I slumped low in the car. The man exhaled through his nose. There was something dangerous about the way he held himself, in his big hands, in the two violent streams of smoke. He looked left, looked right, looked at me. And then he headed my way.

I slumped lower. My knees hit the dashboard. He kept coming.

I was trying to slink all the way beneath the seat when he knocked on the roof of my car.

I looked up through the window.

He smiled. “Hi,” he said.

I waved back, sat up straight, opened the door so we could talk.

“Is there a problem?” he said.

“No, no problem. Just sitting here, in front of the store, waiting for a friend.”

“The store’s closed,” he said.

“Then it might be a while.”

“I’ve been watching out my window,” he said, still smiling. “You been here for over an hour.”

“Has it been that long?”

He pulled the door farther open. “Why don’t you step on out for a moment.”

“I’m fine.”

“There are kids in this neighborhood, mister,” he said. “We don’t need perverts hanging around.”

“I’m not a pervert.”

“Then why’s your leg shaking like that?”

“I have to pee.”

He looked in the car, saw the blue paper coffee cup sitting in the cup holder. “You should have gotten the small.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Just get on out,” he said, and I did. I gave him a close look as I stood before him, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. He was still smiling, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. He had big teeth. The name stitched on his shirt was RANDY, the store name on the other breast was WILSON PLUMBING SUPPLY.

“We got a quiet neighborhood here,” he said. “Lots of families, children. We look out for one another. We don’t like strangers with shaky legs hanging around. Give me your license so I can tell the police your name if I see you around here again.”

“My name’s Victor Carl,” I said.

His smile faltered for just a second, just long enough for me to know he recognized it.

“That’s right,” I said. “I’m Daniel’s attorney. And who I was waiting for, actually, Randy, was you. Do you have a moment?”

He leaned forward and then smiled again. “No,” he said. “I have to get to work.”

“You want a lift?”

“I’ll take the bus.”

“No, really. It won’t be a problem. I’m very impressed with you acting to protect the neighborhood. It gives me more confidence about Daniel’s situation.”

He turned his head, looked at me sideways. “I’m just doing my part.”

“You sound like you know how to handle yourself. Do you have a law-enforcement background?”

“I’ve had some experience.” Pause. “I was in the army.”

“It shows. Let me give you a lift.”

He thought about it for a moment, glanced up at the window of his apartment, made his calculations. “Sure.”

I stepped away from the open door and gestured him inside. “We’ll stop for coffee. You know a place near here?”

“A couple.”

“Good, but let’s find one with a pot.”

“You don’t need to be worrying about Daniel,” said Randy Fleer – that was his full name, I learned – as I drove him to the warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia where he worked. “I’ll take care of him. Julia, sure, she’s a bit, well, yeah, right. I understand why the judge might have had concerns with just her around. But I’ll take care of Daniel now on in. He’s a good little guy, just needed a man in his life. And here I am, so he don’t really need you no more.”

“That’s good to know, Randy,” I said. “But I’m a little curious as to why you told Julia she should keep your name out of our discussions.”

“She tell you I told her that?”

“It was pretty clear, the way she was acting. And she said you weren’t together anymore.”

“But you didn’t believe her.”

“No.”

“Only woman I ever met who couldn’t lie worth beans. Listen, I work. I got this job at Wilson’s, and sometimes I help out a buddy who does contracting work. Drywall and stuff. I don’t have time to sit all day waiting for some judge to tell me how I should be dealing with that boy. And even with all I’m working, I can’t afford health care for us now. That’s how come Julia and me, we aren’t married yet. She’s still on the state health-care program for herself and Daniel. I heard if they knew I was living with them, they’d kick them off.”

“Are you living with them?”

“Off and on.”

“Do you have a place of your own?”

“Not right now. It doesn’t make sense, what with the money for rent they charge, even in that dump Julia’s living in now, over the bar. But I have plans for us, for the three of us. As soon as I pay off some debt and get ahead of the game, I want to buy us a house. There’s a nice neighborhood in Mayfair where some buddies from work live. I know what Daniel needs. I want us to be a family, I do. He deserves that. A boy deserves the right kind of family.”

“There are things Julia has to do for Daniel,” I said. “The judge has ordered her to attend certain classes, to show up at the hearings, and to take him to the doctor. And she has to do something about his teeth.”

“They’re a mess, aren’t they? She spoils him. Her idea of raising a kid is to give him a taffy and leave him in front of the television. And at night he sleeps with a bottle in his mouth.”

“Is that good for him?”

“It keeps him calm.”

“Can you make sure she takes him to the dentist?”

“I don’t know if the program she’s on covers tooth stuff. It’s just his baby teeth anyways.”

“If I find you a dentist who will look at him without charging, will you make sure she takes him?”

“Sure, of course. Yeah. And I’ll make sure of the other stuff, too. I’ve always wanted to have a son, someone to throw the football with, to watch the games with. Daniel’s my chance, and I mean to do it right. You should see him run. Like the wind. He could be something. He’s a good kid. I’ll take charge of him.”

“Okay.”

“How long you going to be around?” he said.

“As long as the judge thinks I’m needed.”

“Why don’t you tell him that everything’s okay now?”

“First, it’s a her.”

“Figures.”

“Second, as long as there is some concern about Daniel’s situation, I think she’ll want me involved. I want to make sure his health is seen to, his teeth, and that his mother does all she can to take care of him.”

“I told you, I’d take care of him.”

“Were you ever in jail, Randy?”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I was just wondering. The homemade tattoo on the back of your hand sort of gives it away.”

“I was in for a check thing. Just a short stint. And then I was hanging with the wrong guys, and we got stupid. I mean, sure, I admit I have a past, I don’t deny it. Except let me tell you, they say it’s the army supposed to make a man out of you, but for me it was the joint. I want to make up for what I lost. Whatever I was, whatever I done, now I want to do the right thing by that boy. And Julia. I want us to be together, maybe have another one of our own. We’re going to be a family.”

“That would really be the best thing for him,” I said.

“I know it.”

“But I thought there were four of you,” I said. “Doesn’t Julia have a daughter?”

“Did she tell you that?”

“No.”

“Then who did?”

“Does she or not?”

“No.”

I kept driving. Sometimes, as a lawyer, you have to put your finger in someone’s face and call him a liar, and sometimes you just have to be quiet and let the silence talk.

“I want us to be a family Daniel can be proud of,” he said finally.

“I don’t know what that means.”

“You don’t have to. It ain’t your family. You won’t be living in Mayfair. You married?”

“No.”

“Got any kids?”

“No.”

“How was your family life growing up?”

“Crap.”

“So what the hell are you talking about? You don’t know nothing.”