The Client (Page 81)
"Okay, Reggie. You know the main parking lot, the one next to that big green building?" "Yes." "Drive into it, just like you’re looking for a place to park. Go real slow. I’ll be hiding between some cars." "That place is dark and dangerous, Mark." "It’s Friday night, Reggie. Everything around here is dark and dangerous." "But there’s a guard in the exit booth." "That guard sleeps half the time. It’s a guard, not a cop. I know what I’m doing, okay?" "Are you sure?" "No. But you said you’d help me." "I will. When should I be there?" "As fast as you can." "I’ll be in Glint’s car. It’s a black Honda Accord." "Good. Hurry." "I’m on my way. Be careful, Mark." "Relax, Reggie. This is just like the movies." She hung up, and took a deep breath.
"My car?" Glint asked.
"They’re looking for me too." "You’re crazy, Reggie. This is insane. You can’t run away with an escaped, I don’t know, whatever the hell he is. They’ll arrest you for contributing. You’ll be indicted. You’ll lose your license." "Where’s my bag?" "In the bedroom." "I need your keys, and your credit cards." "My credit cards! Look, Reggie, I love you, sweetheart, but my car and my plastic?" "How much cash do you have?" "Forty bucks." "Give it here. I’ll pay you back." She headed for the bedroom.
"You’ve lost your mind." "I’ve lost it before, remember." "Come on, Reggie." "Get a grip, Glint. We’re not blowing anything. I’ve got to help Mark. He’s sitting in a dark office in the morgue at St. Peter’s begging for help. What am I supposed to do?" "Well, hell! I think you should attack the place with a shotgun and blow people away. Anything for Mark Sway." "Give me the credit cards and the cash, Glint. I’m in a hurry." He reached in his pockets. "You’re nuts. This is ridiculous." "Stay by the phone. Do not leave this place, okay. I’ll call you later." She grabbed his keys, cash, and two credit cards-Visa and Texaco.
He followed her to the door. "Take it easy with the Visa. It’s almost to the limit." "Why am I not surprised?" She kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Glint. Take care of Momma Love." "Call me," he said, thoroughly defeated.
She eased through the door and disappeared in the darkness.
Chapter 33
– TROM THE MOMENT MARK JUMPED INTO THE CAR AND HID on the floor, Reggie became an accomplice to his escape. But, unless he murdered someone before they were caught, it was doubtful her crime would be punishable by incarceration. She was thinking more along the lines of community service, perhaps a bit of restitution, and forty years of probation. Hell, she’d give them all the probation they wanted. It would be her first ofFense. She, and her lawyer, could make a strong argument that the kid was being hunted by the Mafia, and he was all alone, and, well, dammit, somebody had to do something! She couldn’t worry about legal niceties when her client was out there begging for help. Maybe she could pull strings and keep her license to practice.
She paid the parking guard fifty cents, and refused eye contact. She had circled through the lot one time. The guard was in another world. Mark was rolled into a tight coil somewhere in the darkness under the dashboard, and he remained there until she turned on Union and headed for the river.
"Is it safe now?" he asked nervously.
"I think so." He sprang into the seat, and surveyed the landscape. The digital clock gave the time as twelve-fifty. The six lanes of Union Avenue were deserted. She drove three blocks, catching red lights at each one, while waiting for Mark to speak.
"So where are we going?" she finally asked.
"The Alamo." "The Alamo?" she repeated without a trace of a smile.
He shook his head. Adults could be so dumb at times. "It’s a joke, Reggie." "Sorry." "I take it you haven’t seen Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure." "Is that a movie?" "Forget it. Just forget it." They waited for another red light.
"I like your car better," he said, rubbing his hand along the Accord’s console and taking a sudden interest in the radio.
"That’s good, Mark. This street is about to stop at the river, and I think we should discuss exactly where it is you want to go." "Well, right now, I just want to leave Memphis, okay? I really don’t care where we go, I just want to get out of Dodge." "And once we leave Memphis, where might we be going? A destination would be nice." "Let’s cross the bridge by the Pyramid, okay?" "Fair enough. You want to go to Arkansas?" "Why not? Yeah, sure, let’s go to Arkansas." "Fair enough." With that decision out of the way, he leaned forwara and carefully inspected the radio. He pushed a button, turned a knob, and Reggie braced for a loud burst of rap or heavy metal. He made adjustments with both hands. Just a kid with a new toy. He should be home in a warm bed, and he should sleep late since it’s Saturday. And fresh from bed he should watch cartoons, then, still in pajamas, play Nintendo with all its buttons and gadgets, much like he was doing right then with the radio. The Four Tops finished a song.
"You listen to oldies?" she asked, genuinely surprised.
"Sometimes. I thought you’d like it. It’s almost one o’clock in the morning, not the best time for the loud stuff, you know." "Why do you think I like oldies?" "Well, Reggie, to be perfectly honest, I can’t see you at a rap concert. And besides, the radio in your car was on this station last time I rode in it." Union Avenue stopped at the river, and they sat at another red light. A police car stopped next to them, and the cop behind the wheel frowned at Mark.
"Don’t look at him," Reggie scolded.
The light changed, and she turned right onto Riverside Drive. The cop followed. "Don’t turn around," she said under her breath. "Just act normal." "Damn, Reggie, why is he following us?" "I have no idea. Just be cool." ”He recognized me. My face has been plastered all over the newspapers this week, and the cop recognized me. This is just great, Reggie. We make our big escape, and ten minutes later the cops nail us." "Be quiet, Mark. I’m trying to drive and watch him at the same time." He eased downward, sliding slowly until his butt was on the edge of the seat and his head was just above the door handle. "What’s he doing?" he whispered.
Her eyes darted back and forth from the mirror to the street. "Just following. No, wait. Here he comes." The police car eased by them, then sped away. "He’s gone," she said, and Mark breathed again.
They entered 1-40 at the downtown ramp, and were on the bridge over the Mississippi River. He gazed at the brightly lit Pyramid to the right, then spun around to admire the Memphis skyline fading in the distance. He stared in awe, as if he’d never seen it before. Reggie wondered if the poor child had ever left Memphis.
An Elvis song started. "You like Elvis?" he asked.
"Mark, believe it or not, when I was a teenager growing up in Memphis, a bunch of us girls would ride over to Elvis’s house on Sundays and watch him play touch football. This was before he was really famous, and he still lived at home with his parents in a nice little house. He went to Humes High School, which is now Northside." "I live in north Memphis. At least I did. I don’t know where I live now." "We’d go to his concerts, and we’d see him hanging out around town. He was just an average guy, at first, then things changed. He got so famous he couldn’t live a normal life." "Just like me, Reggie," he said with sudden smile. "Think of it. Me and Elvis. Pictures on the front page. Photographers everywhere. All sorts of people looking for us. It’s tough being famous." "Yeah, and wait till tomorrow, in the Sunday paper. I can see the headlines now, big, bold lettersSWAY ESCAPES." it s great! And they’ll have my smiling face on the front page again with cops all around me like I’m some kind of serial killer. And those same cops will sound so stupid trying to explain how an eleven-year-old kid escaped from jail. I wonder if I’m the youngest kid to ever escape from jail." "Probably." "I do feel sorry for Doreen, though. Do you think she’ll get in trouble?" "Was she on duty?" "No. It was Telda and Denny. Wouldn’t bother me if they got fired." "Doreen’s probably okay. She’s been there a long time." "I faked her out, you know. I started acting like I was going into shock, just fading away to la-la land as Romey called it. Every time she checked on me, I acted weirder and weirder; quit talking to her, just stared at the ceiling and groaned. She knows all about Ricky, and she became convinced it was happening to me too. Yesterday, she brought in a medic from the jail, and he examined me. Said I was fine. But Doreen was worried. I guess I used her." "How’d you get out?" "Played like I was in shock, you know. I worked up a good sweat running around my little cell, then curled up in a ball and sucked my thumb. It scared them so bad, they called the ambulance. I knew if I could make it to St. Peter’s, I was home free. That place is a zoo." "And you just disappeared?" "They had me on this stretcher, and when they turned their backs I got up and, yeah, just disappeared.