Play Dead

About twenty minutes later the phone rings, and when Edna shows no inclination to answer it, Kevin does. After saying hello, he listens for a moment and hands me the phone. “Keith Franklin,” he says, a triumphant smile on his face.

“Mr. Franklin, I’ve been expecting your call.”

“Yes… I’m sorry it took so long. I wanted to make sure this was serious.”

“It’s very serious. That much I can assure you.”

“I know,” he says. “I saw the coverage of Richard’s hearing.”

“I believe that Richard’s work had something to do with the murder, but I need your help to find out exactly what.”

“I really can’t talk about it now… not here.”

“Where do you want to meet?”

He tells me he’ll meet me in Eastside Park at nine o’clock tonight, down by the baseball field. It is clear that he does not want to be seen or heard talking to me. That in itself may be very significant, somewhat significant, or of no significance at all. As with everything else involved with this case, I don’t have the slightest idea.

I agree, and he says, “Will you be alone?”

“Why is that important?”

“Karen told me I could trust you, so I will,” he says. “But only you.”

When I hang up I tell Kevin what was said. “I’m not crazy about the sound of that,” he says. “He could be setting you up.”

“Why would he? We approached him; he didn’t come to us. And Richard vouched for him; he said he’s a friend. There’s no reason to think he’s on the other side.”

“Except for the fact that so far everybody seems to be on the other side,” Kevin says.

“You mean like hit men and the United States government?”

He nods. “That’s what I mean.”

“But we’ve got Marcus. Advantage, us.”

Laurie’s reaction when I get home and bring her up to date is the same as Kevin’s. “Are you sure Marcus is watching out for you?” she asks.

I shrug. “He’s never let me down before. But I must tell you, I resent the fact that you think I need Marcus for protection. I can handle myself when things get rough.”

“Since when?”

“Since always,” I say. “You may not know this, but when I was a kid, and the other kids were at the library or the ballet, you know what I was doing? I was at home watching boxing on television.”

“Andy, you’re a great lawyer and a wonderful man, and I love you completely. But you’d be in major trouble if you got in the ring with the Olson twins.”

“What does that prove? There’s two of them.”

The situation is becoming very stressful for Laurie. She has to go back home in three days and can’t stand that she will be leaving me in what she considers a dangerous situation. In the old days, meaning last year, she would have been on the defense team and would be taking an active role. Now she’s on the sidelines watching, and having trouble with it.

I spend the rest of the day hanging out with Laurie, Tara, and Reggie, as appealing a threesome as ever existed. I’m not feeling overly nervous about my upcoming meeting in the darkened park. Since I requested the meeting, there’s little reason to consider Franklin a danger.

At nine o’clock I park my car by the baseball field and walk the few hundred yards across the field to the old pavilion. It’s empty now, but when I was younger it had a snack bar with some of the best french fries in history. My father would take me there after my team lost a game or I played badly, to cheer me up. I went there a lot.

I stand in front of the pavilion as instructed, waiting for Franklin. There is some moonlight, but he is only ten yards from me before I see him. He came from the opposite direction and is so quiet he must be wearing moccasins.

“Hello, Mr. Carpenter.”

“Thanks for coming.”

“How is Richard doing?”

“He’s okay, but he really needs your help.”

“I’m not sure what I can do.”

“I am operating under the premise that Richard was intended to be a murder victim, set up to look like he was perpetrating a murder-suicide. It could not have been to prevent him from revealing something he knew, since he would still be aware of it. It must have been to get him out of the way, so that he would not prevent something that was going to happen.”

“Roy Chaney took over when Richard… left.”

“I know. I spoke to him.”

He seems surprised by this. “You did?”

“Yes. Is he a friend of yours?”

His response is instantaneous. “No.” Then: “I don’t trust him.”

“You think he could be doing something illegal?”

“I’m not sure,” he says. “But since he came in, guys have gotten transferred out of his section, and they brought in new people from the outside. They’re a real tight group-not very friendly with the rest of us.”

“So it’s possible Richard was taken out to enable some people to do illegal business, with Chaney allowing it to happen?” I ask.

He answers my question with a question. “You think whatever it was is still going on?”

I nod. “Probably. A lot of people are nervous about what I might turn up. If it was over, they wouldn’t be quite as worried.”

“So what is it you want me to do?” he asks.