The Quiet Game

"The movie. After Becket makes his moral stand against King Henry, the king is alone in the palace with his nobles. These so-called nobles are a nasty bunch, greedy, violent, and drunk. And though King Henry loves Becket, he says out loud: 'Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?' And of course they do. They go to Canterbury and murder him with swords."

Sometimes I wish my father had less rigorous moral standards.

"Henry knew what he was saying, Penn. He knew the company he was in. And that made him guilty of murder. That's why he submitted to the lashing by Becket's monks."

"You're not a king. You couldn't know what Presley would do."

Dad is too wracked by guilt for me to get through to him. "I've spent years thinking about this. I didn't know Presley would kill the man, but when he asked for the name, I knew he might do something. I'd treated his parents for free, and he felt indebted to me. He'd just gotten out of prison. From the moment I told Presley that name, Hillman was bound to get hurt, maybe killed. There's no getting around that."

I know what it has cost my father to admit this. He may even be right. But that's not my primary concern at this point. "That's not how the law would see it. Technically, your only crime was accessory after the fact. And the statute of limitations ran out on that in 1975."

"What about the gun?"

"That's another story. If Presley will lie to the D.A. and say you asked him to kill Hillman, and that you gave him the gun-and if he still has the gun-that adds up to capital murder. It puts you in line for what I've got to witness in two days. Lethal injection."

"That's what I thought."

"Why did you decide to tell me this today?"

"You want to find out who killed Del Payton. I know you do, and you're right. Maybe you even have an obligation to do it. But the road to Payton's killers runs right through Ray Presley, because he worked on the case. I knew you'd eventually go see him, and if you did, you'd probably find out about this. He might even hit you up for money. I wanted you to hear the truth from me."

"The hell with Del Payton. There's only one thing to do."

"What?"

"Go to the D.A. before Presley can. Tomorrow morning we're going to walk in there, tell the whole story, and demand that Presley be arrested for murder and extortion."

Dad raises both hands like a supplicant. "I've thought of doing that a hundred times. But why should the D.A. believe me?"

I think of Austin Mackey, district attorney and former schoolmate of mine. Not my first choice for a sympathetic confessor, but we go back a lot of years. "The D.A. has a lot of discretion in a case like this. And it's possible we could sting Presley. Wire you before meeting with him. Videotape a blackmail payment."

"You're underestimating Ray. Since he started this, he's talked and acted as though we were partners from the beginning."

"Damn."

"Mackey would probably insist that you drop the Payton business, Penn."

"I dropped it the second you told me about this. We don't have any options. We've got to come clean, and Mackey's the man we have to see."

Dad seems to sag behind his desk. "If that's what you think, I'm prepared to do it. It'll be a relief, no matter what happens. But even if Mackey decided not to prosecute, wouldn't I still be subject to prosecution in Alabama?"

He has a point. "Yes. Anywhere that an element of the crime took place. But I can get Mackey to talk to the Mobile D.A. for us."

"Hillman's brother still lives in Mobile. The cop. I checked two months ago-Wonderful. Even if Mackey does his best to convince the Mobile D.A. to lay off, my father's life will be in the hands of the Alabama authorities. And that comes pretty close to unacceptable risk. That's why Dad has not come forward before now.

"Presley has cancer," I say, thinking aloud. "How long does he have to live?"

Dad shrugs. "His oncologist thought he'd be dead before now. But he's still ambulatory. Ray is one tough son of a bitch. One of those I always say is too damn stubborn to die. He could live another year."

"A year isn't so long. We could keep paying him till he dies. Pay his medical bills."

"That's what I've been doing so far. It's getting damned expensive."

"How much have you paid him?"

"A hundred and sixteen thousand dollars to date."

I shake my head, still unable to believe the situation. "Over how long?"

"Seven or eight months. But he wants more. He's talking about needing to provide for his kids now."

"That's the way it is with blackmail. It never stops. There's no guarantee it would stop with his death. He could give the gun to one of his kids. He could leave documentary evidence. A videotape, for example. A dying declaration. You know, 'I've got cancer, and I've got something to get off my chest before I stand before my maker.' That kind of thing is taken very seriously by the courts."

My father has turned pale. "Good God."

"That leaves us only one option."