Public Enemy Number Two

JOHNNY POWERS

“Welcome to Strangeday Hall. I’m Johnny Powers.”

The words hadn’t been spoken in a friendly way. The voice was cold, mocking—with a twist of Irish in the accent. My cell mate perched on the edge of the bunk, chewing a stick of licorice. I looked at him and my mouth went dry. I’d seen some nasties in my time, but this guy was something else again.

He was about the same height as me although he was two years older, thickset and fleshy. He had small, ugly eyes, a small, upturned nose, and a narrow mouth set in a permanent sneer. He wore his hair greased back, the hairline snaking across his brow. His skin was pale and lifeless. Maybe he’d spent too much time out of the sun. Or maybe he was already dead but people had been too afraid to mention it to him.

That was the most frightening thing about him—his agelessness. I knew he was fifteen, but he had the face of a baby. Chubby cheeks and perfect teeth. His eyelashes could have been painted on with a brush. Yet when he smiled (he was smiling at me now) there was suddenly an old man sitting there, an old man who liked killing people. I wondered how many people had left this world with that smile fading in their eyes.

This was Johnny Powers. Public Enemy Number One. He had hitchhiked his way out of somebody’s nightmare.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m Nick Diamond.”

“Diamond—huh?” He took a bite out of the licorice. “What are you in for?”

“A jewel robbery,” I said. I was in no mood to explain. “The Woburn Carbuncles.”

“Is that so?” His eyes twinkled and he looked genuinely pleased. “Now ya mention it, I remember reading something about it.” The face hardened. “But just don’t get any bright ideas while you’re here, kid. I’m number one in this joint. Ya do things my way. Or ya never do nothing again.”

“Sure. Absolutely.”

Well, what else could I say to him? Johnny Powers was obviously so far around the bend that he was coming back around the other side.

I threw my few possessions onto the top bunk.

“What happened to your last cell mate?” I asked.

Powers smiled his crooked smile. “He and I didn’t get along so good,” he said. “So one night he jumped out of the window.”

I glanced at the window. “But it’s barred,” I said.

“Yeah. He jumped out one piece at a time.” Powers screwed the licorice into his mouth. “Maybe I gave him a little help. Know what I mean?” He giggled. “Ya need any help, just ask.”

“I’ll let you know,” I said.

A bell rang then and the cell door opened. I looked at my watch, remembered it wasn’t there, and followed Powers out. There were kids streaming out of the cells on both sides of the corridor and above me, too. They were all in identical uniforms, the same uniform that I was wearing. None of them were over sixteen. None of them were smiling. There must have been three hundred of them. Three hundred of us. I kept on having to remind myself that I was one of them . . . would be for the next year and a half.

We marched through a door and into a large hall with long tables set in two rows and a balcony at one end where an armed guard stood watching us. A notice hung on one wall: PRISONERS ARE FORBIDDEN TO TALK DURING MEALTIME.

A few minutes later I got my first taste of prison food. Taste is the wrong word. It didn’t have any. We lined up at a hatch where we were served watery stew, mashed potatoes and cabbage, prunes and custard. Shut your eyes and you wouldn’t know which was which. I didn’t like to think what animal had ended its days in the stew. All I can say is that it had a lot of fat, not a lot of meat, and some sort of disease.

Nobody talked and for ten minutes the only sound was the clatter of spoons and forks against tin trays. I didn’t eat anything. I’d left my appetite in the number three court of the Old Bailey. It was probably still sitting in the dock, dreaming of a Big Mac. Another bell rang and we carried the trays back to the hatch.

I’d just handed mine over when there was a crackle from a loudspeaker and a voice called out. “Nine-five-four-four-six Simple to the visitor’s room.”

Powers was right behind me. “Well, whaddya know,” he whispered. “Only been here five minutes and ya got callers.”

A guard appeared and led me back through the door, down a corridor, up a flight of stairs, and into another room.

“So you finally ended up where you belong,” Chief Inspector Snape said.

Of course I’d expected to see him sooner or later. Snape had set it all up from the start. He’d asked me to share a cell with Johnny Powers, and when I’d refused he’d gone ahead and arranged it anyway. He must have found out about the trip to Woburn Abbey. Somehow he’d held the other tourists back so that I’d be alone in the room with the carbuncles. One of his men had already slipped the jewel into my jacket pocket. Another had smashed the cabinet. After that I more or less played into his hands—or at least, his handcuffs.

And here he was, sitting at a table, smoking. Boyle stood behind him, grinning at me like he’d just heard some great joke. Only I was the joke. Well, they hadn’t heard anything yet. Did they really expect me to take all this sitting down?

“Sit down,” Snape said.

“Snape—” I began.

“Take a seat, laddie,” he interrupted. “I can understand you’re a bit cut up, but—”

“Cut up?” I almost screamed at him. “What do you mean ‘cut up’? I’ve been sent to a detention center. I’ve got eighteen months. Eighteen months! I’ll be lucky if I manage eighteen minutes! I’m sharing a cell with a loony. And you know what happened to his last cell mate? Yeah—he was ‘cut up’ all right. Into lots of pieces!”

He waited until I’d finished, then gestured at the chair. Boyle nodded, the smile still on his face. Wearily I sat down.

“I need a job done,” Snape said.

“A job,” Boyle muttered.

“Powers could be the only chance I have of getting to the Fence. I told you I have to find him.”

“And I told you—no!” I sighed. “You could have found someone else to do it for you.”

Snape shook his head. “There was nobody else. It had to be you, laddie. You’re thirteen, and you’re smart. And the trouble is, we don’t have much time.”

“Time?” I almost laughed. “Well, I’ve got plenty of time. Eighteen months . . .”

Snape shook his head again. “I’m afraid not. You see I’ve just got the latest psychiatric reports on Powers.”

“And what do the psychiatrists say?”

“They don’t say anything. They’re too frightened to be in the same room as him. They won’t go anywhere near him. He’s violent. Homicidal—”

“I noticed.”

“—and he’s getting worse. Any day he could crack up altogether. After that he’ll be useless to me. A vegetable . . .”

“I don’t get the problem,” I said. “It’s never stopped you working with Boyle.”

At least that finally wiped the smile off Boyle’s face. He lumbered toward me, his hands outstretched.

“No, Boyle,” Snape sighed.

“I’ll kill him . . .”

“No!”

“I’ll say it was an accident,” Boyle pleaded. “I’ll say he was resisting arrest.”

“How can he be resisting arrest when he’s already in prison?” Snape demanded.

Boyle had no answer to that. He went off to sulk in the corner.

“What was that you were saying about violent and homicidal?” I asked.

Snape glanced at his deputy then turned back to me. “You have to get the name out of Powers while he can still talk,” he said. “One name. That’s all we want.”

“And what if I refuse?”

He shrugged. “Then you’re here for another seventeen months and thirty days.”

“Wait a minute . . . !”

“No. You wait a minute, laddie.” Snape leaned across the table. “Only two people in the world know that you didn’t really steal the Woburn Carbuncle. Boyle and me.”

“What about the security guards?”

“You’ll never find them. We got you in here. Only we can get you out. But if you refuse to cooperate . . .” He left the sentence hanging in the air. Right then I’d have liked to have seen him hanging in the air beside it.

I stood up.

“The Fence,” I said.

“Get close to Powers . . .”

“Close?” I cried. “If I got any closer we’d be sharing the same bed.” I took a deep breath. Snape had beaten me and he knew it. “All right,” I said. “You win. I’ll find out what you want to know. But if you don’t get me out of here . . .”

“Relax.” Suddenly Snape was all smiles again. He dug a hand into his pocket and pulled something out. He threw it down on the table. “Have a bar of chocolate on us, laddie,” he said. “Boyle bought it for you. Thick and nutty.”

“Yeah.” I gazed at the two of them and sighed. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

Powers was waiting for me when I got back to the cell. He was rolling a cigarette. A chocolate one.

“So who was it?” he asked.

“The police,” I said. I’d been practicing my answer on the way. “They just wanted to ask me more questions.”

It was the first time I’d lied to Johnny Powers and he almost seemed to sense it like a dog scenting blood. He looked at me curiously, the skin under his eyes tightening. But he didn’t say anything. Not yet. Sometime later the lights went out. There were no good-nights. Nobody came to tuck me in. The darkness just cut in without argument. And that was all.

My first night in Strangeday Hall. I undressed and climbed onto the top bunk, pulling the rough blankets and even rougher sheet over me. The pillow was as soft as cardboard. There was a full moon that night, spilling in through the window. A perfect square of light perched on the wall, cut into sections by the black shadows of the bars. In the distance, a plane screamed through the sky.

I lay there for an hour. I couldn’t sleep. There was only one way out of this mess, and the sooner it started, the better. Cursing Snape, I opened my eyes.

“Powers?” I said.

“Yeah?” He sounded wide-awake, too.

“I just want you to know . . . I really admire you. I read about you in all the papers. I always hoped I could join up with you.”

“Is that so?” I couldn’t tell if he believed me. His voice was cold, empty.

I swallowed and went on. “When I stole that jewel . . . I had a slingshot in my pocket. Like your gang—the Slingshot Kids.”

“We never had no slingshots.”

“Sure, Powers. But I couldn’t afford a shotgun. That’s why I was stealing the jewel.” There was no answer. “I’d have gotten away if you’d been there. And then we could have sold the jewel. It was worth thousands. The only thing is, I didn’t know who to sell it to. What would you have done, Powers?”

There was a long silence. I didn’t even hear him get out of bed. But a second later he was standing up with his head close to mine, the moon dancing in his eyes.

“Listen, Diamond,” he said. “I don’t know ya and what I don’t know I don’t trust. Maybe you’re on the level. If not, ya’ll end buried underneath it. Know what I mean?”

He stared at me. There was still something of the choirboy in his face. But it was a choirboy who would burn down the church sooner than sing in it.

“Ya want some advice?” he said. “Act like a shirt.”

“Like a shirt?”

“Yeah. Button it.”

Then he was gone. I turned over and shut my eyes. But the sun was already rising before I got any sleep.