Out of Sight

Cedric didn't say anything this time. He took them to the door at the end of the hall where Maurice called out, "Police! Y'all come out with your hands up!" But didn't wait to see if they would. He said, "White Boy," and White Boy swung his ax at the door to smash the lock and the force of it swung the door in. Maurice pushed Cedric into the room and with his.45 waved White Boy and Kenneth in after him.

Glenn followed Maurice expecting to see a bedroom, but it was like an office, an office, say, in a factory or a warehouse, old desks and file cabinets, cardboard boxes piled up, vodka bottles, ashtrays full of butts, a scale, a calculator. A white guy in shirtsleeves stood by an open window. A woman was coming out of the bathroom with the sound of the toilet flushing. Skanky, stringy-haired junkies was the way Glenn saw them, both holding their arms to their bodies now, rubbing themselves.

The man said, "Police, shit," sounding drunk or sleepy, in a nod.

"Maurice, is that you, dude?"

Maurice lifted his ski mask. So did White Boy and Kenneth.

Glenn left his covering his face.

"If it wasn't me, Frankie, it'd be somebody else."

The man said, "I'll tell you right now you won't find any product."

"You flush it down the toilet, we won't. No, I don't imagine.

Inez, how you doing, girl? Not too good, huh? Man, you look like you been chewed up and spit out. Frankie, you gonna catch cold with that window open." Maurice turned his head to Glenn.

"This is the gentleman I was telling you about use to be a customer, use to wear a suit and comb his hair; hell, use to be Frank, this scarecrow, Frankie and his lovely wife Inez. See what scag can do to a person? Now then, so we don't have to tear up your nice home," Maurice said, "get out the green from where you hid it. I'm gonna say forty fifty thousand and it's in this room. Frankie? Pay attention. You're gonna have to tell me where it is before I count to three. You ready? … One two three." Maurice raised the.45, put it on Cedric and shot him in the head. The impact sent him against the file cabinets and he seemed to hold on before sliding to the floor. Maurice stepped over to him and Glenn thought he was going to shoot him again, but all he did was stare at him-until Frankie spoke and Maurice looked up.

"You've been wanting to do him, haven't you? Shit, you came to do him."

"You think so, let's try Inez," Maurice said, turning to her as he raised the.45. "Ready for the count?"

Inez was looking right at him, all eyes, shoulders hunched, her hands tightened into fists. She said, "Give it to him!" raising her voice, the words sounding hoarse and scratchy and she began to cough saying,

"Give him what he wants."

"He's gonna shoot you anyway," Frankie said, "he's gonna shoot us both," and looked at Maurice.

"Aren't you?"

"Right this second," Maurice said, "you don't tell me where your money's at."

"It's different places in that file cabinet," Frankie said, "the one by Cedric."

Kenneth said, "You don't need Inez no more. Can I have her?"

"Go on," Maurice said, "but be quick." Kenneth took Inez by the arm and she went with him, eyes glued wide-open, tripping over her own feet, out of the room. Maurice, making a face, said to Glenn, "Would you fuck that woman? Kenneth, he don't pass up nothing has a pussy and it's free."

White Bo'y said, "Man, I wouldn't fuck her with your dick."

"All right," Maurice said, pulling the file cabinet open, "let's see what's in here." He poked through the files, finding currency he handed to Glenn who counted it, all small bills, and dropped the money in a cardboard box. It amounted to a few bucks over twenty-eight hundred. That was it. Maurice said to Frankie, "You gonna make us work, huh? You sure you want to?"

"Fuck you," Frankie said, "you're gonna kill me anyway."

Maurice didn't say if he would or not. He didn't say anything at all until they'd dumped all the files from the cabinets, looked in the boxes-some with little crack bottles in them-looked in the desk drawers, looked in the toilet tank, looked everywhere they could look, and when they were done Maurice said to Frankie, "You're right," and shot him twice in the chest-like that, bang, bang, nothing to it-Glenn watching Frankie almost go out the window, hit the sill and fall dead.

Maurice said, "I guess we through here."

Glenn, with the money, followed Maurice along the hall wanting to get out of here, man, right now, run down the stairs and out. They came to a bedroom with the door open and there was Kenneth by the bed pulling up his pants, Inez lying on the bed with her knees still raised, her legs apart and Glenn said, "Jesus," the sight repulsive to him, this worn-out junkie showing herself, that dark wedge deep between her pure white thighs, it was ugly, and yet he felt himself becoming aroused.

Kenneth said, "Who wants a piece of this?"

Glenn stood there holding the carton of money; he was one of them, wasn't he? He said, "You leave any for us?" Like he was kidding.