The Heavenly Fugitive (17 page)

“That was ages ago. I’m hungry again.”

Phil argued, but she took his arm and said, “Come on, Phil, don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud.”

“Well, all right, but it’ll have to be quick.”

He drove her to a diner, where they ordered hamburgers and french fries. Rosa downed them as if she hadn’t eaten all day, and he shook his head. “You know, for a baby you’ve got a good appetite. You’ve got mustard there on the side of your mouth.”

Rosa’s tongue darted out. “Is that it?” she said.

“No, let me get it.” Phil picked up a napkin and wiped off the mustard. He leaned back, smiling and thinking about his new car. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised, Rosa.”

“I knew you would be. You remember the time we saw that Hupmobile, and you remember what you said?”

“No, I don’t remember.”

“You said, ‘I’d like to have a car like that, but I never will.’ Well, I decided right then that somehow you’d have one.”

Phil was touched. “Did you, Rosa? That was sweet of you. I would never have thought of asking Grandmother for anything like that.”

“No, I knew you wouldn’t, but I didn’t mind asking
for
you.”

“So you and Amelia got together and begged Grandmother out of it.”

“We didn’t have to beg. She told you the truth. Your grandfather had already put it in his will to give you a car, and Amelia knew about it. They just didn’t know what kind to get, but I did. Oh, Phil, it’s such a beautiful car! You’ve got to take me places in it all the time.”

“I’ve got to make a living,” he protested. “Otherwise I won’t even be able to pay for the gas.”

“Oh, yes you will. You’ll do wonderful things, Phil. You’re a summa cum laude.”

“With this diploma and a nickel, I can buy a cup of coffee just about anywhere.”

The two sat there making light talk, but finally Phil said, “Time to go.” He paid for the food, and they left. He helped her into the car and then started the engine. The stars were already out, and he drove through the dusk with the powerful headlights searching the road before them. He was pulling up the long drive to her house when she said, “Look, Phil, turn off there!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Look at the river, how pretty it is.”

Phil pulled the car over to the left where a stream meandered across the property, a river of silver in the moonlight. The air was warm, and she suddenly reached over and shut off the key. “Don’t be in such a hurry!” she scolded. “Life goes by too fast.”

Phil leaned back in the car and ran his hand over the steering wheel. His heart was still full of gratitude at the magnificent gift, and he sighed. “She’s a wonderful woman, my grandmother.”

“She is and so beautiful.”

They sat quietly, listening to the frogs croak out a symphony down by the stream. He said, “It reminds me of Africa. Frogs in the rivers there grow to be almost a foot across. Huge things!”

“Tell me about Africa, Phil.”

Phil began to speak of the land that was so dear to him, and as he did, he grew almost lonely. “I miss it at times,” he said, turning to her. She sat very still, her face outlined by the bright moonlight. In the shadows her eyes seemed even darker than usual.

She said, “Phil, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it, Rosa?” he said, giving her his full attention.

“I don’t want you to call me a baby anymore. I’m almost seventeen years old.”

“Not for a few more months you’re not,” he teased. “Why are you so all-fired anxious to grow up? Enjoy your girlhood.”

Suddenly she leaned over and reached her hand up to his neck. Phil was shocked at how warm and soft and vibrant the touch of her hand was, and how it stirred him. “I’m a woman, Phil, not a little girl.” She pulled his head down then and pressed her lips to his. They trembled under Phil’s, and an inexpressible rush pulsed through him. He put his arm around her and drew her close, lost in the softness of her lips and of her body as she leaned against him. He felt the pressure of her hands encouraging him, but it was Phil who drew back. His hands were unsteady as he placed them firmly on her shoulders. He could not think what to say, for he had not thought of her like this, or at least had tried not to.

“Phil, I think I’m falling in love with you.”

Rosa’s whisper struck Phil with a force he could not have described. For a moment he could neither think nor speak, and then he sat back, shaking his head. “No, Rosa, you’re too young.”

“But you like me too. I could tell by the way you kissed me.”

“Well . . . of course I like you. I always have, you remember. You have a sweetness in you that I’ve always admired, but there can never be anything between us, Rosa.”

“Why not?” Rosa cried. “Why not, Phil? What’s wrong with me?”

Phil’s stomach wrenched at the heartbroken quality in her voice. “Nothing is wrong with you, Rosa. You’re a beautiful, desirable young woman—not an infant. I see that now, and I have to be more careful. But we’re different. You’re going one way, and I’m going another.”

Rosa stiffened and turned away from him, her hands clenched into fists. “I know what it is. It’s my father. That’s why you won’t ever love me.”

Phil knew there was truth in what she was saying. “You’re not your father, Rosa, but you’re a member of your family. Your family and mine are very different. You must see that.”

Rosa bowed her head, and he sensed that her shoulders were shaking. He put his hand on her shoulder, but she wrenched away and got out of the car.

“Rosa—” he cried out. “Don’t leave!”

“Good night, Phil. I’m glad you got such a nice car.”

He watched her march across the field in the moonlight toward the house, and he sat there feeling miserable, for he truly did have an affection for Rosa Morino. He had not thought of her as a woman he might love, for he knew the truth in what he had told her. Their ways were so different. He had nothing, and she was wealthy. Despite her innocence, she was tied into the Morino family, whose wealth was founded on bootlegging and violence. That could not be ignored, Phil knew, yet still he was miserable.

With a wrench he turned the car around and jammed his foot down on the accelerator. “Why do things like this have to happen?” he grunted and shook his head. The day, which had begun so beautifully, had ended in misery for him and Rosa.

****

Phil went to his job at the washing-machine factory the Monday following graduation, but he found himself unhappy and dissatisfied. The job offered no challenge, and he knew he was merely marking time there. As soon as his shift ended he went home and fixed a meal on the hot plate his landlady allowed him to keep in his room. He had just sat down to it when he heard a knock on his door. “Yes, who is it?”

“Phil, there’s a phone call for you.”

“Thanks, I’ll come and take it.”

Phil followed his landlady downstairs, and when he picked up the phone and gave his name, he heard a voice say, “This is Lee Novak, Phil.”

“Hey, Lee, good to hear from you.”

“Can you come down to my office tomorrow?”

“Well, I’m working—”

“I mean after work.”

“Will you still be there? I get off at six.”

“I’m here all the time, Phil. Come right over as soon as you’re done. I need to talk to you right away.”

“All right, Lee, I can do that. I’ll see you then.”

Phil hung up the phone, nodded his thanks to his landlady, and then went back to his room. As he ate he thought,
Something funny about this. Why would Lee want to see me, and why is it so urgent?
He liked Novak very much, and the two had met twice since their first encounter at the Christmas dinner a year and a half ago. Novak seemed interested in him, and Phil looked forward to the meeting.

****

“Congratulate me, Phil, I’ve got a new title.”

Phil was seated in Novak’s office. He had noticed the fresh gold paint on the door. “The sign says Director of Special Agents. What does that mean? Is it a big promotion?”

Novak sat back in his chair. He looked hard and capable and younger than his fifty-seven years. “It means I’ll do more work and get precious little more money.” He laughed. “I’m still risking my neck hauling in the big crime bosses, but now that I’m in charge of things, I’ll not only get shot at, I’ll get all the blame if anything goes wrong!”

Phil grinned. “Sounds like you needed a demotion more than a promotion.”

“Nope, it’s what I want. It gives me more authority to do what I must to clean up these scumbags from our fine city.”

Phil listened attentively while Lee spoke, imagining himself someday helping to bring criminals to justice, and finally he said, “Well, congratulations on your promotion, Lee.”

“I didn’t bring you up here to congratulate me. I want to offer you a job.”

Phil blinked with surprise. “A job! You mean here in your office?”

“That’s right.”

“But I don’t know anything about the law—not yet anyway. I want to go to law school, so I’m saving up money. One day I’ll get there.”

“I know all about that. Your grandmother told me.” Lee leaned forward over the desk, his dark eyes intent. There was a burning intensity about the man that startled Phil. “Look, let me lay it all out on the front porch for you, Phil. I want you to come into my office. You can’t actually be a full-fledged special agent yet—not without some legal training first—but for now you can be an intern, assisting me and learning about law enforcement at the same time. You’ll go to law school and work for me as you can fit it in.”

“But I don’t have the money to go to law school.”

“I’ve arranged for a full scholarship for you, Phil. I know a few people and have pulled some strings on your behalf.”

Phil sat there stunned by this news. “I can go to law school and work here at the same time?”

“Sure, and I guarantee you, buddy, you’ll learn a lot more about the law working with me in this office than you will in law school.” He laughed abruptly. “You might even get to meet some of the big crime bosses. If you play your cards right, you might even have them take a shot at you.”

“Lee, I don’t see how I could go to law school and work for you at the same time.”

“I didn’t say it would be easy, but I think it’ll be a good thing for you. You’ll get your law degree eventually, and I’m hoping that I’ll be around for a while, and I’m going to need somebody I can trust. It’s going to be a rough road, and it’s going to be bloody down the way. I’ll put that to you right now.”

Phil stared at Novak and suddenly knew that this was what he wanted to do. “All right. Let me talk to Amelia and write to my parents.”

“No, I can’t wait for that. I need an answer immediately. If you can’t make up your mind like that, I can’t use you.”

Phil stared at Novak and then suddenly grinned. “All right. Yes, I’ll take it!”

Novak rose from his chair and put out his hand. His grip was hard and firm, and he clapped Phil on the back. “All right. That’s what I wanted to hear. Now you’re playing in the big leagues, boy. The first thing we do is get you a gun.”

Phil’s eyes grew large. “A gun! Who am I going to shoot?”

“Anybody that’s shooting at you. Come on. Call your boss and quit that job of yours, and we’ll go over to the law school tomorrow.”

****

Phil Winslow’s life seemed caught up in a whirlwind. He found himself running from early in the morning until midnight or even later. He enrolled in law school, and although the courses did not start till the fall, he had already bought all his books, met his advisor, and started studying for classes that would come.

As for Lee Novak, he was a whirlwind himself! Phil felt as if he’d been thrown into a swift river and was being carried along with the current. All day long Novak poured information into him, both verbally and in mountains of files. Phil had always had an excellent memory, but the long hours and the mass of materials immersed him so that he hardly knew his name.

After two weeks of this, Novak looked at his protégé, noting the red-rimmed eyes and the dark shadows. He suddenly said roughly, “Get out of here, Phil.”

Phil, who was going through a stack of files, turned and blinked with surprise. “What do you mean, Lee?”

“I mean you’re like a zombie. Go take two days off.”

“What’ll I do?”

“Go sleep beside a river. Go fishing. Get yourself a girlfriend and go do the Charleston.”

Phil could scarcely credit this. “But there’s so much to do, Lee.”

“It’ll be here when you get back. Now, that’s an order. Go relax and come back fresh Thursday morning. Then I’ll wear you down again.”

****

Phil found it difficult to slow down. His mind was racing with all the facts and files Lee had poured into him. The first day of his minivacation he simply went out to the stables where he used to work. His former boss, Luke DeSalvo, was happy to see him and gladly let him borrow a horse to go riding over the hills. Back in his apartment, he wrote a long letter to his parents in Africa and slept a full eight hours that night, which was unusual for him.

The second day he got up and washed and polished his car, then set out for a drive. He explored some parts of the city he had never seen and at noon went to visit his grandmother. She was glad to see him, but he noticed that she was very weak. It saddened him, and when he saw how quickly she tired of talking, he left, saying, “I’ll be back soon, Grandmother.”

“Good-bye, Phillip. Thanks for coming to see me.” Her voice as well as her grasp was weak, and as Phil drove away, he felt uncertain.
She looks so small and fragile. I wish Mom and Dad were here to take care of her.

He stopped by to see Amelia late in the afternoon, but she wasn’t home. So he headed to the Morino estate, where the guard told him he’d find Rosa at the stables. When he parked his Hupmobile and got out, he stopped still, for Rosa was about to mount Boadicea. He moved forward hesitantly. Their last meeting had not been happy, but he felt he needed to say more to her. He approached her and called out, “Rosa, wait a minute!”

Rosa turned and a mixture of surprise and apprehension crossed her face. “Hello, Phil,” she said. Her voice was tight, and Phil knew she still felt bad about their last meeting. He
was encouraged, however, that she didn’t move away but sat quietly astride her horse, facing him.