding the adult world.

11

But Bonnie was in every way my equal. She took life head-on, 12

and though I had known her for only a few months, I felt that I could 13

call on her no matter how bad it got.

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She sidled up to the curb and I jumped into her small blue Ram-R 15

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bler. My knees were up against the dashboard and there seemed to 2

be space for only one of my arms, but I didn’t care. Bonnie gave me 3

a deep soulful kiss and then took off down the street with no idea or 4

care for where we were going.

5

The first thing I did was open the pack of Chesterfields and light 6

up. That was good. Six months later I would think back on that first 7

drag with the memory of deep pleasure.

8

“I got arrested last night,” I said after a few blocks.

9

“Do you have to come back for a trial?”

10

“No. They didn’t have anything on me and just cut me loose.”

11

“Where are we going?”

12

“My car’s parked over on Grand,” I said. “I’m sorry ’bout this.”

13

“Is this boy worth the risk you’re taking?” she asked me.

14

“I’m not sure,” I said. “But I’m not doin’ it for him.”

15

“Then who?”

16

“Partly it’s John. You know we been friends for over thirty years.

17

There was times that I’d go to John and ask him to hide me. He 18

never asked me why and he never said no.”

19

“What’s the other part?”

20

“You were right when you said I’ve been sad. I know I got to get 21

out there and find out what happened after EttaMae took Raymond 22

from that hospital. But it’s been hard to push myself there. While I’m 23

lookin’ for Brawly I kinda like lose myself in his problem and maybe, 24

when it’s all over, I’ll find the old Easy and he’ll be able to go out 25

there and find out the truth.”

26

Bonnie didn’t say anything. And after a while we came to Bobbi-27

Anne’s apartment building.

28

I kissed her again.

29

“Call me in sick at work,” I said, then opened my door.

30 S

“Easy?”

31 R

“Yeah?”

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“You said that you lose yourself.”

1

“Yeah?”

2

“That’s not right,” she said. “What you should be doing is finding 3

yourself, not this boy.”

4

5

6

I
DROVE DIRECTLY
over to John’s place. I knew he’d be gone to 7

work, but that was what I wanted.

8

Alva opened the door with hope in her eyes. But when she saw 9

me, the hope turned to fear.

10

“What is it?” she asked.

11

“Can I come in?”

12

I took the hassock I’d sat in a few days before while Alva put on 13

water for tea.

14

After composing herself over the stove, she came to sit across 15

from me.

16

“What is it, Mr. Rawlins?”

17

“We need some straight talkin’, Alva.”

18

“Is Brawly hurt?”

19

“Not that I know of, but I’m pretty sure he’s in trouble. He is in 20

trouble,” I repeated myself for effect, “and only you tellin’ me the 21

truth is gonna help me help him.”

22

“What kind of trouble?”

23

“The kind of trouble that comes from hotheaded young men 24

with wild women and guns everywhere.”

25

“Oh.”

26

It was the short syllable that preceded a big fall. I didn’t want to 27

hurt her. From the beginning, my job had been to keep her from un-28

bearable pain. But sometimes you have to feel pain before you get 29

better. I hoped that this was one of those times for Alva Torres.

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“Why is Brawly mad at you?” I asked.

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“He thinks I don’t love him,” she whispered. “He thinks that I 2

abandoned him when he was a child.”

3

“Why he think that?”

4

“Because I sent him to his father. He was so headstrong and 5

physically he was strong, too. I’d tell him to go to bed or come back 6

in the house and he’d just push me aside, just push me aside like I 7

was one of the kids at the playground. And then . . .” She let her 8

words trail off and stared at a point somewhere behind me.

9

“Yes? And then what?”

10