Marked Man

64

The whole night of the robbery, Charlie had been seized with terror, terror that they would be caught, terror that the guards would come out shooting, terror that his mother would have to bail him out from the police station and what she’d do to him when she finally got him home. In his entire life, nothing had worked out like it was supposed to, and he was sure this crazy scheme would be no different. But it was different. Teddy’s plan fell into place like the parts of a delicate lock, and the world clicked open for them.

As they headed back to the neighborhood in Ralph’s van, Joey driving, the rest of them hunkered down in the back, amidst a welter of metalworking tools and the plunder of a lifetime, a thrilling euphoria overtook Charlie, overtook them all. He could see it in the smiles and flushed faces, in the pumped fists and nerves. They felt powerful, sly, young and frisky, renewed, special, invincible. They felt like they had actually leaped Teddy’s abyss and reinvented themselves. And, more than anything else, they felt love, yes love, one for the other, each for all, as they made their way in that van toward their suddenly limitless futures.

Ralph’s mother was deaf and an invalid, and so his house was the perfect place to put into play the final pieces of the operation. In Ralphie’s basement, using his lock-picking tools, Charlie carefully removed the jewels from their fittings in the bracelets and necklaces and rings they had taken from the safe. Ralph and Hugo worked together with the precious metals. Gold figurines, silver medallions, platinum settings were melted and recast into simple bars of precious metals to be sold. Joey spent all day and night listening to the police radio, monitoring reports of suspicions and raids as the police worked desperately to find out who had pulled off the crime of the century. And Teddy was making arrangements to sell everything but the paintings. There had been some cash in the safe, a few thousand that had already been split up, with promises not to spend a cent of it until the heat cooled, but the bulk of the proceeds was going to come from the metal and the jewels.

It wasn’t going to bring in as much as they had hoped, though. The haul was less than they had been promised by their inside source, although it was more than they had ever seen before. Still, to be truthful, it wasn’t really about the money, it was about them all making the decision and taking the chance and pulling it off. Suddenly the sweet possibilities of life that once seemed as far away as the moon now loomed large and bright and close enough to touch.

And then, just a few days after the heist, while the papers were still blasting headlines about “The Great Randolph Robbery” and the police were still turning over every stone, Teddy pulled in to the alleyway with a little red sports car Charlie had never seen before and parked it right under the deck. Ralph was at work, keeping up appearances, Joey was home with the radio, and Hugo was out, somewhere, so it was only Charlie in the basement, with the stash of valuables and the two paintings and the big hole in the floor that they had already dug up to bury the evidence in case the police came searching, when Teddy arrived with that car.

“I need the stuff,” said Teddy as he grabbed some wooden crates out of the car.

“Which stuff?” said Charlie.

“All of it. I got a guy who’s talking about buying the whole shooting match for more than we thought.”

“But isn’t it dangerous to take it all to him?”

“No more dangerous than to keep it here,” he said, and then he lifted his shirt to show a gun in his belt. “Don’t worry, Charlie, I got it covered. Give me a hand. I need to take everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yeah, the paintings, too. I got to give the one up to my contact.”

“Okay, but why the other one? I thought you said that was our insurance policy?”

“We don’t want to leave anything here,” said Teddy. “This place is getting too hot. I’ll take it all someplace safe.”

“Do the guys know about this?”

“Absolutely, I cleared it with them all. Just help me load up, okay?”

“Sure,” said Charlie, even though he wasn’t sure, wasn’t sure at all. There was something wrong with Teddy, something off. Charlie thought about calling Ralph at work or going to get Joey, but Teddy brushed through the door and started reaching for the stuff that was scattered about, the jewels and bars of metal. Uncertain about what else to do, Charlie pitched in to help put everything in the boxes. They were halfway finished when the girl slipped through the open door and into the basement.

They hadn’t noticed her at first, they kept on loading the stuff into the boxes as she watched. They even talked about it, the paintings and the jewels, the whole operation. They spilled it all as she stood, motionless, just to the side of the doorway.

And then she stirred, and they both turned their heads, and there she was, the girl, staring at them with her wide eyes.

She was no stranger, this girl, dark-haired and pretty and impossibly young. She was one of the children who had been drawn by Teddy to the alleyway with candy and little gifts. First there was the boy, her older brother, and then he brought the girl, and then others showed up, like pigeons drawn to crumbs. Teddy liked having them around, their laughter, their unalloyed greed, the way as soon as they got some candy in their mouths they asked for more, and he liked this girl most of all. There wasn’t anything more to it, nothing sexual or weird, but even when the others suggested it might not be the best idea to have them around, Teddy persisted. He said the kids gave them all a cover, made Ralph’s place a more integral part of the neighborhood, but that wasn’t the real reason, they could tell. Teddy had some desperate need to be worshipped, and these kids were his congregation.

And now one of his flock, his favorite, was in the basement, wide-eyed and innocent, but not as innocent as she’d been just a moment before.

“Hi, Chantal,” said Teddy.

“Hi.”

“What are you doing in here?”

“I came to say hello. I heard voices.”

“You didn’t knock. You should always knock.”

“Okay. I will. Next time. I promise.”

“As long as you promise. We’re just packing up some stuff. Come on over, I want to show you something.”

“What?”

“Come on.”

She did. She stepped forward.

“Look at this,” said Teddy, holding out something big and glistening. “You know what this is?”

She shook her head.

“It’s a diamond,” he said. “Isn’t that something? Isn’t that cool? You want to touch it?”

“Okay.”

“Here, touch it.”

“Teddy,” said Charlie. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Shut up, Charlie. Here, Chantal. Touch it.”

She reached out her hand, petted the diamond as if petting a cat, even let out a little purr, and as she did, her eyes sparkled.

“Do you want one?”

“Oh, yes,” she said.

“Remember I gave you that lighter you liked? I could also give you a diamond. Just a little one. If you make a promise. Can you make a promise, Chantal?”

“Yes.”

“Will you promise not to tell anyone what you saw in here today?”

“How little?”

“About as big as your fingernail.”

“Really?”

“Sure. But can you promise?”

“Okay. Why is there a hole in the floor?”

“Just a plumbing thing. But you promise, right?”

“I promise.”

“Good, Chantal. Now Charlie and I are going to put some stuff in the car, and then I’ll give you your diamond, okay? Can you sit on that box and wait?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Let’s go, Charlie, let’s load it up.”

And they did, put everything in the car. It was heavy, but the volume was surprisingly small after Ralph and Hugo had melted down the metal, and the whole stash fit in the small trunk of the sports car.

“All right, Charlie,” said Teddy when it was all packed up. “Go take a test drive, nice and slow. Maybe buy some gas. I’ll walk Chantal home and meet you back here in about half an hour.”

“She knows,” said Charlie.

“She won’t tell anyone.”

“Of course she will, she’s a kid.”

“She won’t,” said Teddy. “Let me give her the diamond, walk her home. Be back here in half an hour.”

“Maybe I should just stay.”

And there it was, in Teddy’s eyes, something hard and cold, a look not of anger but of shared understanding of what was going to happen. Charlie tried to shake his head, but he couldn’t, he was frozen. And he felt, in that moment, all the euphoria and good feeling and hope, most of all the hope, bleed out of him as if a vein had been slashed.

“Go on, Charlie,” said Teddy.

“I don’t think I should.”

“Stop thinking, then, and go.”

“Teddy?”

“Just go.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Hey, Charlie, you know the painting, the one we took for insurance, in case something went wrong? I think maybe you should hold on to it for us all.”

“Where will I put it?”

“I don’t know, you’ll figure it out. But go on now, go for a drive. I’ll meet you here in half an hour.”

And he did just that, Charlie. He got in the car, and he drove away, and he filled up the tank, and he drove around, and when he came back, Teddy was waiting for him under the deck. He told Charlie he took the girl home. He told Charlie it was all right, that he could guarantee she wouldn’t say a word. He told Charlie that he’d meet them all back at the house that night with the money, and they’d divide it up, and they’d have a party. And then as Charlie stood under the small deck, with the rolled-up painting in a carton tube in his hand, Teddy Pravitz drove away with all the fruits of their great and noble act of self-creation.

And Charlie never saw him again.