Adrian Del Valle - Diego's Brooklyn (22 page)

“Not one chip,” said Bill. My word, if it don’t look all brand spankin’ new.”

“Hey Poppa?”

“Yes, Missus Jackson?”

“You know how we get up in the middle of the night sometimes, and we be going all a the way down the hall for the bathroom when that floor be so cold you be thankin’ you is steppin’ on snow and ice. You can’t see nothin’ cause the light is so low, and us all groggy eyed ‘cuz we just woke up. The cocka roaches be crunchin’ under yo’ bare feet and Lord knows what else?”

The stern faced girl from the office, quickly responded. “Not here, ma‘am. We don’t tolerate pest. If you ever see one, make sure you call maintenance right away.”

“We ain’t a gonna carry narry a one to this pretty place. I can promise you that.”

“There’s a bedroom right over there,” said Diego.

“You mean this ain’t all of it, Diega?”

“This is a lot nicer than our place,” he said.

“Give me a little time. I’ll work on that…” said the assemblyman, “…and you can tell Ana what I said.”

“Hey, Poppa?”

“Yes, Missus Jackson!”

“Yawl ‘memba that nice, green farmhouse on Bear Crick Road we used to pass on the way to the sto, and how we would be wishin’ and a hopin’ that someday it would be ours. Not that we believed it, mind you?”

“Ah do!”

“And how we would picture oursalves in that big ol’ house a settin’ insod that big winda, cuz it finally wuz?”

“Sho do! I ‘memba!”

“Ah feels the same way about this place and now it’s ours. Can yawl believe that?”

“Nope! Neva did believe somethin’ like this would ever come to us. Nope! Neva did.”

Standing by the window, Mr. Richards got their attention. “Lots of luck with the apartment, folks. Oh, I almost forgot. I got you some assistance in the form of a check so you can buy some furniture, silverware and pots—you know, towels and things that you’ll need. It comes from a fund contributed by our local merchants.”

A sudden rush of emotion got the best of Beulah. Bill wiped her eyes with his shirtail. “There you go again, Beulah. I know thems be happy tears, so go on and get her done.”

Beulah cocked her head and eyed Richards with a glassy, ‘though heartfelt gaze. “Can I give you some sugar, Mista Assemblyman?”

“Of course, Beulah, I’ve been waiting for that hug all day.”

1:15 A.M.

Knock! Knock! Knock!
Bam!

Diego threw the blanket to the side and jumped off the couch.
“Who is it?”

“Police! Open up in there!”

A pair of jeans lay across a chair. “Just a minute!” He hastily put them on, tightened the belt on the way to the door and flicked the light on. He unlatched the bolt lock and eased the door ajar an inch.

The Geek reached over Fast Eddie’s shoulder and pushed the door all the way open.

“Go ahead, move away from da daw. We’re comin’ in.” Snap! Pop! Fast Eddie stepped inside, followed by the Geek who closed the door silently behind himself.

Diego was pushed in farther by a hand to his chest.

“So, uh, duz you got a mudder in dat udder room? Go get her, and den sit by dat table, da two o’ ya. We got some talkin’ to do.”

Ana’s voice sounded from the bedroom, troubled and high pitched. “Who ees eet, Diego?”

“Go ahead, kid, go get her and no funny business,” said the Geek.

Everyone sat at the table except for him. The Geek made himself comfortable on the couch where he sprawled out with his right leg on top of the cushions and relit a half smoked cigar.

“So, where is it?”

Ana faced her son who looked back at her the same anxious way. “Get dee moe-ney.” She said, hiding her shaking hands under the table.

Returning with it, Diego placed the box in front of Fast Eddie, and took a seat.

“Where was it?” said the Geek.

With a quiver in his voice, Diego replied, “In the chimney.”

“Damn…how do you like that?”

Removing the gum from his mouth, Fast Eddie stuck it under the seat. “Da chimney! I neva would a taught a dat. How da hell did ya find it dere?”

Searching their surprised faces for even the slightest sign of anger, Diego, said, “One of the stones on top was loose. I was only trying to fix it, but then I saw a rope. I was curious, so, I pulled it up and…well…that’s when I saw this grey box.”

“Ha! I don’t believe it. Wait till I tell Spillane,” said the Geek. “He’s going to get a kick out of this.”

“So…uh…the big sixty four thousand dolla question. Did yas spend any o’ da money or is it all in dis box whats here on da table?” Fast Eddie tipped back in his chair and put his hands behind his head to wait for the answer. “Well?”

Diego was more worried than ever.

Do I tell him I spent the 50, or do I let him think Joe did? Is there any way they would know? What if there was more? What if there was $11,000 in the box, 12,000 or even 20,000, and Joe spent the rest of it? They’ll think it was me.

More than the huge man that he saw leaning back on the couch, the thing that frightened Diego the most was the big, shiny gun fully exposed under his opened jacket.

“Yeah, you tink about it all you want, kid, we ain’t got nowhears else to go at da moment. So make it a good answer. Weez got all night.”

“Maybe he does, but I don’t,” said the Geek. “Come clean, kid. Tell us the truth?”

Diego buried his head under his hands and took a deep breath. He looked upwards at Eddie through the tops of his eyes and forced the words out. “I spent $50 dollars.”

(Sniff Sniff) Ana wiped her wet cheeks. She knew not to cry out loud. That would certainly anger the two men, but she could only hold back so much, and not for much longer.

“Fifty?”
Bang!
The side of Eddie’s fist slammed down hard on top of the table.

Diego bolted upright.

“Well, guess what? Ya should’na oughta did dat! Dis ain’t your money, ya liddle kweep!”

The Geek shouted at Eddie. “Shut up, dummy! Open the box, kid, and let’s count it.”

Obeying the order, Diego opened it with fumbling fingers.

Eddie quickly snatched the money and spread it across the table in a straight line to make sure the bills were all tens. He then restacked them and broke it all down into hundreds.

“Yep…it’s all here, except for da 50 bucks, like da kid said. So let’s have it…da 50 or tells us whatever it was dat you taught of in your widdle, kiddy bwain dat you wuz maybe planning on tellin’ us…or da coppas, and it better be good.”

Fast Eddie glared at Diego, wide eyed for 20 long seconds without an answer from the boy.

“Look at dis kid, Big Jimmy. He ain’t taught o’ nuttin’! Whaddya wanna do?”

“I’m thinking, shut up!”

“Let’s bring dems boat back to Spillane.”

“I said shut up?”

Eddie grimaced. Addressing Ana, he softly asked, “Say, uh, Mrs. so and so, mind if I use da turly bowl?”

The Geek shook his head. “What the hell are you asking her for? It doesn’t matter if you piss on the floor. You’re a crook, remember? Who’s going to complain? Go use it, so I can think.”

The door to the hallway was left wide open as Fast Eddie searched for the door to the bathroom. He left that one open as well, before going on with his business.

Two inches of Jimmy’s cigar was left, and smoking them any farther always left an after taste in his mouth. He aimed for the sink and got it in on the first try. He thought to check that his gun was fully loaded, but didn’t want to prematurely upset anyone into screaming and waking up the neighbors. Especially, since he wasn’t ready to leave yet. His next appointment wasn’t for another two and half hours and the ride to the Bronx, at this time of day, took less than one.

“Can I make ju some coffee?” Ana meekly asked, her voice barely audible.

“Yeah, you read my mind?”

“Juss, only, I have Spaneesh coffee?”

“As long as it’s strong. I’m on the night shift and I got a lot of work to do tonight. I got two in the Bronx and another one in Queens that I still gotta see. What did you spend that money on, kid?”

“I bought my mother a new dress.”

“Oh…for her birthday?”

“No…church. She hadn’t been to church in a long while. I wanted to do something special for her.”

“Yeah, my mother goes to church every Sunday and look what happened to me. So, tell me…were you making plans to spend the rest of this money?”

“I thought I would buy her another dress for a wedding she’s supposed to go to on Saturday, but Mom made me promise not to spend another penny of it.”

“Is that right, lady?”

Anna responded, cautiously. “I done want heem to find no more trouble with thees moe-ney.”

“Well, At least you didn’t give it to the cops, because, then I would’ve been up shits creek without a paddle. My boss would have had to kiss this money goodbye. How much was the dress?”

“Around $14.00. I bought her shoes, too.”

“You’re a good boy to your mother. Especially when the money ain’t yours.” Jimmy Huffed.

From the bathroom, a prolonged pouring sound, like a horse relieving itself in a galvanized pail, splashed into the bowl. It was followed by a loud flush. Fast Eddie returned and took his place at the table to the smell of coffee brewing.

“So, uh…
what
, are we’s all in a diner, now? What’s with the making the cawfee, crap?”

“I said it was okay. Leave her alone!”

“We gotta go. What if the coppas are casin’ da joint?”

“They ain’t, because Spillane would have known that before he made us come back here. We got eyes and ears in the street, or did you forget?”

Eddie puckered up his lips. “Well, den give me some cawfee. Hey, so what’re we doin’ with dese two?”

“Nothing!”

“Nuttin’! Waddya talkin’ ‘bout…
nuttin
’?”

“Just what I said, nothing.”

“So, whadabout da 50? You plannin’ to do nuttin’ ‘bout dat?”

“That’s right! I’m going to take my time and finish this coffee, and then we’re taking a ride to the Bronx.”

“But da 50?”

“That’s peanuts! We got almost all of the money and that makes me very happy. And it’s also going to make Spillane very happy.”

“Jeesh. You’re gettin’ soft, Big Jimmy.”

“What’s the point? Can’t you see how nice this lady is, and none of it is the kids fault, neither. He found the money. He didn’t try to steal it from us like the Barnes did, so what the hell are you mad at?”

“Because!…Dats why! We gotta make an example oudda da boat o’ dem.”

Ana grabbed Diego’s hands and held them in her lap.

“You see, Eddie, that’s why Spillane puts me in charge. You don’t think straight. Number one, we got our money. Number two, if anything was to happen to a little boy and his crippled mother, in the same building where Barnes lived, there would be a lot more pressure to find out who it was. They already got their eyes on Spillane for what happened to Barnes and Sally Boy. They just can’t prove which one of us knocked him off. Well…you know who I mean?”

“Da Barnes? Yeah, dat wuz you!”

“Did you have to mention that in front of them, knucklehead?”

“Whud about Tommy? They don’t know nuttin’ ‘bout dat neida!”

“And that was you! Hey, I hope you don’t really think they care about Tommy, do you?”

“I don’t tink his own mudda cares ‘bout him.”

“And don’t forget the cop that fell off this very same roof. And that was only a couple of days ago. This place is very hot right now. And there will be a lot more heat on you and me…and Spillane…than there is, if something else was to happen in this same building. And no amount of payoffs will keep the cops off our backs. As far as the 50 goes, they can keep that for taking care of our money. They could have skipped town with it. Did you ever think of that?”

Fast Eddie squirmed in his seat and looked the other way. “Mumble, mumble.”

“And that takes us to number 3, or 4, I lost count.”

“Which is?”

“That you’re an idiot!”

“So I’m an idiot. So shoot me. Oh…shit! Forget I said dat. Hey, we bedda go. We been in dis place too long, already.”

“What are you being so jumpy about?”

“Somebody mighta called da coppa’s.”

“Who? Poor people don’t have phones.”

“Mary, Mary did, and by now dey gotta knows who we are.”

“So what? We didn’t rob the place?”

“What about da Barnes. We wuz in his room? We’s was boat in dere, rememba?”

“What does that prove? We had a key.”

“An’ Mary? You broke her front daw, did ya’s forget aboud dat?”

“I didn’t forget nothing, Eddie. And who cares? You don’t believe she’s gonna rat us two out, do you? That was somebody else that broke that door in. Not us. And even if she does snitch on us, who’s going to pick us out of a line-up? Not her! If she ever did, she’d be signing her own death warrant, and Spillane would let her know that.”

“What ‘bout finga prints?”

“Sometimes I wonder why I even let you hang out with me. You’re a knucklehead! So what? What the hell does that prove? Barnes was a good friend of ours. We paid him a visit a long time ago, right? In fact, he’s the one who introduced us to his girlfriend, fatty Mary. So if they find our finger prints in her room it don’t matter, see?”

“Say, do you mind if I go upsteahs right now and see if maybe, uh…you know…if maybe, um, uh…”

“No!”

“Okay!”

“You’re also forgetting something else, Eddie. We got ears inside the squad cars. If anything comes down, we’re going to know about it first. So, stop fidgeting around and relax. We’ll leave when I’m good and ready to leave. In fact, do me a big favor?”

“Whaddya want now?”

“How about you carry that skinny ass of yours out to the car on those pencil legs and wait for me there. You’re annoying me.”

“Whaddya gonna do to dem.”

“You’ll see! Just go!”

The Geek stood alongside the couch and stretched. He left his half-filled cup at the edge of the table and followed Eddie to the door. Adjusting his gun, he closed his jacket around it, eased the door shut from the inside, and released the knob gently to silence the clicking sound.

Ana put her arm around Diego with her head on his chest, closed her eyes, and silently prayed.