chapter 98
AFTER LEVI HAD driven through miles of the pine plantations and farmland of rural Mississippi, the giant glowing orb that sits high atop the Golden Moon Hotel and Casino in Philadelphia looked peculiar against the night sky. Since it was a Monday night before Thanksgiving, the resort’s parking lots seemed surprisingly full. Must be a big Monday Night Football party, he thought as he hurriedly parked.
Levi took the elevator to the top floor and walked quickly toward Bailey’s room. Before he stopped at her door, he looked both ways down the hallway to see if anyone was following. Bailey opened the door as soon as he knocked. As soon as the door shut, they hugged.
“Never open the door without knowing who it is,” he said, pulling back to look into her eyes.
“I could see you through the peephole. I’ve been standing there waiting since we got off the phone,” she said, wondering why he was so suspicious.
“Oh, okay. That’s good,” he said, locking the dead bolt and flipping closed the safety hasp.
When Levi turned around, Bailey pulled him close and said, “It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.” She kissed him.
Levi leaned into the kiss and pulled her tight. When they stopped, Levi said, “I know. It’s only been a coupla days, but I’ve really missed you too.”
“Us missin’ each other so early in a relationship…this is bad, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah, but in a good way,” he replied with a broad smile. “They say the heart knows what it wants.”
Bailey led Levi by the hand into the suite. She was wearing black sweatpants and a loose-fitting T-shirt from Reed’s bookstore in Tupelo. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. In the center of the main room of the suite was an oversize leather couch. Bailey fell back into it.
“Nice crib. I like the way you roll,” Levi said, looking around.
“I could live here. This is the nicest place I’ve ever been in my life,” she said. Then she added, “Which ain’t saying much, since except for goin’ to Memphis, I haven’t been out of the state.”
“Girl, we’ll have to change that for sure.”
Levi sat down on the opposite side of the couch and put his feet on the coffee table. Bailey turned to face him, sitting Indian-style.
Levi noticed that the exhausted look seemed to be fading and was slowly being replaced with relief and happiness. In response he said, “Babe, please tell me everything that’s been going on. Start at the beginning. Let me help ya.”
Bailey looked him dead in the eye, sighed deeply, and then, after several seconds of silence, started talking. She went into the specifics about her mother’s battle with leukemia and the resulting financial hardships, not going to college, her grandmother and her friends; she told about all the meaningful projects the old guys wanted to do and how they just wanted to be helpful to their families. She explained the Kroger situation, including Samantha, and how they now wanted to give the money back.
Levi was dumbfounded as Bailey gave the details of robbing the Gold Mine, counting the money, buying the travel bags to store it in, and how, when she saw Woody approaching the hotel, she grabbed the money and ran. She also explained how she had obsessed about the money all through the night.
It took Bailey twenty minutes to bring Levi up to speed. She circled back at the end to reemphasize Walter’s story.
Levi never interrupted. He soaked it all in and marveled at the old folks’ ingenuity. He also understood their motives.
Bailey was relieved to have unburdened herself but was on the verge of collapse from carrying such a heavy load. She watched Levi for a response and could ascertain only that he was worried.
“I’m sorry to drop all this on you, and I really want you to know that we didn’t steal the money from you…we stole it from Moon Pie,” she said as she pushed her hair behind her right ear.
Levi finally asked, “Does your grandmother know that you’re okay?” He gently touched her face.
“No. I haven’t called. I didn’t want Woody to have any leverage.”
“They’re worried. I saw them earlier.”
“I’ll call.” As she hugged Levi, she asked, “So you’re not mad at me?”
He rubbed his face and then ran his fingers through his hair. He broke off the embrace, looked her in the eye, and said, “No, I’m not mad. Look, I ain’t gonna judge y’all. I can’t. I haven’t done right. Moon Pie’s as mean as a snake, and I’ve helped him steal and cheat. And worst of all, I’ve helped him distribute drugs. I know they’re ruining people’s lives, and I think about that all the time. I just ain’t figured a way out. It’s been really botherin’ me lately. The only reason I do it is ’cause it’s easy money, pure and simple. I’m smart enough not to use drugs…but I’m stupid enough to haul ’em. It’s crazy, and I’ve been tellin’ myself that it’s all about the money, and what’s bad about that is that I don’t have anything to really show for it. It’s crazy.
“What y’all wanna do has got some meaning and purpose. I’d love to see you have that dress shop. I know you’d be successful if you just had the money to get started. Bailey, I’m very impressed with you and what you did for your momma. You coulda run from those debts and problems, but you didn’t. Nobody woulda blamed you. I understand what y’all did and why. But you know that it makes y’all criminals…just like me and Moon Pie.”
He stopped talking when he noticed tears welling in Bailey’s eyes. She knew what she had done was wrong, and that had been haunting her. Her lip was quivering, and it was hard to speak. She didn’t like being called a criminal.
Bailey asked, “What are we gonna do? I don’t wanna be a criminal.”
“I don’t know,” he said, looking around the room, his eyes stopping on two rolling suitcases. He pointed at the bags and continued, “That money right there…that is some dangerous shit, bad dangerous. It’s gonna get somebody killed. You ain’t got a clue who all’s involved with that.”
Bailey started to tremble. Levi moved next to her and wrapped his arm around her. He noticed the time on a wall clock. It was 8:00 p.m., and he hadn’t eaten all day.
“Look, I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat and talk this through, see if we can’t find a solution.”
Bailey seemed to welcome the idea. “There’s a ton of restaurants here!” She handed him a brochure from the coffee table.
“Cool. Go get ready. We’ll go somewhere nice,” Levi said, opening the brochure.
“I’ll take a quick shower and be ready in fifteen minutes!”
Bailey jumped up, kissed him on the cheek, and grabbed a small travel bag as she ran into the bedroom and shut the door.
Levi stood, stretched, and walked to face the massive floor-to-ceiling window. Though the night was inky black, he couldn’t see any stars because of the giant parking lot’s orange lights. The moon also was nowhere to be seen. Levi remembered from the drive that rain clouds had been rolling in fast. The sound of the shower running and Bailey singing “Broken Road” brought his thoughts back to where he was. He turned to look around the room, his gaze falling on the suitcases.
He walked over to the bags and opened one to see the cash wrapped with rubber bands and neatly stacked inside. He smiled, grabbed a bundle, and then zipped the suitcase shut.
Seeing the money jolted Levi back to the fact that Moon Pie needed help. While he was looking at his phone to see if Moon Pie had texted him, the battery died and the screen went dark. An overwhelming sense of urgency hit him. He dropped a thousand dollars onto the coffee table, grabbed the suitcases, and headed for the door.
The last thing Levi heard before closing the suite’s heavy door was Bailey’s joyful singing in the shower.