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to pick me up.”
    â€œWhere?” Leeza asked.
    â€œThe courthouse,” she replied, her voice hard as ice chips. “That was the Crown attorney on the phone. The judge is sentencing the boy who put you here. I want to see his face when she throws the book at him.”

Chapter 7
    The courtroom was packed. As soon as they’d arrived, Karl Barker had hurried directly into the courthouse, his postman pants making sandpaper sounds as he’d threaded his way inside. Unlike Karl, Reef hadn’t been worried about getting a seat. The one advantage of being the guilty party. He turned now to look at the crowd and saw there was standing room only, most of which was occupied by numerous reporters at the back. The one Bigger had threatened on the steps gave him a hard smile, but Reef ignored him. Sitting on the left a few rows in front of Karl were the man and woman in the newspaper photo. The woman was looking directly at him, as if trying to fry him with laser vision. He looked away, continued scanning the crowd.
    Scar and Bigger waved from seats very near the back, but Jink wasn’t there. And wouldn’t be. Reef had told them so when they’d spoken outside.
    â€œWhy isn’t he here?” Scar had demanded.
    â€œJink’s got his own troubles right now. He don’t need more ‘a mine.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œCops picked him up last night for disturbin’ the peace. Fightin’ at Rowdy’s.”
    â€œThere’s always fights at Rowdy’s,” Bigger had added. “Usually better ‘n the floor shows at that dump.”
    â€œThis time.” Reef said, “the cops got there before it broke up, ‘n’ they nailed Jink for drinkin’ under age. They shut the place down.”
    â€œJesus.” Scar muttered. “How could Jink be so stupid?”
    â€œI know,” agreed Reef. “Rowdy may lose his liquor license. He told Jink he better hope it don’t happen.” Reef knew that losing the income from the run-down joint called “Rowdy’s” would be no hardship for its owner—Jink had said many times that Rowdy didn’t make a helluva lot off the few boozehounds that frequented the place anyway. It was the bar itself that Rowdy needed: it was a front for more than a dozen shady operations that attracted more police attention than almost any other place in the city. Everyone knew the cops had been trying for years to find ways to shut it down, even citing the place for Health Code violations—but a rumor that Rowdy had a friend in the Health Department seemed to have proven true when the violations were suddenly rescinded. Now Jink had handed them a gift that, combined with all the other infractions, could very well be the one to close Rowdy’s for good.
    Bigger had whistled softly under his breath. “I wouldn’t want Rowdy and his goons lookin’ for me.”
    If the situation hadn’t been so grim, Reef would’ve chuckled. “That’s why I told Jink to stay put,” he’d told them. “The cops don’t need to see him connected with this shit. Don’t need another reason to put the screws to him.”
    So Jink would miss the big show. Somewhere there were hearts bleeding purple piss.
    â€œAll rise.”
    Reef turned to see Judge Thomas enter the courtroom, her black robe making her tiny frame seem even smaller. For a bizarre moment she looked a bit like Nan, but then he looked again and the illusion was gone. She was just a short woman with a long coat—and the power to put him away for a few months. But so what? What don’t kill you makes you stronger . And then there was Life Lesson Number Two: Shit happens . Looking at Judge Thomas, Reef was reminded that it’s a whole lot better being the shitter than the shittee. Something else his grandfather used to say.
    Reef ignored the court clerk’s opening crap about the presiding judge