IT’S HARD TO GO ABOUT OUR BUSINESS AFTER that. Hamlin leaves to meet the lawyers at the police station and everyone tries to settle back into work, but there’s a heaviness about the room. Cherry drags a cigarette out of her purse, lets the smoke cloud around her face to hide the fact that she’s crying.
Raheem storms out in a huff of anxiety and I know better than to follow him. Let him breathe at his own pace. If he needs me, which he will never admit, he always knows where to find me. I’m grateful he wasn’t caught today, but thinking that makes me feel guilty, especially because of Rocco. He acts like my big brother, too, in all those sweet, annoying, protective ways, and I love him a little bit for it. I hope he had his newspaper clipping with him, WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE ARRESTED. I hope he has it memorized, too, in case they take it away.
“Come on, Maxie.” Sam nudges me. He’s waiting to fill another tube with quarters and here my mind is floating.
“Okay, sorry.” I get back to work. But as I do I catch sight of Sam’s leather jacket, which reminds me of my own new jacket, which makes me remember that I’ve seen something recently, something that made me curious. Something that would have made me think Be vigilant if I had known to think that at the time.
“No, wait,” I tell Sam, sliding out from behind the desk. “Leroy,” I call. “I have to tell you something. It might be important.”
“Okay, Maxie. Come in back with me.” He holds up his hands, showing me the ink he’s got on them from changing the typewriter ribbon. I follow him to the kitchen sink.
“I saw something suspicious the other day. A white man sitting in a parked car, watching the clinic.” I describe the man I saw. “He looked like a cop. Do you think he was watching us?”
“Maybe,” Leroy says thoughtfully. “That’s the kind of thing I’m starting to wonder about. Thanks for telling me.”
I nod, glad to feel useful in the wake of feeling helpless over Slim and Rocco’s situation.
“Actually, Maxie,” Leroy says. “This is a good job for you. Keep your eyes out when you’re around the neighborhood, okay? You can be my eyes on the street. No one’s going to see a threat when they look at you. You might notice something that the rest of us would miss.”