But when I came through a small group of trees, I saw Levi sitting by himself on the rock next to the biting ants. I slowed but he saw me, too, and he waved.
“I think I have some Hernán in me,” I said as I approached further. “I was tracking you because I was worried.”
“I watched you track me,” he told me, and held up his own phone. “I saw you go to the coffee shop and then make your way here.”
“Do you mind?”
In answer, he patted the rock. “The ants are gone. I already checked.”
I tried, very hard, not to start demanding information, because I knew how Grant…but Levi wasn’t anything like Grant. “What happened with August?” I asked him.
“He’s gone.”
“Oh,” I breathed. “What—did you find him? Levi, I’m so sorry.”
“No, it’s not that. He’s alive, but he left town.”
“Oh,” I repeated, and now it was in relief. “Where did he go? For how long?”
“Forever,” Levi answered. “I don’t know where.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He asked me to come say goodbye because he’s turning over evidence to the government. There was a hell of a lot more going on in his club than some backroom gambling. He was involved in the organized crime that’s under investigation, and he saw the way things were going to go. He would have ended up in prison, probably for decades.”
“So he’s becoming a stool pigeon?” I asked.
“In non-movie terminology, August is cooperating and made a deal. Yes, part of it will be testifying against them, and word is already getting out that he’s talking,” Levi said. “He’s entering the Witness Security Program and by now, he’s on a plane.”
“Oh,” I said again. This wasn’t a death, but if August stayed in that program, then he was gone forever. Levi had just lost his best friend. “I’m really sorry. Really, really sorry.” I hugged him, too, which ended up with me on his lap, his face pressed against my hair. We stayed that way for a long time in the soft sunshine with the happy yells from the kids in the background.
“I have napkins in my bag,” I said finally. Following Ava’s example, I had started to carry them with me.
“That’s ok.” He used his shirt to wipe his eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
I nodded, because I couldn’t, either.
“But the longer I’ve been thinking about it, the more I’m glad,” he continued. “I don’t want him to be gone, but I didn’t know how he was going to get out of the trouble he was in. I was sure he would be killed, either on the street or once he was in prison, and now he has the chance to start fresh. I told him he better make the most of it. I said I don’t want to see him or hear from him, not ever again, because he has to start a new life and leave the old one behind. Not too many people get a do-over like this, and not too many people get the opportunity to fix the messes that they helped to create.”
Now I used my own shirt to carefully wipe his cheeks. “What did he answer?”
“He just kept telling me that he’s sorry and he never deserved to have a friend like me, which I said was bullshit. Then he asked me to look out for his mom. He gave me the house.”
“What? You mean, you’re taking care of the house he bought for her until she reappears?”
“No,” Levi said, shaking his head. “He had asked the marshals to look for her, and they found her. She’s not interested in cleaning up. He isn’t sure if she ever will be, but if she needs help in the future, I promised to be there for her.”
“And then you’ll hand over the house you’ve been taking care of,” I concluded, nodding.
“No, August gave me the house, just me. It’s all legal and I own it now. It’s mine.”
My mind went immediately to tax liabilities. In this time of extreme emotions, it might not have been the best idea to bring that up, but I had a responsibility as his bookkeeper. I broached it carefully. “Uh, you might want to check in with the IRS…”
“August is working with the government,” he reminded me. “They’re giving him a totally new identity, creating another person from nothing, and sending him off reborn. So they can fix taxes, too.”
I wasn’t totally easy with that, but I nodded. “Ok.”
“I’d rather have my friend than a house.”
