Night Fever. Diana Palmer
to find Mack glum and quiet and Clay looking nervous. She’d put on her blue jersey dress and her one pair of black patent leather high heels. She didn’t have a lot of clothes, but nobody at work mentioned that. They were a kind bunch of people, and she was neat and clean, even if she didn’t have the clothing budget that Maggie and Tess had.
She touched her tidy bun and finished fixing Mack’s lunch just in time to get him on the bus, frowning a little when Clay didn’t join him.
“How are you getting to school?” she asked Clay.
“Francine’s coming for me,” he said carelessly. “She drives a Corvette. Neat car—brand-new.”
She stared at him suspiciously. “Are you staying away from those Harris boys like I told you to?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied innocently. Much easier to lie than to have a fight. Besides, she never seemed to know when he was lying.
She relaxed a little, even if she wasn’t wholly trusting of him these days. “And the counseling sessions?”
He glared at her. “I don’t need counseling.”
“I don’t care if you think you need it or not,” she said firmly. “Kilpatrick says you have to go.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “Okay,” he said angrily. “I’ve got an appointment tomorrow with the psychologist. I’ll go.”
She sighed. “Good. That’s good, Clay.”
He narrowed his eyes and stared at her. “Just don’t throw any orders around, Becky. I’m a man, not a boy you can tell what to do.”
Before she could flare up at him, he went out the door in time to see the Corvette roar up. He got into it quickly and it sped off into the distance.
A few days later, Becky called the principal of Clay’s school to make sure he had been going. She was told that he had perfect attendance. He kept the counseling session, too, although Becky didn’t know that he ignored his psychologist’s advice. It had been three weeks since his arrest and he was apparently toeing the line. Thank God. She settled Granddad and went to work, her thoughts full of Kilpatrick.
She hadn’t run into him in the elevator lately. She wondered if he might have moved back to the courthouse until she glimpsed him at a dead run when she was on her way to lunch. Curious the way he moved, she thought wistfully, light on his feet and graceful as well. She loved to watch him move.
Kilpatrick was unaware of her studied scrutiny as he retrieved the blue Mercedes from the parking lot and drove himself to the garage that the elder Harris, C.T. by name, ran as a front for his drug operation. Everybody knew it, but proving it was the thing.
Harris was sixty, balding, and he had a beer belly. He never shaved. He had deep circles under his eyes and a big, perpetually red nose. He glared at Kilpatrick as the younger, taller man climbed out of his car at the curb.
“The big man himself,” Harris said with a surly grin. “Looking for something, prosecutor?”
“I wouldn’t find it,” Kilpatrick said. He paused in front of Harris and lit a cigar with slow, deliberate movements of his long fingers. “I’ve had my investigator checking out some rumors that I didn’t like. What he came up with, I didn’t like even more. So I thought I’d come and check it out personally.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“That you and Morrely are squaring off for a fight over territory. And that you’re moving on the kids at the local elementary school.”
“Who, me? Garbage! It’s garbage,” Harris said with mock indignation. “I don’t push to kids.”
“No, you don’t have to. Your sons do it for you.” He blew out a cloud of smoke, aiming it into the man’s face with cold intent. “So I came to tell you something. I’m watching the school, and I’m watching you. If one kid gets one spoon of coke, or one gram of crack, I’m going to nail you and your boys to the wall. Whatever it takes, whatever I have to do, I’ll get you. I wanted you to get that message in person.”
“Thanks for the warning, but you’re talking to the wrong guy. I’m just not into drugs. I run a garage here. I work on cars.” Harris peered past Kilpatrick to the Mercedes. “Nice job. I like foreign makes. I could fix it for you.”
“It doesn’t need fixing. But I’ll keep you in mind,” Kilpatrick said mockingly.
“You do that. Stop in any time.”
“Count on it.” Kilpatrick gave him a curt nod and climbed back into his car. Harris was glaring after him with a furious expression when he pulled out into traffic.
Later, Harris took his two sons aside. “Kilpatrick’s getting to me,” he said. “We can’t afford any slip-ups. Are you sure that Cullen boy’s dependable?”
“Sure he is!” Son said with a lazy grin. He was taller than his father, dark-haired and blue-eyed. Not a bad-looking boy, he outshone his chubby, red-faced younger brother.
“He’s going to be expendable if the D.A. comes too close,” the elder Harris said darkly. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“No problem,” Son said easily. “That’s why we let him get caught with his pockets full of crack. Even though they didn’t hold him, they’ll remember it. Next time we can put his neck in a noose if we need to.”
“They can’t use his record against him in juvenile court,” the youngest Harris reminded them.
“Listen,” the man told his sons. “If Kilpatrick gets his hands on that boy again, he’ll try him as an adult. Bet on it. Just make sure the Cullen boy stays in your pockets. Meanwhile,” he added thoughtfully, “I’ve got to get Kilpatrick out of mine. I think it might be worthwhile to float a contract, before he gets his teeth into us.”
“Mike down at the Hayloft would know somebody,” Son told his father with narrowed eyes.
“Good. Ask him. Do it tonight,” he added. “Kilpatrick’s term is up this year; he’ll have to run. He may use us as an example to win the election.”
“Cullen says he isn’t going to run again,” Son said.
The older Harris glared at him. “Everybody says that. I don’t buy it. How about the grammar school operation?”
“I’ve got it in the bag,” Son assured him. “We’re lining up Cullen for that. He’s got a younger brother who goes there.”
“But will the younger brother go along?”
Son looked up. “I’ve got an angle on that. We’re going to let Cullen go on a buy with us, so that the supplier gets a good look at him. After that, he’s mine.”
“Nice work,” the older man said, smiling. “You two could swear he was the brains of the outfit, and Kilpatrick would buy it. Get going, then.”
“Sure thing, Dad.”
* * *
One afternoon Becky noticed Clay talking earnestly to Mack as she walked in after work. Mack said something explosive and stomped off. Clay glanced at her and looked uncomfortable.
She wondered what it was all about. Probably another quarrel. The boys never seemed to get along these days. She started a load of clothes in the washing machine and cooked supper. In between, she daydreamed about the district attorney and wished that she was pretty and vivacious and rich.
“Got to go to the library, Becky!” Clay called on his way out the front door.
“Is it open this late...?” she began, but there was the slam of one door, then another, then a car roared away.
She ran to the window. The Harris boys, she thought, furious. He’d been told to stay away from them. Mr. Brady had warned him; so had she. But how could she keep