Free Bandits (1987) by Elmore Leonard Page A

going to tell, and saw Lucy ready to smile, he was pretty sure. It encouraged him, made it all right to show off a little, slip into a role with her that was comfortable, natural; the feeling he could tell her anything he wanted.
    We get to New Orleans, Roy says he has some business to tend to and wants me to come along. We take a cab over to the projects, you know, off Rampart? We go up to a door, Roy bangs on it with his fist. . . . I forgot to mention, Roy Hicks was a New Orleans cop at one time, but that ' s another story.
    What was he doing in prison?
    That ' s what I mean it ' s another story; but a good one. We ' re in the projects, this black guy opens the door I think I recognize. He doesn ' t invite us in, but he knows us and we go in, and I see three more black guys sitting there. The place, I find out later, is a dope house. I ' m thinking, what am I doing here, as Roy says to the black guy that runs it, ' yShake hands, dude. ' But the guy doesn ' t want to. By then I realize I know the guy; he was at Angola and got his release about six months before us. He ran a still while he was inside, made home brew out of fruit cocktail, rice, raisins, whatever he could find. It was terrible stuff. He ' d sell it and give Roy a cut, something like half, ' cause Roy had given him permission to make it. He saw Lucy frown and said, Roy ran the dormitory we were in, Big Stripe, medium security. He didn ' t know what else to tell her. It ' s the way it is, part of the convict social structure. . . . Anyway, Roy goes, ' yShake hands, dude. ' Says it a couple more times and finally the guy sticks his hand out. Roy grabs it, gets an armlock on him, pulls a gun out of the guy ' s pants, a P.38, with the three guys sitting there watching. Roy tells the guy he ' s got in the armlock he left owing Roy money, and with accumulated interest the amount was now two thousand dollars. The guy told Roy he was crazy, couldn ' t he see they were outside now? That kind a deal was over with. Roy goes, ' yIt ain ' t over till I say it is. Pay up, dude, ' never raising his voice or threatening the guy, and the guy finally gave him the money.
    Lucy was staring at him. Amazing.
    You understand, the guy might ' ve owed him a few bucks, but this was a shakedown. Or with the gun you could even say it was a thinly disguised stickup. We get in the cab I ask Roy if he ' s flipped out. He goes, ' yIt ' s like you fall off a bike you have to get right back on it again. ' I said to him, ' yYeah, we took a fall, but I don ' t see ripping off a dope house the same as getting back into what we were doing. ' Meaning neither of us, strictly speaking, had ever been into armed robbery. Roy goes, ' yWhat difference is it what statute you break, B and E or going in with a gun? You think you ' re ever gonna live like a civilian? ' I told him I had every intention of trying. He goes, ' yWell, here ' s a start. ' Counts out half the money, a thousand bucks, and hands it to me.
    She said it again. Amazing.
    I was thinking, that kind of scene is enough to curl your hair, if you don ' t want to pay to get a perm.
    Lucy ' s eyes raised. It looks fairly straight now.
    Yeah, well, that ' s from working in a funeral home, seeing unexpected sights that get it to stand on end.
    What ' s your friend Roy doing?
    He ' s a bartender. Works in the Quarter.
    She took his glass and poured another vodka before looking up at him again. Let ' s sit down. I want to tell you something.
    When my dad put up his new office building in Lafayette, he told me this at dinner, it was going to cost just over three million dollars. But they ' d have to remove a live oak that was about a hundred and fifty years old. So my dad had the plans changed. He built his office at right angles, sort of around the tree, and it cost him another half million. . . . What do you think that says about him?
    It was quiet in the room. Jack could feel the vodka, a good feeling in soft lamplight. He liked the fit of the