The Weight Part 38

"Don't tell me anything about it. I still have that polygraph card. Maybe it don't mean nothing to you, but it's precious to me. You never f.u.c.king got that, did you?"

"I do now," he said, as he sat back down.

I felt a weight come off me. "You can tell her something else," I said to him. "Tell her you you spoke with the man who went to prison for raping her. The innocent man who really isn't so innocent. A bad, dangerous man. That's me, right? You tell her not only did I do that guy's time, he hung a s.e.x-fiend jacket on me, too. Tell her, if that sc.u.mbag ever crosses my path, he's dead." spoke with the man who went to prison for raping her. The innocent man who really isn't so innocent. A bad, dangerous man. That's me, right? You tell her not only did I do that guy's time, he hung a s.e.x-fiend jacket on me, too. Tell her, if that sc.u.mbag ever crosses my path, he's dead."

"That I do believe, Mr. Caine. If she hadn't been raped, none of this-"

"I don't care what you believe, Mr. Johnson. All I care about is, she she believes it. Can you get that done?" believes it. Can you get that done?"

"I can."

"Okay. That's one piece. Remember what you promised?"

"We've been all over-"

"No. No, we haven't. You said you could get me immunity, remember?"

He just nodded.

"I know it's too late for that. But when you offered it, that was the same as telling me you know some connected people. High-up connected."

He just stared at me.

"Seeing how long you managed to drag this insurance thing out, I figure you must still know people like that. Permanent Permanent people, like. So what I want now, it's something I know you can do." people, like. So what I want now, it's something I know you can do."

"Which is?" he said. His eyes were half closed, like when you squint to see something better.

"I don't want to be a s.e.x offender."

"But that's all-"

"f.u.c.k if it is. I'll take your deal, but I'm not letting anyone keep me on a leash."

"What are you talking about? You're not on parole. n.o.body's got any 'leash' on you."

"Just make the conviction into something else. Anything Anything else, I don't care. With that s.e.x-offender tag on me, I have to tell them every time I change my address. I can go back to prison just for moving without doing that. I can't have that hanging over me." else, I don't care. With that s.e.x-offender tag on me, I have to tell them every time I change my address. I can go back to prison just for moving without doing that. I can't have that hanging over me."

"Did you get the notice? The one that tells you-?"

"Yeah. They gave it to me as a going-away present."

"All right. Have you registered yet?"

"No."

He nodded, like he was agreeing with himself. Then he said, "Will you settle for the conviction standing? On paper, I mean. But your name never goes in the registry?"

"I can't."

"But that's all you-"

I heard the voice of that writ-writer, cluing me in. It echoed in my head: It's pure bulls.h.i.t. "Sealed," all that means is they can't put it in the newspapers It's pure bulls.h.i.t. "Sealed," all that means is they can't put it in the newspapers.

So I told him, "Whoever you can...talk to, they'll tell you how it really really works. There's all kinds of paper floating around. Paper that says I did a rape. I'll never really be out from under with that over my head." works. There's all kinds of paper floating around. Paper that says I did a rape. I'll never really be out from under with that over my head."

"Even if we could...arrange to go back and erase every trace, it could take years. And finding every single single trace might be impossible." trace might be impossible."

"You don't need that," I told him. "I don't care about the arrest. Even the charge. Or the indictment. This isn't some trick for me to slide out from under two priors. In fact, it'd be fine with me if you made it another manslaughter."

"Another?"

"I'm on paper for one, but I pleaded it out to misdemeanor a.s.sault. But any felony felony a.s.sault, that'd be a violent crime. You pick it; I'll take it, so long as I don't have to keep checking in, like I was on parole for life or something. I won't wear that jacket." a.s.sault, that'd be a violent crime. You pick it; I'll take it, so long as I don't have to keep checking in, like I was on parole for life or something. I won't wear that jacket."

"Just sit here for a few minutes, all right?"

"Sure," I said.

He got up and walked away. I didn't even turn my head. If he was going to pull something, I didn't want want to see it coming. to see it coming.

"I've got something for you," he said when he came back. "That misdemeanor you told me about?"

"Yeah?"

He waved his hand like a fly was after his food. "How many times do you think you can slide on serious crimes? You'd think a guy with your record would know better than to go down on a possession charge."

"Possession? Possession of what?"

"A firearm, of course."

"For real?"

"It's already done. Ask your lawyer. One Hector Santiago-Ramirez, I believe? He must have done a h.e.l.l of a job getting the DA to let you plead down to a possession charge instead of what you deserved, an ex-con carrying around a loaded handgun, like you were."

He leaned in closer to me. "Understand, you've still still got two felony convictions. Robbery, age seventeen; criminal possession of a weapon, age thirty-three." got two felony convictions. Robbery, age seventeen; criminal possession of a weapon, age thirty-three."

I took off my gla.s.ses. I wanted him to see what I was doing. He didn't flinch. And he had to know he was swearing on his life.

"Then I've got something else for you," I told him.

"What?"

"I did the jewelry job. You already know that, and you already know I'm not rolling on anyone else who was in on it. Only, now I'll give you the planner. Solly. Him I'll give up in a heartbeat. I'll tell the truth: Solly and the jeweler, they put the plan together. Solly told told me that. me that.

"I couldn't understand why he'd tell a guy at my end that kind of stuff. But now I get it. He was pulling me closer, so it'd be easier to have me hit. And that was his plan all along."

"You'll make that statement?"

"Yeah. Right now, if you want. And if I ever get hooked up to that polygraph-"

"I know."

"No, you don't. Listen for once: If I ever get questioned, the truth truth will be that I didn't get a dime from rolling on Solly and that jeweler. Not from you, not from anyone. All I asked was for some protection, and for you to tell that girl I didn't rape her. All true. What's will be that I didn't get a dime from rolling on Solly and that jeweler. Not from you, not from anyone. All I asked was for some protection, and for you to tell that girl I didn't rape her. All true. What's that that worth to you, pal?" worth to you, pal?"

"Everything you asked for," he said. "And now it's my turn."

"I thought you said it was already-"

"I apologize," he said, holding out his hand.

His grip felt just right.

Lynda took the Greyhound to Chicago. Took her only a couple of days to find a place. For her and her husband. He was coming after he cleared up all the paperwork at his office. Their plan was to buy a home, so they were really only looking for something for maybe six, seven months. So she could just pay the whole thing now, if the landlord wanted.

She'd have to pay cash, because she didn't have a Chicago bank account yet. She hoped that was okay with the landlord. He turned out to be a real agreeable guy.

While Lynda was setting up, I got put on videotape. And everything I said was the truth.

I asked the cameraman to come in real close. In case they wanted to show the girl who'd gotten raped what my face looked like when I said the part about doing time for another man's crime. And my promise to kill him if I ever found him.

The guy who sold me the used Ford Crown Vic in Youngstown didn't mind cash, either. I told him I'd bring back the plates as soon as I got it registered. The way he shrugged, I could see the plates were already NFG-probably his insurance had run out or something like that.

I left the Toyota in a mall lot. Nothing was open that early in the morning. And I could see a lot of them weren't going going to open-the place looked like a ghost town. I left the keys in the ignition. to open-the place looked like a ghost town. I left the keys in the ignition.

It was Lynda who showed me how I could read the Daily News Daily News without buying a copy. Or even being in New York. without buying a copy. Or even being in New York.

I wouldn't have asked her, myself. I knew I'd never trust any planner again, and I wasn't ever going back home, either. So I didn't care about checking to see if anything looked ripe for a one-man job.

Lynda, she liked the Times Times.

"Honey," she said one day, "come here. Take a look at this."

Her voice was quiet, but something else was in there. The headline said: EXPLOSION IN EAST SIDE BUILDING TERRORIST ACTIVITY SUSPECTED The address was Solly's. Solly's office, I mean. The story said there'd been what they called a "targeted explosion" in the bas.e.m.e.nt. n.o.body hurt, but the first two floors had to be evacuated while they checked to see if they would hold.

I didn't know if one of those gla.s.s bottles was something that you had to keep cold, or if the hard men who visited Albie had found his last note.

But terrorism? terrorism? That was so weird, I kept reading. That was so weird, I kept reading.

It was a long article. Whoever wrote it, they must have been on the trail a long time before the explosion happened.

Started off about how a guy named Morales had blown his own hands off while he was trying to put together a bomb for the FALN back in '78. They took him to Bellevue for surgery, but his people busted him right out.

Morales made it to Mexico, but he got caught in a shootout down there. They hit him with a long sentence for that, plus he was supposed to be sent back here when he maxed it out. Only, Mexico pulled a fast one. They cut his time in half, and then shipped him to Cuba.

The article said Morales is still there, and some woman who'd been busted out around the same time was, too. Only, this woman was supposed to be a Black Panther, and she'd been busted out of a prison in New Jersey.

Another woman had been convicted of being part of both escapes-a white woman who they said was the "armorer" of the Black Liberation Army. She was still in a federal pen.

The same year they bagged Morales in Mexico, the FALN took down an armored car for around seven million.

The reporter didn't come right out and say it, but you could see he thought some of that money went to Mexico, because it was that same year Mexico shipped Morales to Cuba.

"Does this make any sense to you?" I asked Lynda.

She printed out the story, sat down, and read it a bunch of times.

"I don't know, Sugar," she told me. "I guess it could could all be tied together." all be tied together."

"Just because-?"

"Well, remember, there were a lot lot of bombings back then. You read about them, maybe?" of bombings back then. You read about them, maybe?"

"Not me."

"Well, I did. My teacher said it was important to know those things."

That's what she called Albie now: "my teacher." She never spoke his name.

"I was just a little kid when all this stuff happened. And I didn't go to school much, anyway."

"Stuff happened before before this," Lynda said. "There was a brownstone in Greenwich Village, I think. It exploded when some of the people there were trying to make a bomb." this," Lynda said. "There was a brownstone in Greenwich Village, I think. It exploded when some of the people there were trying to make a bomb."

"White people?"

"Rich white people."

"Were they Jewish?"

"I don't remember. But we could find out easy enough."

"Nah. I just wanted to make sense out of it. It doesn't matter what they say in the papers. If they want to think Solly blew himself up trying to make bombs, that's fine with me."

"They don't say anyone anyone was killed, Sugar." was killed, Sugar."

"So I guess we'll never know what happened, girl. But bet on this: no way Solly was some 'terrorist.' Where's the money in that?"

"How far back did you go with him?" is all she said.

Maybe I couldn't connect all the dots in that story, but one thing I knew for sure: Solly wasn't going to be explaining anything to anyone.