When Darkness Falls

chapter 14

J ack and Theo caught a Miami Heat game downtown at the American Airlines Arena, the Triple A, as it was known. If ever a corporate sponsorship had gone sour, the Triple A was it. Imagine an airline spending millions of dollars to attach its name to a state-of-the-art, bay-front basketball arena, only to have everyone in town give the credit to a motor club.

“Feel like getting something to eat?” asked Theo.

Jack kept walking through the Purple Zone of the crowded garage, trying to remember where he’d parked his car. “You had three hot dogs, fries, nachos, a pretzel, and the better half of an ice cream bar from the kid sitting next to you. How can you be hungry?”

Theo shrugged. “That was an hour ago.”

They found his car in the Orange Zone, and as a compromise, hit a fast-food drive-thru on the way back to Jack’s house. After much pestering, Jack had finally agreed to meet Katrina’s “hot” girlfriend on South Beach. Jack was still wearing his courtroom attire, so a quick stop for a change of clothes was essential. The ride to Key Biscayne took only twenty minutes, though it seemed much longer. Jack lost the coin toss for control over his satellite radio. Theo stuck him with a station for which he had absolutely no use, the unending string of rhyming expletives punctuated by the sound of Theo smacking on a candy bar for dessert.

“We need to talk about your fat intake,” said Jack.

“It’s a diet chocolate bar.”

“Says who?”

“Says so right here on the label. Forty-five percent less fat.”

“Less fat than what? A humpback whale?”

Jack was suddenly praying for car trouble-anything seemed better than a night of Theo and his girlfriend simulating sex on the dance floor while Jack and the mystery woman shouted themselves hoarse just trying to make small talk over the music. Jack wasn’t much of a clubber, and he hated setups, especially the late-night variety. Midnight, however, was the South Beach equivalent of happy hour on the mainland.

“Don’t even think about it,” said Theo as they pulled into Jack’s driveway.

Jack shifted into PARK and killed the engine. “Think about what?”

“Bailing on me.”

Jack shot him an incredulous look. The guy was a mind-reader. “Don’t worry. I’m going. And I’m sure I’ll thank you. Someday. In your dreams.”

They went inside the house. Jack took a quick shower and put on a change of clothes-black, of course. Theo ordered a movie and a middleweight boxing match on pay-per-view, then nearly blew a gasket as he tried in vain to figure out the picture-in-picture function on Jack’s TV set. By eleven-thirty, they were out the door and ready to go.

“So what’s her friend’s name?” said Jack as he locked up.

“Sabrina.”

Jack halted. “We’re going out with Sabrina and Katrina?”

“Yeah. Cool, huh?”

“It sounds ridiculous.”

“Okay, her name’s not Sabrina.”

“Good.” Jack started toward the car again. “Then what is it?”

“Is a name really that important?”

“I have to call her something.”

“All right. Her name is Cindy.”

Jack hated to trash the past, but his response was almost a reflex. “You’re fixing me up with a woman who has the same name as my ex-wife?”

“To be honest, they share more than just a name.”

“Don’t tell me they look alike, too.”

Theo paused, then said, “Even more than that.”

“Act alike?”

A big, exaggerated shrug rolled through Theo’s entire body, as if to say “Sorry, dude.”

“Theo, why in the hell would you-”

Theo lost it. “Gotcha,” he said, snorting.

Jack could breathe again. “Not funny.”

“No. But it do put things in perspective, don’t it, bro’?”

Jack glared over the car roof, then opened the door and got behind the wheel. Theo was still chuckling as he slid into the passenger seat. Jack turned the key in the ignition and said, “So does this mean Katrina’s friend is really named Sa-” He stopped cold.

“Don’t move,” came the voice from behind the headrest. “You neither, black boy.”

Jack felt a ring of cold metal pressing behind his left ear. Theo did a quick check over his shoulder.

“Eyes front, hands on the dashboard. Or this lawyer’s brains are all over the windshield.”

Jack summoned a calm voice and said, “Do as he says, Theo.”

Reluctantly, Theo obliged, his gaze locking onto the glove box. Jack stole a quick glance in the rearview mirror. There was barely enough external light shining through the tinted windows for Jack to make out the gun and the hand that was holding it. The backseat and gunman, however, were in total darkness. Jack and Theo had been too caught up in the joke about his date to notice that the dome light hadn’t blinked on when the car door opened. The dashboard lights were off, too, leaving it too dark to have noticed anyone hiding on the floor. He must have tinkered with the settings.

“Everybody just take it nice and easy.”

Jack recognized the voice. “Falcon, you don’t want to be doing this.”

“Shut up!”

The engine continued to idle. For what seemed like an eternity, it was the only sound in the vehicle. Finally, Theo said, “Ironic, ain’t it?”

“Quiet!” said Falcon.

Theo didn’t have to explain. Jack knew exactly what his friend was thinking. The way this was going down, it was very much like Theo’s very first car ride with Katrina.

Falcon said, “Now, nice and slow motion like. Put the car in gear.”

“This is not smart at all,” said Jack. “The cops are looking for you.”

“No, not for me. For a homeless guy, the old me.”

“I’m sure you clean up nice. But they’re all over town. They’ll find you.”

“Those idiots don’t have a clue. All they care about is guarding the mayor’s daughter. I could have walked over here naked, saved the cab fare.”

Jack debated whether to say more, or at least how to say it. “Did you kill that woman?”

Falcon didn’t answer.

“Who was she, Falcon?”

“Nobody. All of them were nobody.”

“All of who?”

He groaned, as if Jack were grabbing his various strands of thought and tying them into painful, knotted memories. “Stop asking so many questions, damn it.”

“Listen to me. It doesn’t matter what you did. I’m your lawyer. I can help you, but not if you add kidnapping and carjacking to your troubles.”

“Shut up and drive.”

“Just put the gun down.”

He shoved the weapon even harder against Jack’s skull. “No more talking!”

“All right,” said Jack. “Where are we going?”

The question hung in the darkness. With the utmost discretion, Jack caught a glimpse of Falcon’s face in the rearview mirror. His lips were moving, but the words wouldn’t come. Or was he talking things over with himself?

Falcon said, “You and your buddy are going to show me where you put all my money.”

“What money?”

“Don’t pull that shit on me again, Swyteck. The money in the safe deposit box!”

“All I took was ten thousand dollars to post your bail. Not a penny more.”

“You took all of it, I know you did!”

“Dude, we didn’t take your money,” said Theo.

“You gotta have it! The bank’s crawling with cops, I know it is. They’re just waiting for me to come get my money, see? If it’s there, I can’t possibly get at it. So you better have it. You just fucking better have it!”

Jack felt the gun shaking, as if Falcon were fighting the urge to pull the trigger. Whether the money was actually missing or not was irrelevant. In Falcon’s paranoid mind, it was gone, and Jack had taken it. Charged, tried, convicted. Any further denial would only have unleashed the execution. “All right,” said Jack. “I’ll take you to it.”