Jennifer Crusie - Charlie All Night

“Who is it?” Allie asked when she found her voice. “I can’t believe it. Who’s dealing?”

“Grady,” Charlie said. “It has to be Grady.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Allie looked at him in horror. “Grady is the last person to push drugs. He doesn’t care about money. He-”

“He cares about his mother,” Charlie said. “And Mrs. Winthrop and Mrs. Wexman and all the rest.”

Allie shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

“I didn’t get it either at first.” Charlie looked so miserable she wanted to go to him, but not until he stopped saying stupid things about Grady. “Grady grows it behind his home, but that wasn’t enough because I knew Grady wouldn’t deal drugs for money. That just wasn’t Grady’s style. But the fraternity kids said we were giving it away, and then I read your notes on drug legalization and the stuff you found on cancer patients. That’s when it all fell into place.”

Allie closed her eyes. “I remember. Pot helps people handle chemo.” Then she had a thought and her eyes flew open again. “Grady gave Beattie pot?”

Charlie nodded. “He’d do anything to help her. And if Beattie knew it helped her, she’d insist on sharing it with others. They’ve been providing pot for the town’s cancer patients. That’s why Mrs. Winthrop’s grandson got nasty with her. He wanted her stash.”

“Oh, God.” Allie put her head in her hands. “And that’s why people bring Grady cookies and things. They’re trying to say thank you.” She tilted her head back and thought for a moment. “Well, okay. Now we know. All we have to do is keep out mouths shut about it-”

“No,” Charlie said. “We can’t. This is illegal.”

Allie gaped at him. “You can’t possibly be thinking of turning Grady in?”

He sighed. “You’re not listening. I’m going to tell Grady I know, and he’s going to turn himself in. It’s illegal, Al. And he’s running out of time. That little Winthrop brat sent the letter to Bill. Everybody at the college knows somebody here is dealing. And I’ve been asking questions. There was that newspaper piece about me being a pusher that made the police start watching me. They know who I’ve been talking to, and they know something’s up. There’s going to be hell to pay, and if Grady turns himself in, he’s at least got that in his favor. It’s too late for anything else.”

“No.” Allie came around the desk and headed for the door. “No. We can stop this. We can stonewall this. Grady is not going to jail.”

Charlie caught her arm. “Don’t say anything to anybody. Let me handle this.”

“Like you’ve handled it so far?” Allie looked up at him, furious. “If you hadn’t poked around, we’d be fine. Who is he hurting? He’s helping people, and you’re going to turn him in.” Allie yanked her arm away from him. “This is the worst. You’re just going to stand there and watch him go to prison.”

“What do you want me to do?” Charlie said.

“You started this mess,” she said. “You should fix it.”

“I can’t fix it. All I can do is see it through to the end.”

Allie looked at him, uncomprehending. “I can’t believe you’re doing this. You’re not even going to try to work something else out. You’re just going to go ahead and do it your way.”

“Allie-”

“Just like Bill,” she said to him, knowing it would hurt him. “Just like your dad.”

His mouth tightened, and then he left the office.

“Boy, I sure can pick them,” she said to nobody in particular, and then devoted all her energy to not crying.

Mark stuck his head in the door. “Say, I just heard about Charlie’s wife. That’s a really bad break, Allie. Let me take out out to dinner.” He smiled at her, looking as gorgeous as ever, and she wanted him dead, too.

“Get out of here,” she snarled.

“Maybe tomorrow,” he said and escaped out the door.

Allie went back to her chair and thought about tomorrow. She had to think of a plan. Soon.

Charlie waited until Grady came into the booth during the news at quarter to two before he said anything to him.

“You look like hell,” Grady said when he saw him. “Take off, I’ll take it from here.”

“I can’t.” Charlie looked at him miserably. “I hate this. You have no idea how much I hate this.”

Grady blinked at him. “What’s wrong?”

Charlie sighed. “I know you give pot to cancer patients. In fact, a hell of a lot of Tuttle knows you give pot away. Grady, it’s all over.”

Grady pushed Sam’s basket to one side and sat down on the counter. “Oh.” Sam poked his head out, and Grady scratched him behind his ears. “Well, that depends. Are you going to turn me in?”

Charlie shook his head. “No, you’re going to turn yourself in. That should work in your favor. With your dad’s lawyers-”

“My dad will disown me,” Grady said, but he didn’t seem too upset at the thought. “What can I do to convince you this isn’t the best way to do this?”

“Anything,” Charlie said fervently. “You have no idea how much I want to be convinced. But this is going to blow any minute, Grady. Too many people know. You’re a lot better off doing this yourself than waiting until they come for you.”

Grady sat looking lost in thought for a moment. Then he met Charlie’s eyes. “Can I have some time?”

“All you want,” Charlie said. “But don’t take too long. You’ll lose the only advantage you have.”

“How did you find out?” Grady asked him as he got up to go-”

“The rumors. Your crop out in back. The chemo. The cookies and stuff. It finally all came together.” Charlie shook his head. “I’m really sorry, Grady. I know you were doing it for a good reason.”

“Which is why I don’t want to stop.” Grady sat down in the chair. “Let me think about this and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Great,” Charlie said. “Something else to look forward to.”

The next morning, Allie still hadn’t thought of a plan, even after talking the whole mess over with Joe.

“There’s a mandatory prison sentence for possession,” he told her. “And Bill isn’t going to be much help once he finds out Grady’s been getting his mother stoned.”

“That’s a stupid law,” Allie said. “The stuff is medicinal, for heaven’s sake.”

Then Joe opened the paper, said, “Oh, hell,” and handed it to her.

There was a picture of Charlie putting Miranda on the bus, captioned Local DJ Abandons Pregnant Wife. Allie stared at it grimly. She was furious with Charlie, but he didn’t deserve this.

Then she had a new thought. How had the photographer known to be at the bus station? Somebody had tipped off the paper. Somebody at WBBB.

This one they couldn’t blame on the mayor. She got dressed and went into the station early.

Allie was standing outside the booth when Mark came out at ten.

“Allie!” He all but ran over Lisa to get to her. “What a great surprise!”

“I decided to take you up on that lunch offer.” Allie told him. “You free now?”

“We have a conference after every show,” Lisa put in. “Sometimes they last a long time.”

“Not today.” Mark took Allie’s arm. “Well skip it today.”

“But Mark,” Lisa said.

“Forget it.” Mark steered Allie toward the lobby. “This is just great. I’ve got a lot I want to tell you.”

“Good,” Allie said. “There’s a lot I want to hear.”

“It just hasn’t been the same without you,” Mark began when they were seated at the Settle Inn. “I’ve been-”

“You’ve been busy,” Allie said. “That was you who played all those tricks on Charlie, wiping the tapes, stealing his promos, making the prank calls.”