When the Women Come out to Dance (2002) Read Free Page A

felony. A convictio n can get you two to twenty years. There's a death as a result, i t goes up to five to ninety-nine."
    Her reaction: "For Christ sake, Joe, come on. You want t o put me in jail?"
    "I'm not the law. All I'm supposed to do is let 'em kno w when I see a crime's been committed."
    She said, "Joe, come on, you're not a snitch. I can tel l you're a very practical guy. How much you want?"
    Like that, ready to pay him off.
    He said, "What's your best offer? So we don't waste time."
    "How about fifty grand?"
    "You can do better'n that."
    "A hundred?"
    He said, "Mrs. Harris," and paused. "You mind if I call yo u Robin?"
    Sounding formal now, and he could see she didn't kno w what to expect, hesitating before she said, "Sure, why not," i n a kind of vague tone of voice, her mind looking ahead.
    He said, "Robin, you've talked to a lot of people. Fire, la w enforcement, insurance company stooges . . . One of 'em eve n brought a dog out to sniff around. But no one's accused you o f burning your house down, have they?"
    She shook her head and brushed that soft, dark hair awa y from her face.
    "You drive up to the house, the sky's full of smoke. You'v e already seen houses burning on the TV news, and they'r e right over in the next canyon, not half a mile away. You'r e thinking, Damn it, why can't my house catch on fire?"
    She was nodding, staring at him with a thoughtful expression, following every word.
    "You go inside and stand there surrounded by all this oriental stuff you hate."
    "You don't say oriental, you say Asian."
    "Either way, you hate it. You stand there looking at all tha t lacquered stuff, Buddhas and dragons, and you light a joint."
    He watched her raise her eyebrows.
    "The joint is to take the edge off, calm you down. But no w you look at the match in your hand. It goes out and you ligh t another match and look at the flame."
    She was nodding again, staying with him.
    "All that smoke, and remembering what you saw on the news, you're convinced sooner or later your house will catc h fire."
    "I was, I was sure of it."
    "You're about to lose part of your life, and there's nothin g you can do but stand back and watch. Five years up i n smoke."
    Robin waited.
    "What you do then is part acceptance and part a farewel l gesture to the years you spent here with Sid."
    "Yeah . . . ?"
    "You light the Wall Street Journal. "
    He watched her nodding her head, thoughtful now. Sh e looked up at him and said, "You're not putting that in you r report, are you?"
    Canavan shook his head. "I have no evidence to prove it, o r disprove what you said. The house was burning when you go t here."
    "What about the lady fire warden?"
    "Mrs. Montaigne? She must've been mistaken."
    Robin paused and said, "How do I pay you the hundre d thousand?"
    "You don't," Canavan said, getting up from the sofa. "I wa s playing with you, that's all. Seeing what I could score if I di d that sort of thing. You should hear some of the offers I get, I c ome across a fraud situation and I can prove it. Some bozo i n a neck brace looking for a million bucks, says he'll split i t with me."
    "You turn them in?"
    "If they're pros, like the ones that stage car accidents an d people are injured. Or if they get ugly about it. Otherwise I t ell 'em, forget the claim and don't try it again."
    "You're not turning me in?"
    "I told you, I believe your story."
    "So what should I do?"
    "If I were you?" Canavan said. "I'd keep after the insuranc e company. Make 'em pay." He turned to leave, saying, "It wa s nice talking to you, Robin."
    And saw her raccoon eyes staring at him.
    "You can't stay a while, Joe?"
    If he didn't stay, he could always come back.
    *
    *
    HANGING OUT AT THE BUENA VISTA.
    They lived in a retirement village of cottage s set among palm trees and bougainvillea , maids driving golf carts. The woman, Natalie , wore silk scarves to cover what was left of he r hair, a lavender scarf the afternoon Vincent appeared at her door. He told her through the screen