My first time in jail, Terry marveled. After forty years of life, I have landed in stir, the calaboose, the joint, the old stone hotel. Think of that.
He wanted to feel anger, righteous anger, and he supposed that feeling might arise with daylight, when the world came back into focus, but now, at three o’clock on Sunday morning, as the shouts and singing subsided to snores, farts, and the occasional groan, all he felt was shame. As if he really had done something. Except he would have felt nothing of the kind if he had really done what he was accused of doing. If he had been sick and evil enough to commit such an obscene act upon a child, he would have felt nothing but the desperate cunning of an animal in a trap, willing to say anything or do anything in order to get out. Or was that true? How did he know what a man like that would think or feel? It was like trying to guess what might be in the mind of an alien from space.
He had no doubt that Howie Gold would get him out of this; even now, in the darkest ditch of the night, with his mind still trying to get a grip on the way his whole life had changed in a matter of minutes, he didn’t doubt it. But he also knew that not all of the shit would wash off. He would be released with an apology – if not tomorrow, then at the arraignment, if not at the arraignment, then at the next step, which would probably be a grand jury hearing in Cap City – but he knew what he would see in the eyes of his students the next time he stepped in front of a class, and his career as a youth sports coach was probably finished. The various governing bodies would find some excuse if he wouldn’t do what they’d see as the honorable thing and step down himself. Because he was never going to be completely innocent again, not in the eyes of his neighbors on the West Side, or in those of Flint City as a whole. He would always be the man who was arrested for the murder of Frank Peterson. He would always be the man of whom people would say, No smoke without fire.
If it was just him, he thought he could deal with it. What did he tell his boys when they whined that a call was unfair? Suck it up and get back in there. Play the game. But it wasn’t just him who would have to suck this up, not just him who would have to play the game. Marcy would be branded. The whispers and sidelong looks at work and at the grocery store. The friends who would no longer call. Jamie Mattingly might be an exception, but he had his doubts even about her.
Then there were the girls. Sarah and Gracie would be subjected to the sort of vicious gossip and wholesale shunning of which only kids their age were capable. He guessed Marcy would have sense enough to keep them close until this was sorted out, if only to keep them away from the reporters who would otherwise hound them, but even in the fall, even after he was cleared, they would be marked. See that girl over there? Her father was arrested for killing a kid and shoving a stick up his ass.
Lying on his bunk. Staring up into the dark. Smelling the jailhouse stench. Thinking, We’ll have to move. Maybe to Tulsa, maybe to Cap City, maybe down to Texas. Somebody will give me a job, even if they won’t allow me within a country mile of boys’ baseball, football, or basketball practice. My references are good, and they’ll be afraid of a discrimination suit if they say no.
Only the arrest – and the reason for the arrest – would follow them like this jailhouse stink. Especially the girls. Facebook alone would be enough to hunt them down and single them out. These are the girls whose father got away with murder.
He had to stop thinking this way and get some sleep, and he had to stop feeling ashamed of himself because someone else – Ralph Anderson, to be specific – had made a horrible mistake. These things always looked worse in the small hours, that was what he had to remember. And given his current position, in a cell and wearing a baggy brown uniform with DOC on the back of the shirt, it was inevitable that his fears would grow as big as the floats in a holiday parade. Things would look better in the morning. He was sure of it.
Yes.
But still, the shame.
Terry covered his eyes.
7
Howie Gold slipped from bed at six thirty on Sunday morning, not because there was anything he could do at that hour, and not from personal preference. Like many men in their early sixties, his prostate had grown along with his IRA, and his bladder seemed to have shrunk along with his sexual aspirations. Once he was awake, his brain slipped from park into drive, and going back to sleep was an impossibility.
He left Elaine to dream what he hoped were pleasant dreams, and padded barefoot into the kitchen to start the coffee and check his phone, which he’d silenced and left on the counter before going to bed. He had a text from Alec Pelley, delivered at 1:12 AM.
Howie drank his coffee, and was eating a bowl of Raisin Bran when Elaine came into the kitchen, knotting the belt of her robe and yawning. ‘What’s up, powderpuff?’
‘Time will tell. In the meantime, do you want some scrambled eggs?’
‘Breakfast, he offers me.’ She was pouring her own cup of coffee. ‘Since it’s not Valentine’s Day or my birthday, should I find that suspicious?’
‘I’m killing time. Got a text from Alec, but I can’t call him until seven.’
‘Good news or bad?’
‘No idea. So do you want some eggs?’
‘Yes. Two. Fried, not scrambled.’
‘You know I always break the yolks.’
‘Since I get to sit and watch, I will restrain my criticism. Wheat toast, please.’
For a wonder, only one of the yolks broke. As he set the plate in front of her, she said, ‘If Terry Maitland killed that child, the world has gone insane.’
‘The world is insane,’ Howie said, ‘but he didn’t do it. He has an alibi as strong as the S on Superman’s chest.’
‘Why did they arrest him, then?’
‘Because they believe they have proof as strong as the S on Superman’s chest.’
She considered this. ‘Unstoppable force meets immovable object?’
‘There is no such thing, sweetheart.’
He looked at his watch. Five minutes of seven. Close enough. He called Alec’s cell.
His investigator answered on the third ring. ‘You’re early, and I’m shaving. Can you call back in five minutes? At seven, in other words, as I suggested?’
‘No,’ Howie said, ‘but I’ll wait until you wipe the shaving cream off the phone side of your face, how’s that?’
‘You’re a tough boss,’ Alec said, but he sounded good-humored in spite of the hour, and in spite of being interrupted at a task most men preferred to do while occupied by nothing but their own thoughts. Which gave Howie hope. He had a lot to work with already, but he could always use more.
‘Is it good news or bad news?’
‘Give me a second, will you? I’m getting this shit all over my phone.’
It was more like five, but then Alec was back. ‘The news is good, boss. Good for us and bad for the DA. Very bad.’
‘You saw the security footage? How much is there, and from how many cameras?’
‘I saw the footage, and there’s plenty.’ Alec paused, and when he spoke again, Howie knew he was smiling; he could hear it in the man’s voice. ‘But there’s something better. Much better.’
8
Jeanette Anderson rose at quarter of seven and found her husband’s side of the bed empty. The kitchen smelled of fresh coffee, but Ralph wasn’t there, either. She looked out the window and saw him sitting at the picnic table in the backyard, still in his striped pajamas and sipping from the joke cup Derek had given him last Father’s Day. On the side, in big blue letters, it said YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT UNTIL I DRINK MY COFFEE. She got her own cup, went out to him, and kissed his cheek. The day was going to be a hot one, but now this early morning was cool and quiet and pleasant.
‘Can’t let go of it, can you?’ she asked.
‘None of us will be letting go of this one,’ he said. ‘Not for awhile.’
‘It’s Sunday,’ she said. ‘Day of rest. And you need it. I don’t like the way you look. According to an article I read in the New York Times Health section last week, you have entered heart attack country.’