Maximum Bob

  Listen, Elvin said, it not only wasn't me, I almost got hit standing in the man's house. You hear what I'm saying? The doc's eyes didn't look too clear. I was in there waiting on Gibbs to come in from the yard.

  You were in his home?

  I told you how I'd walk right up to him, didn't I? Well, now he's got police around him and I have to think of something else.

  Man, it was a job holding this guy's attention. Now he was climbing off his stool, his robe coming open to show a bare leg, and Elvin said, What's that thing on your ankle, looks like a little radio?

  It's how they keep track of me. Dr. Tommy was at the counter now putting more rum in his drink. You never saw an anklet? You wear it, you can't go no more than a hundred and fifty feet from your telephone. There's a receiver in this thing and a box hooked to the telephone line, like you have with your cable TV.

  Elvin didn't have cable TV or know what he was talking about, but said, Yeah?

  A computer calls my number every now and then and if I'm not in the house or close by, the computer doesn't get a signal back and it lets them know.

  Elvin had heard of that. You're on probation? Shit, so am I.

  Is that right? Dr. Tommy was coming back to his stool. I don't think you told me that.

  It don't make any difference. They can't check on me coming here. He watched Dr. Tommy sip his drink, not saying anything. Why don't you take the goddamn thing off and set it by the phone?

  You'd have to break it. Dr. Tommy stuck his leg straight out. You can, all it has is the strap holding it on. But there's some kind of sensor in there, tells them if it isn't on your leg.

  You mean you can't ever leave the house?

  Only to go to Alcoholics Anonymous, twice a week.

  Shit, this was working out perfect. Then you don't need your car, do you? Elvin told him why he couldn't use Dale's pickup with cops watching it. Then Dr. Tommy had to think about it, his mind fuzzed with weed, before he said, You have my gun, now you want a car? There's a difference. A gun doesn't have a license plate on it.

  Elvin noticed Hector was back, standing at the counter now with one of those Cuban shirts on over his jockstrap, and his hands held together over his crotch. The booger music had finished playing. That was good to hear.

  I need a car for getting around in, Elvin said, as I track the judge, figure where I'm gonna hit him. Then when I'm set up I either swipe a car or use my brother's truck. He don't drive no more with one leg. He does, but ain't suppose to. They took his license on account of he keeps running into things.

  Elvin got that booger stare before Dr. Tommy said, You look different today.

  I'm letting my beard grow.

  Wants to look like a rogue, the doctor said to Hector.

  In English, so it was okay. I'm thinking I may use dynamite. I know how. I shoot it sometimes I go fishing and I don't have all day. My brother always has some.

  He had to wait then while Dr. Tommy relit his weed, took another drink and stared, trying to appear casual. He said after a minute, Okay, you can have a Cadillac or a Lincoln. Hector likes the Jaguar to go to the store.

  His dead brother Roland had owned a Cadillac. It was Elvin's choice without having to think about it. He said, I might stay here too, since I know you have room.

  Now you want to move in?

  I'll see, but I think I better while I'm working this out. Your probation officer comes by I'll hide in the closet.

  He watched Dr. Tommy shrug inside his silky robe and give Hector a nod, the doc easy to deal with on his weed trip. So Elvin said, I'll need a couple hundred for expenses. So I won't have to stick up a liquor store, your car sitting out front.

  The doc gave another shrug looking at Hector. Then had to say, Give it to him, when Hector didn't move, still holding his hands by his crotch.

  Something funny going on here. Elvin squinted at him. Dr. Tommy said some words in Spanish, his voice quiet, soothing, different than before. Hector slipped his hand under the Cuban shirt and drew a little bluesteel automatic from his jockstrap. Elvin said to him, You little booger, you weren't gonna shoot me with that, were you?

  Hector worries about me, Dr. Tommy said. It's all right. He won't shoot you unless I tell him. He's a very good boy. Aren't you, Hector? Hector turned his head to look away. Like a girl. Like he wasn't ever going to speak to the doctor again.

  These guys were creepy. Elvin took his expense money and the Cadillac and went back to West Palm to get laid.

  I was going to kill him, Hector said in Spanish. Shoot him at least several times and make up a story for the police.

  Dr. Tommy listened to this thinking, Not again, please. He said to Hector, Don't worry about it.

  He has your car, your gun don't worry about it?

  What gun? Dr. Tommy said. I don't own any guns. Listen, he could be lucky and do it. You know why? Because he's a fool. He doesn't see what could stop him.

  But this was something you thought about, when, a year ago. Now you're thinking about it again?

  I wasn't, until I saw that in the paper, the judge and the alligator. See, I'm beginning to entertain the possibility again and this one walks in, a convict, tells me yes, of course, he'll be happy to do it.

  Like Saint Anthony answering your prayer, Hector said, in a better mood now. But what if he's arrested?

  If he is, or the time comes I can't bear the sight of him, I report my car stolen.

  Hector came over with the blender and began filling their glasses. I wanted so much to shoot him.

  I know you did. Listen, it could still happen.

  But if he does kill the judge, will you pay him?

  Dr. Tommy picked up his glass. Are you serious?

  They were having coffee now and wondering what to do this evening. No more talk about work. Go to a movie, a bar, listen to a band. Gary asked if she liked to dance. They could go to the Banana Boat. Kathy said she'd have to go home and change. She said the only trouble with the Banana Boat, sometimes she ran into probationers and they always wanted to buy her drinks. Or they'd bother her till she'd finally have to leave. Gary said, Oh? stirring his coffee. You go there alone much?

  She said, If you want to know do I go there to get picked up, ask me. Don't be afraid. He used milk and sugar and stirred his coffee forever.

  Do you?

  No, I don't. I go with friends. You want to drive by Dr. Tommy's house, see what it looks like?

  Tomorrow. I'd like to check on him first.

  She thought of Elvin hanging out at a million-dollar home on the ocean. It was hard to imagine. She could see him in Dale's house, no problem, among the longnecks and pizza cartons. Pizza from Pisa, with the drawing of the Leaning Tower. The same kind she saw in the judge's kitchen, after We could go to my place, Gary said. Talk, listen to music. I'm down in Boynton, right off Hypoluxo.

  Kathy raised her eyebrows as if to say, oh, that's an idea. Talk and listen to music. Uh-huh. She said, Well, okay, not wanting to sound too anxious. Drop me at the office to get my car, I'll follow you.

  Or I can drive you back later.

  She didn't like that idea. I only live about five miles from you, in Delray. You want to drive all the way up here, and then we both have to drive all the way back?

  He was stirring his coffee again. I don't see a problem. It's not that far.

  I'd have to leave my car on the street all night.

  They were looking at each other across the table as she realized what she said.

  I mean, you know, it might be late.

  He wasn't stirring now. He said, We can get your car whenever you want.

  Chapter 18

  Elvin said to his big brother, Dale Senior, How do I look?

  It didn't matter Dale Senior couldn't answer him, metal pins sticking out of his sunken cheeks, wires holding his jaws shut tight like he was gritting his teeth, which he did most of his life anyway.

  Elvin had looked at his reflection in the bedroom mirror and had to grin at himself, man, in
that bright blue suit from Taiwan China and a bright yellow shirt with the collar spread open, duds that had once belonged to Roland and Elvin had stored in the attic of Dale Senior's house before going off to prison.

  Dale Senior was most likely trying to tell him with his beady eyes he looked like blue shit tied in a bow, this old man big brother sitting at his kitchen table one-legged. Elvin stooped to make sure. No, that's all was under there, just the one leg and a stump.

  Buddy, where's your plastic wooden leg at? No answer. I hear you got in some trouble over to Clewiston.

  This man had worn nothing but bib overalls or state clothes all his life. Had been up to Starke on a Corrections bus, but never over to Palm Beach, forty miles away. Had thought their brother Roland was leaving this world when all he did was move down to Monroe County. Dale Senior had a jelly-glass jar of Rebel Yell bourbon he was sucking in through a straw, glaring, the booze putting words in his head he was dying to say but couldn't. All it did was bulge his veins where he was going bald in front.

  It reminded Elvin he had to get a haircut. He'd shaved off the week's worth of beard before putting the suit on. It was driving the Cadillac last night had changed his mind about looking rough and ready. The Cadillac and the go-go whore he picked up at the bar after she was done and took to Dale's house. He said to Dale Senior, Bud, I was with a girl last night had her puss shaved near clean. Told me so she wouldn't look like a female gorilla up there in her G-string. I thought of ones me and you use to take out on the lake? Man, there were some of those old girls had bushes on em I'd say I ain't going in there without a gun and a flashlight. Remember? This one last night was like a little girl down there cept she was grown.

  One of Dale Senior's big ugly hands, all spotted and gnarled up with arthritis, was scratching at the oilcloth cover on the table, putting nicks in it, like a hound pawing on the end of a chain. Cut him loose and look out.

  This here's a go-go rock whore I'm talking about. Does it to buy crack and get high. That's the new thing, crack. They can get scrappy on you.

  Insulting too, this one, calling Dale Junior's house a rat hole. This whore appraiser named Earlene, hand on her hip saying, Drive a Cadillac and live like a nigger. He gave her a look at the shank he'd made for Dale, sticking it up under her nose. Oh, is that right? You calling me a nigger? It changed her tune quick, eyes about to pop out of her head. He told her he had already killed a man, was about to get him another one and to watch the newspaper if she thought he was blowing smoke at her.

  But she was right in a way, what she said. What was he doing in this dump if he drove a Cadillac Fleetwood only three years old and looked brand-new? Or why dress as he did and look like he stole the car?

  It was the reason he came here this bright Sunday morning and pulled Roland's trunk from the attic where it had laid ten years untouched not counting his getting the hat and boots out of it. Animals had scratched at the trunk, but none had got in to mess up the clothes. Three suits, a bunch of shirts and ties and undies. All he had to do to complete his changeover, besides get a haircut, was move in with Dr. Tommy and that little puss Hector.

  He said to Dale Senior, You know where Ocean Ridge is at? You go on over to Palm Beach and turn south. Elvin would catch himself talking loud, as if the man couldn't hear as good with his jaw wired, and have to lower his voice. I'm moving into a house over there, big one, right on the ocean. How's that sound to you? Dale Senior could at least nod his head. Shit, it was like talking to the wall.

  He turned as Mavis came in the back door and walked right past him, looking concerned and heading straight for Dale Senior.

  I'm home, Mavis told him, in case he didn't see her standing there. I come right back like I said. Can I dish you up a nice bowl of soup? It's split pea with bacon in it, your favorite.

  Elvin watched Dale Senior swipe the jelly glass, empty now, clear off the table with that big ugly hand of his.

  I think he wants another toddy, Elvin said to Mavis, and looked over at the cast-iron pot of soup on the stove, bubbles popping in it. He said, I bet, thirty years with the old sweetheart, you've thought of adding roach powder with the bacon. Look at him. He's afraid I'm giving you ideas. He said to Dale Senior, You better be careful what you suck into your mouth there, Bud.

  Mavis stopped to get the glass from the floor and came up sniffing, her nose in the air.

  What's that smell?

  If you mean me, Elvin said, it's my suit of clothes, from being in mothballs. I think it'll air though.

  Mavis was getting the bourbon off the sink counter.

  Where's his leg at?

  She said, Shhh, putting her hand up by her mouth. Don't mention it. Now she was pouring Dale Senior another three inches of whiskey and setting fresh straws in the glass, telling him, Honey? You know I brought some soup over to Inez's for Dale Junior? He's still there, doing just fine.

  Elvin said, That's where Dale's at?

  Mavis gave him a scared look, the kind, when you're caught saying something maybe you shouldn't have. Then seemed to decide it was all right and told him, Since yesterday. They been looking all over for him, deputies have.

  That ain't a problem, Elvin said. What is, he's going to prison tomorrow. Man, I know if I was I wouldn't be staying over at Inez and Dicky's, Jesus. I'd be in every bar in West Palm. No, I wouldn't either, I'd find that little girl I was with last night.

  I don't know as he's decided he's going or not, Mavis said.

  Elvin had to grin at the woman thinking you had a choice. Just then Dale Senior began making growling sounds in his throat and blinking his drunk eyes, his way of trying to speak.

  Too bad he never learned to write, Elvin said, watching his big brother, this old man of fifty-six struggling with himself, spit coming from between his sealed lips. Elvin raised his hand. Buddy? Let's see you wave bye-bye. Like this, move your fingers. All he got were those beady eyes staring at him and veins turning blue. Elvin said to Mavis, I think I'll stop over and see Dale. Show him my new car.

  They were in Michelle's office eleven o'clock Sunday morning, her desk piled with case folders left over from the meeting yesterday. She said to Kathy, How would you like to open one of these and see it's a guy you used to go with? Michelle picked up a folder. This one. And dropped it. At the time I thought he was a sweet guy. He threw his girlfriend's TV set out the window. His ex-girlfriend, her apartment's on the fifth floor.

  The sweet guy discovered crack, Kathy said.

  He has to pay almost five thousand in restitution.

  That must've been some TV set.

  It hit a car.

  You're not taking him, are you?

  Hardly. If you want him, he's yours.

  I wouldn't mind that doctor in Ocean Ridge.

  Dr. Vasco, another sweetie, Michelle said, looking for his case folder. Why do you want him?

  Something different.

  But you don't do Community Control.

  I could. I've been here long enough.

  And you must love it, Michelle said, looking up. I got here at eight this morning and there's your car in front. I thought you were up in your office. Michelle acting, her expression going from innocent to puzzled. No, wait a minute. Gary picked you up here yesterday

  You want to know if I left my car and spent the night with him.

  Listen, I wouldn't blame you, he's a neat guy, very clean-cut, polite I love his hair. He doesn't come on like most cops, does he? He seems you know, gentle.

  Michelle was waiting now to have this verified.

  He's nice, Kathy said, he's smart, likes to read. Majored in sociology at U of M. Spent eight years with Palm Beach PD, likes to work homicide What else do you want to know? His folks live in Boca, he goes there for dinner every other Sunday. He has a younger sister, she's there sometimes. His dad's retired.

  Michelle said, Really?

  Kathy said, I know how Community Control works and you need help, right? You could let me have Dr. Vasco on a temporary basis, th
irty days?

  Yeah, I suppose, if you really want him. Michelle had the case folder open and was glancing through it. He's on twenty-four-hour house arrest. Allowed two AA meetings a week. Has a houseman, Hector, who does the shopping. The doctor goes in swimming with his anklet on. It's supposed to be waterproof but they had to replace three the first year. He bitches constantly about his phone bill, even though he's loaded. You know an anklet adds about a hundred and twenty bucks a month. Michelle closed the file. Handing it across the desk she said, I like that dress. Is it new?

  This? Kathy pinched the front of her beige cotton knit that was like a long T-shirt with a belt. It isn't new and I didn't have it on last night, but we did go to his apartment.

  That seemed to make Michelle happy. Was it nice?

  The apartment? It was neat, nothing lying around. He rents movies, listens to music. He likes Neil Young, The Band, Bob Dylan

  No new stuff?

  Dire Straits.

  They're not new.

  Kathy said, He has ten years of National Geographic magazines, looking Michelle in the eye, he keeps in chronological order in a bookcase. He has about four hundred books, all kinds, in alphabetical order by authors.

  Michelle took a moment. He does?

  He's reading one about Siberia he says is a honey.

  Siberia, Michelle said.

  The gulags, slave-labor camps. Twenty-five million people were sent there during Stalin's time, anybody he didn't like. Russian soldiers captured during the war, they came home they were sent to Siberia. They shouldn't have let themselves get captured. A man was overheard saying to an American his boots were better than Soviet boots. He got ten years. In one camp they shot thirty people a day to keep the rest of them in line.

  That's what you talked about, Siberia?

  They call the convicts over there zeks. No, we talked about different things. Gary opened a bottle of wine.

  Yeah?

  I didn't spend the night.

  You didn't?

  It got late, he took me home.

  Yeah?

  Picked me up this morning and dropped me off, that's all. We're going to meet later.