Ace Atkins - Wicked City

He shook his head. He started to cry, but his voice was firm as he spoke. He told me about his daddy being a worthless drunk and having friends who were mean and violent, his father too stupid to know he was being led around by his nose.

“When are y’all gonna arrest the man who killed Mr. Patterson?”

“That’s a question I get about every day. It’s real complicated.”

“But you know who killed him.”

I nodded. I leaned my head back and took a deep breath. “Listen, let me buy you dinner over at Kemp’s.”

“What if someone saw what happened? Could you get them?”

“Yes, we could,” I said.

Billy nodded, agreeing with a decision he’d already made.

LATER ON, I STOPPED BY THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE AND WENT down into Reuben’s cell to give him a cup of coffee and a pack of cigarettes. He was up off his bunk and pacing, and when I walked in he knocked the coffee out of my hand, telling me that I was no better than Bert Fuller.

It was past midnight and hot as hell down in the jail basement. Most of the cells were full of prostitutes and some negro Bug writers we’d picked up. They groaned and insulted me as they saw me, calling me “mister” and “boss.” Reuben should have been gone, but I went ahead and kept him an extra couple days to see if he’d open up a bit.

I was glad now.

“I seen the judge. He set a court date. I know my bond is paid.”

“How do you know that?”

“’Cause my dang lawyer was just here and he told me. He said you’re hiding behind this martial-rule thing and don’t have a lick of sense when it comes to the law.”

“He’s probably right.”

“Don’t you smile at me, you goddamn sonofabitch.”

“Take it easy, Reuben.”

“Take it easy? You ain’t been kept in this hellhole for four days. I need a shower and shave. Do you know I got to shit in that toilet over there that doesn’t have a seat? About every time I get close to using it, they bring in some whores down this row and they look in on me like I was a monkey in a cage.”

“You’ll be out tomorrow.”

“I want out tonight.”

“You sure you don’t want that cup of coffee?”

He snorted and sat back down on the bunk. He ran his hands through his hair like he thought about tearing it out. The oil had dried on his pompadour and it stuck up wild. He wore a pair of beige slacks and a men’s undershirt that was stained with sweat, dust, and dirt.

His shoes sat near the bunk without laces.

“Look at you, with that fifty-dollar suit on with that ruby pin and slick tie. Don’t give me no pity, Lamar. That just about turns my stomach.”

I tossed him the pack of Lucky Strikes. He shook his head and tore open the pack, tucking a dry one in the corner of his mouth and continuing to talk. “You didn’t have to do me like that. Arrest me in front of my boy. You have a son. You didn’t have to do that.”

He looked straight at the brick wall, away from me, and stared.

“A while back, we found a whole barn full of girls, most of them children,” I said. “They’d been locked up without food or water. One of them died. Another one of them was twelve. Tonight, we fished your boy’s girlfriend out of the Chattahoochee. She’d been beaten to the point Billy couldn’t recognize her. She’d been stomped and her ribs went into her lungs.”

He nodded. “Did I have anything to do with that? I run a beer joint. I got some slots. How in God’s name can a man make money in Phenix any other way? This town has always been like that. You know it was an Indian outpost before the war, that this was the last place to get a woman and a drink before sliding into redman’s land?”

I shook my head. “You don’t get it. She was a friend of Billy’s.”

“That girl knew what she was into.”

“That’s pretty rough.”

He lit the cigarette and shrugged. “Don’t you drag me into your morality play.”

“I need your help,” I said.

“If that don’t beat all.”

“I can get you a deal with the judge. He can get you in and out of Kilby in less than six months.”

“That’s mighty white of you, Lamar.”

“You were there when Mr. Patterson was gunned down. You were parked across from the Elite.”

Reuben stood, just inches away from my nose. His face had turned a shade, his breathing quick, that sly, perpetual cockiness melted away. “Where did you hear such a god-awful lie?”

“I didn’t say you killed him. I said you were there. You saw something important. On that street.”

“I didn’t see a thing.”

“You’re a liar.”

“You wouldn’t even been on half the title cards if it wasn’t for me. You rode my coattails for five fucking years. You know the Kid didn’t even want to train you till I begged him. You remember when he’d be gone for the night and I’d stay and I’d teach you to keep your feet, keep your head in a fight. You remember how you were all arms and elbows, tripping over your legs? Who stayed with you in that shithole gym till somethin’ clicked in your head and you could move your goddamn feet?”

“You didn’t correct me.”

“’Bout what?”

“Bein’ a liar.”

He stepped back.

“You don’t know half the things I done for you since Mr. Patterson gone and got himself killed. If I hadn’t stepped in, we wouldn’t be talking.”

I waited. I watched him.

He paced.

“You hear me?”

“Billy needs a daddy,” I said. “Make a deal, serve your time, and get out. It’s over.”

He pushed me with the flat of his hand and spun to face me, jabbing me hard in the eye with the left and knocking me back. I lost my feet for a moment and then caught myself against the row of bars.

I used the bars to right myself.

Jack Black appeared on the other side, his hand on his gun.

“It’s okay, Jack,” I said. “Let him out.”

“Sir?”

I felt the egg forming under my eye. I looked at Reuben and shook my head. “Go ahead and let him go. I’m done with him.”

Reuben spit on the ground between us, his fists hanging ready at his side.

“Just one question,” I said. “Just how long did it take y’all to blow Hoyt’s safe and get back to town?”

A FEW DAYS LATER, JOHN PATTERSON INVITED ME TO GO fishing with him on Lake Harding. It was a brisk fall day, and we stood on the shoreline of some cleared land and cast our Zebcos out into the dammed-up Chattahoochee. We sat in easy chairs, talking about our children and the weather, and some about his mother, Agnes, and some man from Hollywood named Diamond who wanted to come to Phenix City and make a picture about what happened to his father.

“He has a script,” Patterson said. “I’ve seen it. He has me in a slugfest with some kingpin named Red. I’m pretty sure he got the idea for this Red fella from Hoyt Shepherd. He’s a fat, good-ole-boy type who pretty much runs the town.”

“Maybe he’s based on Red Cook.”

“No, this guy is more likable. He’s the kind of guy quick with a joke and a wink but will kill you all the same. And then there is an honest girl who deals cards in a casino. She’s smart and beautiful but can’t find her way out.”

“Who else is in it?”

“He’s made me into some kind of hero. He liked the idea of me taking over the martyred father’s nomination. But he said it wasn’t dramatic enough, so he has me calling the governor at the end of the film and has everyone in Phenix City yelling into the phone for justice.”

“How are they all on the phone?”

“It’s some kind of crowd scene. Who knows?” John stood and cast his hook again, and let the bobber stay, and then sat back in the chair and offered me a beer, which I declined.