U Is for Undertow

blown in with hard rain and high winds that had downed trees and torn off branches that now littered the area. Walker bent and picked up a stick. He flung it like a boomerang, though it whipped off without returning.
    “I guess we better talk while we can,” Jon said.
    Walker sat on a picnic bench, elbows on his knees, fingers laced together loosely. “I was thinking about it on the way over. This business with Sutton won’t work. I don’t want to be on the hook to him, you know? Waiting around for his next appearance. Fuck that. The whole point in coming clean is we don’t have to sweat this stuff. It’s over and done.”
    “For you. We still have the problem of how I come out of it unscathed.”
    “We already went through this—”
    “I know we did. I was hoping you’d come up with a solution. So far, I haven’t heard one. Get me out of the line of fire. That’s all I ask.”
    “I’m still racking my brain.” Walker looked at his watch. “What time did you tell him? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”
    “I told him half an hour.”
    “Well, where is the little shit? You called me at noon.”
    “That was twenty-five minutes ago. You’re avoiding the subject.”
    “Which is what, how you keep out of the line of fire?”
    “Right. I’d like to hear your thoughts.”
    “Yeah, well, my thoughts are to stay clean and sober. To do that, I gotta get square, and I’m cool with that.”
    “So you said. Have you any concern whatsoever about what this will do to me? I looked it up. The deal is, you make amends unless doing so would injure others. You don’t think I’ll be ‘injured’ if you blow the whistle on me?”
    “I don’t think the admonition applies when there’s a serious crime involved,” Walker said. “I feel bad, Jon. I do. We were good friends, the best. Then this came between us, and I’ve regretted it. We can’t socialize. We can’t acknowledge one another in public. I can’t even talk to you by phone.”
    “That’s more your rule than mine,” Jon said, mildly.
    “Bullshit. That was your dictate from the beginning. I only ever called you twice in the last twenty-one years, and that was in the past few weeks. And you blew me off.”
    “Water under the bridge. I’m asking for protection. You owe me that.”
    “I can’t protect you. With Michael Sutton on his way? Are you nuts? We’ll be at his mercy. The first dollar changes hands and he’ll have us for life. I can’t believe you’d even entertain an offer.”
    “You must have been open to the idea or you wouldn’t be here.”
    “I came because you talked me into it. I don’t want to meet the kid at all and I certainly don’t want to pay him money. Jon, this can all be so simple. If I go to the police we can put an end to it right here. He’ll have nothing on us.”
    “He’s got nothing on us now.”
    “Then why are we sitting up here waiting for him?”
    “We’re not. He’s actually not going to join us. He’s been unavoidably delayed.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I reconsidered and you’re right. Doing business with him is a bad idea. I changed my mind. I’m here asking you if you’ve changed yours.”
    “About turning myself in? That’s nonnegotiable. I wish I could help you, but you’re on your own. Do whatever you want.”
    Jon made a face. “Like fuckin’ what?”
    “Why not take off? Disappear into thin air. Isn’t that what the bad guy did in your last book?”
    “Book before last. And thanks for assigning me the part of ‘the bad guy.’ I’ve already thought about taking off, as a matter of fact. You go all holier-than-thou with this confession of yours, I have no choice. I gotta get out before the shit hits the fan. I’m offering you one more chance . . . just one . . . to do something other than what you’ve proposed.”
    “You want me to keep my mouth shut.”
    “Now you got it. Otherwise, I take control, which is not going to be good for either one of us.”
    Walker shook his head. “Can’t do. Won’t. I’m sorry if that creates a problem for you.”
    “My problem . . . and this is a tough one, Walker . . . it really is . . . I can’t afford the tab. Your purging your conscience is going to cost more than I want to pay. You go to the cops, you know the story you’ll tell? You’ll make me the fall guy. How can you resist? You already said it was my idea, that I was the instigator while you followed orders. What kind of horseshit is that? How does it make me