Characters in Billy Summers

He remembers now that Nick gave her a wad of cash for Alan, the chef who lit up their Baked Alaska, but none for her. Because she was on the payroll. She was, in fact, family. Pretty funny.

Albie Stark from our squad came over to me, flapping his headdress and singing that song about how you don’t step on Superman’s cape. Then he saw the l-c and saluted. ‘Go someplace and look busy,’ Jamieson told him. ‘And please in the name of Jesus don’t sing anymore.’

He removes the SIM card and puts the phone back in the pocket it came from for the time being. He opens the wallet. The first thing he finds is her driver’s license. Her name is Alice Maxwell and she’s from Kingston, Rhode Island. She’s twenty years old.

You follow?’ Taco said he did. I just shrugged again. ‘That someone was a shemagh-wearing weasel named Ammar Jassim. In his sixties or seventies, nobody knows for sure, probably including him.

Justice will be done. You can count on that.’ The reporter in the red dress – Andrea Braddock – steps back. George Wilson centers his camera on the opening door of the SUV. Out comes Joel Allen, like a movie star popping out of his trailer.

That’s how he sounds, but you know lawyers.’ ‘Cagey,’ Billy says. ‘That’s right, cagey. Still, Annette was what you call a savin soul, and Bev’s her only kid.’ ‘Ah.’ ‘We’re apt to be there awhile is why I’m callin.

‘If I’d gotten all of the railroads instead of going to jail—’ Shan’s friend Becky blows a raspberry at him and they all laugh some more.

They go up the walk, through the open front door, down the stairs. ‘Come on up once you’re a little bit settled,’ Beverly Jensen says. ‘I’ll put on the coffee pot. And I can give you a doughnut, if you don’t mind day-old.’ ‘I never say no to a doughnut.

… The picture switches to Bill in the studio. He’s looking suitably grave. ‘Andrea, we want to run your original story again, for people who may have just joined the broadcast. It’s really extraordinary.’

And now he even remembers the name. It was Bob Raines. He remembers thinking when he heard that man use his fists on Ma, Bob is raining. Bob is raining on Ma. He remembers her smiling after and saying He didn’t mean it. And It was my fault.

‘He assumed I shaved it off, so it’s okay. At least I think so. I’m willing to push my luck one more day. Did you give him a name?’ ‘Brenda Collins. My best friend in high school. Did you—’ ‘Give him a different one? No, just called you my niece.

His go-to guy in New York, Bucky Hanson, has created some of these references; Bucky is the only person Billy trusts completely. Others Billy created himself.

Catherine Ann Summers, just nine on the day she died. Blonde. Small. My sister Cassie was at the table we ate off, coloring in her book.

Billy writes about how Clay Briggs, the corpsman they called Pillroller, kept up a lively and pornographic correspondence with five girls back in Sioux City. Tac said he couldn’t understand how such an ugly guy got so much pussy.

The ensemble is finished off with a porkpie hat. From beneath it, lush black hair spills to his shoulders. Jim laughs. ‘That’s Colin White. Quite the fashion plate, ain’t he? Gay as hell and cheerful as a Sunday afternoon in Paris. Most of the BSers stick to their own.

A boy and a girl, one white and one black. He guesses the girl must belong to Jamal and Corinne Ackerman. ‘Are you our new neighbor?’ the boy asks. ‘I am,’ Billy says, and thinks he’ll have to get used to being one. It might even be fun.

Dana Edison is different. He’s a redhead with a tight little manbun in back to make up for what he’s lost in front – his forehead looks more like a runway. Frankie Elvis, Paulie, and Reggie are muscular boys.

It might even be fun. ‘I’m Dave Lockridge. Who are you?’ ‘Danny Fazio. This is my bud Shanice. I’m nine. She’s eight.’ Billy shakes hands with Danny, then with the girl, who looks at him shyly as her brown hand disappears into his white one. ‘Nice to meet you both.

He’s changed the names a little – Cassie instead of Cathy, and his mother’s name was Darlene, not Arlene – but mostly it’s true. The child’s voice is true. That voice never had a chance to speak, not even at the hearing.

‘Good. Judy’s man in New York is Darren Byrne. Klerke’s done business with him before so obviously you can’t be him, but you could be his brother. Or cousin.’ ‘Yes. I could.’ Although he supposes he’ll need something pimp-appropriate. ‘Will Klerke expect her to spend the night?’ ‘God, no.

He is stunned to discover that Paul and Denise Ragland voted for Hillary Clinton and can’t stand Trump, who they call ‘President Crybaby.’ Proving once more, Billy supposes as he walks home, that you can’t judge a man by his wifebeater.

Derek asks, although without much hope. ‘I do,’ Billy says, then leans across the table, pinning Derek Ackerman with his eyes. ‘But I have to warn you that I’m good. And I play to win.’ ‘So do I!’ Derek is smiling below a milk mustache. ‘So do I!’ Shanice says.

‘With Patrick dead, when Klerke steps down – given his health it won’t be long – Devin will take over.’ He pulls into a service area, because the Mitsubishi needs gas and because his throat is dry and he wants a cold drink.

Billy learns that Jamal is the foreman at Excellent Tire, and Corrie is – small world – a steno at the courthouse. He learns that Diane Fazio keeps an eye on Shanice during summer vacation while Jamal and Corrie are at work.

He flipped it open and a tiny sunstar winked off the top. I saw that. I saw everything. Master Gunny Sergeant Diego Vasquez at Pendleton used to say that a Marine sniper lives for a perfect shot. This one was perfect. He also said, ‘It’s like sex, my little virgins.

‘I didn’t cool anybody that I didn’t have to.’ A long pause with just the sound of breathing. Then Nick says, ‘I know.’ ‘What’s up with Frank?’ ‘In the hospital. His mother called my pet medic. Doc Rivers sent a private ambulance. She went with him.’ ‘That’s a hard woman.’

Don Jensen works for a landscaping company called Growing Concern. He’s totally down with that other Don, the one who sits in much grander digs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Donnie Wigmore said I hope the food is better up there and Mr Speck told him keep your smart remarks to yourself if you don’t want me to slat you one.

There was also a man standing off to the side. Our terp, Fareed, said he was the mutawaeen. The women watched the children, Fareed said, and the mutawaeen watched the women to make sure they did nothing that might incite lust.

Hoff was at least close. He said his name was Foss. He didn’t offer to shake hands, just sat back down on the tires, which was sure to dirty up the seat of his pants.

He’s been with Nick a long time. His name is Frank Macintosh. Because of the pomp, some of Nick’s men call him Frankie Elvis, or – now that he has a tiny bald spot in back – Solar Elvis. But not to his face. Billy doesn’t know the other one.

MALKIN. I asked him what F.W.S. stood for because I thought it was some kind of special job. He said it stood for his name, which was Franklin Winfield Scott Malkin but he said you can call me Frank, Benjy.

The Specks were the Stepeneks, Ronnie Givens was Robin Maguire, Glen Dutton was Gadsden Drake. Gadsden after the Gadsden Purchase, Billy figured. He had read a book while still in the Marines, Slavery, Scandal, and Steel Rails, which had covered the purchase of that arid chunk of land from Mexico.

Rudy Bell, of course everybody called him Taco, was usually second. He never beat me, but sometimes he came close. George Dinnerstein was usually last and had to hit it and give Sergeant ‘Up Yours’ Uppington twenty-five, with Up’s foot on George’s ass the whole time. But George could shoot.

We do have eyes on the scene, though, and I want to show you something that George Wilson, my incredibly brave cameraman, spotted just a few minutes ago. George, can you show that again?’ George raises the camera, centers it on Gerard Tower, then zeroes in on the fifth floor.

‘She wanted me to stay in Kingston and go to hairdressing school, like my sister. Gerry makes good money, she said I could, too.’ ‘Why did you want to go to business school here? I don’t get that.’

… to my agent, and George Russo is actually Giorgio Piglielli, aka Georgie Pigs, a known associate of Nikolai Majarian. You’re the link and you know it, which is why we’re having this conversation. You still think you can probably skate after the deal goes down. You have a right to …

Billy goes into the kitchen and grabs a paring knife. When he comes back, none of them have moved. Billy tells Hank Flanagan to hold out his hands. Hank does, and Billy cuts the zip-tie holding him. ‘Mister?’ Hank says, sounding timid. ‘You lost your wig.’ He’s right.

Jim Albright, John Colton, and Harry Stone – The Young Lawyers, like characters in a TV show or a Grisham novel – wave him over and ask him to sit with them, but Billy says he wants to eat at his desk and do a little more work.

He doesn’t have to write about the boy – Haggerty or Haverty, Billy can’t remember which – who had a heart attack running and was taken away to the base infirmary, and Sergeant Uppington said he was …

I’m not going to call Hector on Sunday afternoon and ask him why he sends a deafmute out to deliver a piddling load of shit, he’s probably watching the fucking game, …

In the billfold he finds two tens, two ones, and a newspaper clipping. It’s the obituary of one Henry Maxwell, services at Christ Baptist Church in Kingston, in lieu of flowers send contributions to the American Cancer Society. The picture shows a man in mid to late middle age.

The security guy on duty this morning – and most weekdays – is Irv Dean. He’ll want your driver’s license and a quick snap. That okay?’ Because it has to be if they’re going to proceed, Billy nods. A few workbound people are still crossing the lobby to the elevators.

‘That’s a gun, so don’t make me ask you again. What’s your name?’ ‘Jack!’ he almost screams. ‘Jack Martinez! Please don’t shoot me, please!’ ‘Let’s go in the living room, Jack.’ Billy pushes Jack ahead of him. ‘Sit in the wicker seat. Can you see it?’ ‘A little,’ Jack weeps.

‘Brought you a cold one to welcome you to the neighborhood. Jamal Ackerman.’ He’s got both beers in one big hand and holds out the other. Billy shakes. ‘David Lockridge. Dave. And thanks.’ He twists the hose shut. ‘Come on inside. Or we can sit out on the steps.

Prosecutors plan to charge him with first-degree murder in the slaying of James Houghton, 43, and assault with intent to kill in the near-fatal shooting of ...’ Billy doesn’t bother with the rest, but he sets his phone to receive news alerts from the paper.

Billy enjoys himself, partly because he doesn’t have to work at projecting the dumb self, partly because he likes these people, even Jane Kellogg, who is pretty tight and has to keep visiting the bathroom. Which she calls the biffy.

That one, his name was Jared Klein, I got hold of his pants and yank them down so everyone saw his pee-stained underwear. He got teased about that plenty which served him right. Another thing that stands out is when Peggy Pye had to go to the hospital with pneumonia.

3 Billy gets a burger dragged through the garden and sits on one of the plaza benches with Lawyer Jim, whose actual name is Jim Albright. ‘Try one of these,’ he says, holding out a fat onion ring. ‘Fucking delicious.’ It is.

Once it was when Jimmy Dykeman broke a storm window throwing stones and once when he caught Sara Peabody dancing around Peggy and singing Peggy Pye, Peggy Pye, cross my heart and hope to die, Peggy Pye with just one eye. Mr Speck slap her face for that.

Months later he lost most of his face and all of his eyesight to a roadside bomb. Jamieson motioned over Joe Kleczewski. He was another member of our squad, which we called the Hot Nine. Most of the ‘utility workers’ were. They volunteered for the job.

The alleged perpetrator was discovered to be in possession of multiple IDs and credit cards. According to the Times, his real name is Joel Randolph Allen. He beat a rape charge in Massachusetts in 2012. So Joe was pretty close, Billy thinks.

His cousin Joey reached out to him, a guy who’d kept the Italian family name of Cappizano, although he was of course called Joey Capps.

He’s there in time to get a burrito from the Mexican wagon. He eats it with Jim Albright and John Colton, the lawyers from five. He sees Colin White, the dandy who works for Business Solutions. Today he’s looking mighty cute in a sailor suit. ‘That guy,’ Jim says, laughing.

He spends one morning writing about how Johnny Capps more or less adopted a bunch of Iraqi kids who came to beg candy and cigarettes and stayed to play baseball. Johnny and Pablo ‘Bigfoot’ Lopez taught them the game.

He says it with no discomfort that Billy can detect. ‘Judy Blatner? Nick says she doesn’t touch jailbait.’ ‘She doesn’t. Nothing under eighteen. And that used to be good enough for Klerke. Then he wanted younger. He’d call. Say he wanted dumplings. That was the code word.’ Dumplings, Billy thinks.

Giorgio said the target this time was an independent porno filmmaker named Karl Trilby. He showed Billy a picture of a man who looked eerily like Oral Roberts. ‘Trilby like the hat,’ Giorgio said, then explained when Billy pretended not to know what he was talking about.

He goes down to the kitchen. The Toyota keys are on the table beside an engraved card that says KENNETH HOFF and ENTREPRENEUR. Entrepreneur, Billy thinks. There’s a word for you.

Why they go back and forth like that Billy doesn’t know. It’s a mystery. ‘Larry Thompson is on the scene, or as close to it as he can get, because Court Street is still blocked off. Larry?’ ‘That’s right, Nora,’ Larry says, as if confirming he’s really Larry.

According to Chief of Police Lauren Conlee, these weren’t high explosive devices but rather flash-bangs of the sort used at fireworks shows and by some rock and roll bands.’ Magazine model anchor picks it up. Why they go back and forth like that Billy doesn’t know. It’s a mystery.

The next day Lieutenant Colonel Jamieson showed up while our squad was getting ready to go on patrol. He ordered me and Taco down from the back of the Hummer we were in and told us to come with him, because there was a man who wanted to see us.

… ‘Tell Dean, tell the other security guy – Logan, yeah? – and tell Broder.’ To Billy he says, ‘Steven Broder. The building super.’

Not so much now. As he climbs into the cab, Marge Macintosh starts pounding on the gate and shouting. ‘Hey! Hey! It’s Summers! It’s Summers in the truck!’ Billy can’t believe anyone could hear her even if the Dodge’s muffler was intact, but he’s amazed by her vitality.

… Then, Nick, from the foot of the stairs: ‘Maria! Where are those dogs?’ When there’s no answer: ‘Maria! Hurry up!’ Someone says, ‘I’ll go see.’ Billy isn’t sure, but it sounds like Frank. Footsteps thumping up the stairs. Someone comes out …

He gestures with the Glock at the accountant guy, who has already raised his hands. ‘What’s your name?’ ‘M-Mark. Mark Abromowitz.’ ‘Get down on the floor, Mark. You too, Reggie. On your stomachs. Arms and legs spread. Like you’re making snow angels.’ They don’t argue.

Merton Richter’s office is a hole-in-the-wall two-roomer between a tanning salon and the Jolly Roger Tattoo Parlor. Parked in front is a blue SUV, pretty old, with a stick-on sign on one side (RICHTER REAL ESTATE) and a long scratch on the other.

That one’s name was Milton and he was okay. I wish he stayed but he left. He didn’t want the responsibility of two kids, mom said. Like it was our fault. Like we ask to be born.

He’s just an employee, after all. What they’d call a hired gun in the old Western movies Mr Stepenek used to like.

I was there 5 years by the time I was old enough to sign for the Marines and sometimes Mrs Speck would slat me side of the head with a towel or dishrag, but she never hit me with her hand and she never hit one of the little kids …

My mother told me to call Mrs Tillitson next door and said to the cop it’s because right now our phone isn’t working. Which meant the bill wasn’t paid again.

… Piglielli, aka Georgie Pigs, a known associate of Nikolai Majarian. You’re the link and you know it, which is why we’re having this conversation. You still think you can probably skate after the deal goes down. You have a right to think that, I guess, because skating is what you …

Larry?’ ‘That’s right, Nora,’ Larry says, as if confirming he’s really Larry.

Billy hardly expected instant compliance. He takes the Ruger from his belt. He remembers Pablo Lopez, one of the squad’s Funhouse casualties. Bigfoot Lopez had that Dirty Harry speech down pat, the one that ends with Harry saying You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?

‘Correct.’ ‘They said it was a gang thing and Patrick Klerke got mistaken for somebody else.’ ‘It was no gang thing and no mistake. Klerke’s apartment was in a building with all sorts of security. A gangbanger never could have gotten past the gate guard, let alone into the building.

… car eventually if he stays here, but right now he doesn’t know his way around and he’s happy to let Paul Logan drive him from the hotel to where Nick is ‘house-sitting.’ It’s the McMansion Billy was expecting yesterday, a cobbled-together horror-show …

He learns that the Dugans, who moved out of the yellow house very suddenly last October (skedaddled is how Paul Ragland puts it), were ‘snooty,’ and Dave Lockridge is, consequently, a good change. After the shot, they’ll tell reporters that he seemed like such a nice man.

… never hit one of the little kids like Peggy Pye who was six and had her eye put out by a cigarette. When she slat me side of the head I deserved it. I only saw Mr Speck slat kids a couple of times. Once it was when Jimmy Dykeman …

… in Harps with his little shopping basket over his arm and coming face to face with Paul Ragland or Pete Fazio. They might not recognize him, but a woman would. Never mind what Alice said about him looking different with his wig and fake belly, Phil …

‘You. Pipsqueak. Get over here. What’s your name?’ ‘Sir, I am Pfc Peter Cashman, and I—’ ‘Don’t salute, you dimwit, not in an op zone. Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?’

He turns and sees Phyllis Stanhope, the woman from the accounting firm. ‘I’m sorry,’ she says, taking a step back. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you.’ Has she seen something in that unguarded moment? A flash of who he really is? Is that what the backward step was about? Maybe.

Nick has returned to Vegas, but Giorgio is in residence at the McMansion, and he brought the two new guys – Reggie and Dana are their names – with him.

‘Pretty good, actually.’ ‘I think so, too. We might take a ride all the way to Boulder, better selections there. Stop at Ricky Patterson’s used car lot on the backswing. See what he’s got. Maybe have lunch at Handy Andy’s.’ ‘What if they’re looking for you, too?’

Kissing in that ruined Mercedes with Robin Maguire, aka Ronnie Givens, had only been a truce. Most of the rest was fighting. Tonight, with summer past and autumn on the come, he lies awake, troubled. Not by the gun in the golf bag.

Client’s name first.’ ‘Roger Klerke.’ At first Billy thinks he’s saying Clerk, like the guy who takes your money in a convenience store, but then Nick spells it. The name has a slightly familiar ring, but it’s not one he associates with Nick’s world. Or Bucky Hanson’s, for that matter.

I liked that and was good at it. When Sergeant Uppington had us do what he called ‘an arms race,’ I always came in first. Rudy Bell, of course everybody called him Taco, was usually second. He never beat me, but sometimes he came close.

‘You shot me!’ Sal says, staggering back a step. His eyes are wide. Billy doesn’t want to shoot the guy again because the second one will be a lot noisier, and he doesn’t have to. Sal folds up, knees on the ground and head lowered. He looks like he’s praying.

Once it was when Jimmy Dykeman broke a storm window throwing stones and once when he caught Sara Peabody dancing around Peggy and singing Peggy Pye, Peggy Pye, cross my heart and hope to die, Peggy Pye with just one eye. Mr Speck slap her face for that.

Later on, when I was in Fallujah, this one time I saw Sargent West shoot an RPG into an insurgent safe house in the part of town we called the Pizza Slice, and it blew sky-high because of all the ammo …

Or when I retire. Is that it? Will it be too heavy if he tries writing about the bus ride and the jarhead haircut and the first time Sergeant Uppington asked him Do you want to suck my cock, Summers? Do you? Because you look like a cocksucker to me.

At the bottom she has signed her name: Shanice Anya Ackerman. At the top, in capital letters: FOR DAVE! The picture is of a smiling little girl with dark brown skin and bright red ribbons decorating her cornrows.

The reason Sheriff Vickery was initially cut out of the investigation isn’t because he skedaddled when his prisoner was shot, leaving only his ridiculous Stetson …

‘Tell Dean, tell the other security guy – Logan, yeah? – and tell Broder.’ To Billy he says, ‘Steven Broder. The building super.’ Billy nods and files the name away.

The youngest was Peggy Pye, who still wet her britches sometimes. There were twins, Timmy and Tommy, who were 6 or 7. The oldest kid was Glen Dutton, he was 17 and went in the army not too long after I came.

The youngest was Peggy Pye, who still wet her britches sometimes. There were twins, Timmy and Tommy, who were 6 or 7. The oldest kid was Glen Dutton, he was 17 and went in the army not too long after I came.

He looks up as Billy goes to the card reader to record his entry, just like a good boy should. ‘Hey, Tommy,’ Billy says, heading for the elevators. ‘What’re you doing here so early, Dave? God isn’t even up.’

… Gerard Tower, and that was where she met Tripp Donovan. He struck up casual conversations with her over a week or two. He made her laugh. He was charming. So of course when he invited her out for a bite after work one day, she said yes. A movie date …

Anyway we went in and I talked to Staff Sergeant Walton Fleck. He asked me why I wanted to be a Marine and I said to serve my country, although the real reason was to get out of Speck House and out of Tennessee and start a life that didn’t …

The clerk, Wanda Stubbs, was alone in the store at the time. She was taken to Rockland Memorial, where she was treated for a head wound and released.

William Petersen. You know, like the CSI guy?’ Billy has heard of the show but never watched it. ‘Is Petersen a bodyguard as well as an assistant?’

‘You were in the other room. I could have whispered that you were William Summers, who killed that man at the courthouse. We would have been upstairs and in his car before you finished putting on that.’

Johnny and Pablo ‘Bigfoot’ Lopez taught them the game. One kid, Zamir, maybe nine or ten, used to chant – ‘He was safe, mothafuckah!’