Nothing Better To Do - a novel in stories - Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Kresge had just started on his second draft beer when Frankie and Snake tracked him down at the Blue Moon. Since Snake wasn't twenty-one and wasn't allowed to sit at the bar, they asked Harry to join them in a booth. They ordered another beer for Harry and cokes for themselves.

"I just picked up the car from the paint shop. I thought you'd like to take a ride." Frankie was gleeful. Snake was smirking like he'd just taken the pot at a high-stakes poker game.

"Did you guys have Cal install Snake's stereo like I suggested?"

"We sure did." Frankie said. Snake just kept smiling and shaking his head.

"I think I'll pass. You see any sign of Orel Paige?"

"It's just like you said. He's gonna shadow me everywhere I go, just waiting for me to fuck up. He's sitting out there in the parking lot right now. He had the paint shop staked out, before I got over there. That's why I'm celebrating with a coke instead of a beer. We'll sit in here for awhile, let him think I'm getting good and tanked. Then when we leave, he'll follow us down the road a bit and pull me over for a field test. Only I'm gonna blow nothing but a zero this time."

"I'd watch it, if I were you. He might not play it by the book."

"What can I do? If he's gonna fuck with me, he's gonna fuck with me..."

"True enough. With a little luck, he'll screw himself. What kind of paint job did you get?"

"I went for the original black, but this time with flames around the air scoop and coming out of the wheel wells."

"Ole Orel must like that. I bet he got a boner the moment she saw you pull it out of the shop."

The two waited about a half-hour before leaving. Frankie looked at his watch.

"That should do it. Thanks for everything, Harry." He shook his hand.

"Yeah, thanks, man." Fish grabbed his hand and shook it, too.

"Just remember, don't call me, if you get arrested."

It was gray and cold in the parking lot. A light drizzle slanted into their faces as the wind rattled what few leaves were left on the trees. Across the road from the Blue Moon Tavern was an abandoned gas station. The nose of Orel Paige's cruiser was just visible from in back of the peeling wood-frame building.

He followed them onto the by-pass and then off the exit for Fairgrounds Road. Frankie didn't really have any reason to go this way, except that he thought he'd inspire Officer Paige with the possibility of a little poetic justice. Sure enough, Paige turned on his flashing blue light and hit his siren one short blast in the exact spot where he had made his original arrest.

Frankie pulled the Camaro onto the grassy shoulder and watched in the rearview mirror as Paige got out of his car and adjusted his trooper-style hat, before coming over to his window.

"Is that beer I smell on your breath, Frankie?"

"No, sir."

"Hand me your license, registration and proof of insurance, and step out of the car."

After he administered the field test he leaned inside the car from the driver's side. Snake was playing the dashboard like a conga drum and chanting one of those derogatory chants the fans sing at baseball games when the home team is thumping the visitors.

"I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car too, Snake," this in his most officious police tone of voice. "Both of you put your hands on the trunk and spread your legs." He frisked them, then instructed them to remain that way while he searched the car.

When he was done, he radioed the police station, "This is Officer Paige. I need backup out here by the Fairgrounds. I just apprehended two white males in the act of transporting crack cocaine." He held up a small plastic vial with a red cap, displaying it between his thumb and forefinger so Frankie could see it.

It was his turn to smile. "I'll take my car back, now."

***
Kresge was at home when he learned of the new arrest.

"This is a set-up, Harry!" Audrey Adderholdt screamed into the phone. "Frankie doesn't smoke crack! A little marijuana, some speed every now and then... That's it!"

"Of course it's a set-up. Even those two know better than to carry when they're being followed."

"What am I going to do?"

"Get a lawyer!"

"I got no money."

"Go down to the courthouse for the arraignment, tomorrow. Talk to the Public Defender. Tell him I'll be a witness, if he needs me. That's the best I can do."