Muller, Marcia - [McCone 05] Leave a Message for Willie [v1.0] (htm) Read Free Page A

to tie up his money in out-of-season
goods. If I were you, I'd give it a try."
    The man was silent. Then Willie spoke to the other. "How many
of these cameras you got, Jim?"
    "Six more in the truck."
    "Japanese, huh? Nikon, that's a good brand. But look here,
Jim: there's part of it missing."
    "What the hell do you mean? That's the way they shipped them,
right from the factory."
    "Well, maybe they screwed up. This camera's not all here. See
this gizmo? Where you put the flash? It's not there. If the flash
isn't there, it don't work right. How's somebody supposed to take
pictures inside if there's no flash?"
    "Jesus, Willie, I've got
seven
of these."
    "Yeah, seven cameras that don't work."
    "They go for hundreds in the stores."
    "Right—but those have got all the parts."
    "I'll never unload them—"
    "Tell you what. A hundred bucks for the lot."
    "I thought you said they was no good."
    "They're not." Willie's voice became elaborately
patient. "But I see a lot of stuff come through here; maybe
someday I'll see a flash attachment for one of these. Maybe not. It's
a long shot, but I'm willing to bet a hundred bucks on the off chance
that someday a flash attachment will come through that door."
    "I don't know. I'd hoped to get—"
    "Well, you can quit hoping. Nobody's going to pay big bucks
for a camera that's not all there."
    The man sighed. "Okay. I'll go get the others."
    "Do that. I'll write you up a receipt." Willie started
back toward the office, then stopped and snapped his fingers.
    "Oh, yeah. Joey, what about those jackets? You want to unload
them for half price?"
    "Guess I got no choice."
    "I'll do up a receipt for you too." Willie went around
the jewelry counter, winking at me, and pulled two Budweisers from
the refrigerator. He took them to the man, saying, "Have a beer
and give one to Jim when he comes back." Then he returned to the
desk and busied himself with a receipt book and a check register. The
men joined him; receipts were signed, checks were endorsed, cash
changed hands, and the truckers left. I watched the entire procedure,
unable to make much sense of it.
    After the truckers were gone, I said, "Willie, I have a Nikon
camera. They work perfectly well without flash attachments."
    He grinned and took out two more beers. "I know."
    "They never come equipped with flash attachments. You buy
them separately."
    "Yeah, but old Jim don't know that." He opened a beer
and handed it to me. "He's what you might call ignorant."
    "You tricked him."
    "Sure I did. Dealt him right out of a nice profit."
    "What about the other guy—Joey? Will those jackets
really sit here for two months?"
    "Hell, no. I'll have them at the flea markets tomorrow.
They'll be gone in an hour."
    "You're quite a businessman."
    "It's all in the wheeling and dealing. Wheeling and dealing."
His voice was flat, as if the transactions had given him a high and
he was now coming down from it. "Let's go have a seat up front."
    I followed him up there and took one of the mismatched kitchen
chairs. Willie closed the garage door with an automatic control and
slumped next to me.
    "I take it the fellow in the suit wasn't out there when you
got back?" I asked.
    "Not today, for a change."
    I sipped beer for a moment, trying to accommodate myself to his
sudden change in mood. Finally I said, "Can I ask you some
questions?"
    "Fire away."
    "They probably won't seem like they have much to do with your
problem, but I need to get a feel for your business before I decide
how I can help you."
    "That's okay."
    "You gave those two men receipts, wrote them checks, and then
also paid them in cash."
    "Right."
    "What's all that supposed to accomplish?"
    "Keeps the law off my back. In case you get caught with hot
stuff, what you need is a receipt and a canceled check. That proves
you thought you were buying legitimate."
    "If the merchandise is hot, what does it matter what you
thought?"
    "Because to convict a person of receiving, they've got to
prove he knew the stuff was