The Radio Red Killer. Richard A. Lupoff

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СКАЧАТЬ her name, that’s all it is!”

      “Sure. She’s not a real cop anyhow, she doesn’t even have a gun.”

      “You think that’s what makes a police officer? Carrying a gun?”

      “You do. All the real cops have guns.”

      Her chest felt tight. What was she doing? What kind of mother had to carry a gun to win the respect of her son? She said, “I know Officer Steinberg. She’s a good cop. I worked with her for a year, on patrol. She has what it takes, Jamie, and for your information she’s a better shot than I am.”

      At least he’d turned back from the window and was paying attention.

      “Don’t you believe the things you learn in the DARE classes?”

      “The little kids do. The big ones just laugh at that stuff. Hack and me toke up once in a while, so what?”

      She hated to fall back on the old lines but she couldn’t fight him any longer. “I’m your mother, and I have a duty to guide you. God gave you to me, and I’m responsible for you. When you’re a man you’ll make your own decisions. Until then you will listen to me.”

      He grunted.

      She said, “I’ll see you in the morning. Six o’clock, Jamie. Set your alarm. I want to see you washed and dressed in clean clothes. At the breakfast table. And you’d better bring a good attitude with you.”

      He said, “Sure I will.”

      She managed to kiss her son good night; his cheek was like granite.

      “And, Jamie, do I need to tell you, you’re grounded until further notice. Until we get this worked out.”

      “But mom!” Uh-oh, here comes the but-mom. “Baseball tryouts are next week. Hack and me are gonna make the Clockers!”

      “Grounded. Period. School and home. Period.”

      In her own room, she picked up her black Raggedy Ann doll and studied its wide, triangular eyes and its merry smile. She pressed the doll’s face to her own, feeling its cheek with her own cheek.

      She sat on the edge of her bed hyperventilating.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      Gloria Plum loved her work and hated her co-workers. Or maybe it was the other way around. Marvia had never been able to get that clear. At any rate, Gloria liked her own company better than that of anyone else. For years she had made it a point to rise early, eat breakfast alone and leave the house before other family members came downstairs.

      Marvia had thought that was cruel in Marcus’s last years, but today she was relieved not to have to face both her mother and her son over the breakfast table. Jamie would be more than enough. Add Gloria and…Marvia didn’t even want to think about it.

      Scrambled eggs and toast with marmalade. A real old-fashioned breakfast. Marvia had the bread out of its wrapper before Jamie entered the kitchen and the eggs cracked and beaten in a bowl.

      The swinging door seemed to hesitate once, then sweep inward. Jamie wore an Oakland Raiders cap with the bill turned sideways, a T-shirt featuring a larger-than-life portrait of an angry black man, baggy jeans and sneakers. Marvia didn’t know who the man on Jamie’s shirt was. She bit her lower lip at the realization that she couldn’t even recognize her son’s current hero.

      Jamie sat at down at the table.

      Marvia said, “Hat off.”

      He glared at her but complied.

      “Have you thought about what happened last night?”

      “What happened to my stash?”

      “You’re lucky, Jamie. I got mad and threw it away. So now I’ve destroyed evidence and you and Hakeem are in the clear.”

      “I told you the Hackman had nothing to do with it. It was my dope. Could I have my roach clip back? That was expensive. And it’s just a roach clip, it’s not illegal.”

      “It’s drug paraphernalia and it is definitely illegal. Have you talked with your friend? Did you call him last night or this morning?”

      “No.” He scowled.

      Marvia dumped the eggs into the skillet and stirred them in silence, then she carried the skillet to the table and distributed eggs onto both their plates. She never had eaten any pizza last night and she realized, surprised, that she was hungry. The marmalade was already on the table, in its jar, and when the toast popped up she put it on a plate and set it beside the marmalade. Then she sat down.

      “I expect to hear from Hakeem’s parents, Jamie, or I’m going to call them myself. This is serious business.”

      “What are you going to do, call my dad? He in Washin’ton playin’ up to all ob de white folks, ain’ he?”

      Marvia clutched her butter knife until her knuckles ached. She restrained herself from slapping her son. “You will not use that Tomming dialect in this house or anywhere! Never!”

      “My mama the sellout. When are they going to give you a talk show?”

      She decided to change her tack. “Did you finish your homework? Or were you and your friend too stoned last night to do any?”

      “It’s all done.”

      “I want to see it before you go to school.”

      “The dog ate it.”

      Marvia stood up. Jamie grinned and tucked into his scrambled eggs. Marvia had lost her appetite. She checked the blinking readout on the microwave oven. She had to get to work.

      “Finish your breakfast and put your dishes in the washer before you go to school. And I want you to come straight home from your last class and study until your grandma and I get home. I just might phone you any time. In fact you can sure that I’ll call, that’s a promise, and you’d better be here when I do.”

      She hurried back upstairs, retrieved her .38 Airweight and tucked it into her waistband. She clipped a pair of handcuffs onto a belt loop behind her back. She intended to get rolling seriously on the Bjorner case today, and she would be most effective, she decided, in civvies.

      She pulled the Mustang out of the driveway and headed north to McKinley. She needed to talk with somebody about what was going on in her life. For a moment she considered phoning James Wilkerson. He was Jamie’s biological father, and he might have some influence with the boy.

      But Wilkerson had never shown much interest in Jamie. Lieutenant Wilkerson getting Corporal Plum pregnant? That meant he’d fraternized with her. A male officer and an enlisted woman? Strictly against regulations!

      So she’d got her discharge, he’d married her, she had her baby, and they were divorced.

      The only time he’d paid attention was not long after Desert Storm, when Jamie was onboard an antique bomber and in danger of losing his life, and James Senior had a chance СКАЧАТЬ