"He did did."
"No. No, he didn"t, girl. He did the best he could, but there"s more than two sides to cover. Tell me, that tiny little writing, would you recognize it?"
"You mean, would I know it was from Albie? Of course I would. And if you look close, you"d see it was torn right out of his book. And his tallit tallit-you know how old that must be? How many places it must have been?"
"All I know is, you have to give it up."
"Give it up?"
"All of it."
"Sugar, you"re scaring me."
"You never got mail at that house, right?"
"Of course not. There was a box in-"
"And, like you said, the bills got paid by themselves, from this computer thing."
"So?"
"So how"s anyone gonna know Albie"s dead? It"s not like it would be a news story or anything. Maybe they had some signal you don"t know about, but-"
"Who"s "they"?"
"The men who visited Albie."
"Oh. Well, if they did, I can"t see what it could be. I mean, we had no phone, just the cell. I"ve got Albie"s cell. It hasn"t rung once since he-"
"Okay, when these men would show up, did Albie ever tell you they were coming?"
"He...no. No, he never did. I don"t think he knew himself. We"d just be, I don"t know, sitting in the living room, having tea, and they"d just...be there. The first time it happened, I thought they were robbers or something-I was so scared they"d hurt Albie." there. The first time it happened, I thought they were robbers or something-I was so scared they"d hurt Albie."
"Good. That means we got a shot. Solly knows Albie"s gone, but he wouldn"t pa.s.s that info along until he was sure he was covered. That"s what he was using me for, see?
"The window"s wide open, Lynda. But it could drop closed any minute. If it drops before we get all that stuff back inside, it"ll be like one of those guillotine things, chop off our heads like this this," I told her, snapping my fingers.
"You want to leave Albie"s things back there? Albie left them to me!" me!"
"What he left you was protection protection. Only, you"re not using it."
"What are you saying?"
"I"m saying, Albie, he didn"t leave you f.u.c.king keepsakes keepsakes, okay? What he left you was tools. And you"ve gotta use use them, not hang on to them." them, not hang on to them."
"I"m not giving up my-"
"You don"t have to, Lynda. Just give me Albie"s blue book. I"ll drive you back to your condo, and then I"ll go back to where I came from."
"Sugar..."
"I came down here for two things. I was supposed to check out this Jessop and get that little book. I have to tell Solly I got all that done if I want to get close to him again."
"What"s that got to do with anything? You can have have the little book, all right?" the little book, all right?"
"If that"s the way you want it."
"What I want want is what you said. We were going back to New York just long enough for you to show Solly you got the job done. That"s "we," as in is what you said. We were going back to New York just long enough for you to show Solly you got the job done. That"s "we," as in both both of us. Why can"t we still do that?" of us. Why can"t we still do that?"
"Because I have to get back into that house, Lynda. I have to leave Albie"s stuff right where we found it. That"s the only way those men who come to see him will ever understand what happened."
"You"re losing me, Sugar."
I probably am, I thought. But what I said was, "You already said it. Those hard men, they"re going to come, sooner or later. They won"t find Albie. Or you. What could they do then except except call Solly? call Solly?
"First thing out of his mouth, he"s gonna tell them about that partners desk. If we don"t get that stuff back where Albie had it stashed, they"ll find an empty s.p.a.ce."
"But if-"
"You"re wasting time, Lynda. And we don"t have much. You know what Solly"s gonna say was supposed to be in that desk? Come on. What What?"
"Albie"s book," she said. She bit her lower lip to stop herself from crying.
"Yeah. And when they find that slot empty, they"ll naturally think you you cleaned it out and took off. They cleaned it out and took off. They want want that book, girl. People like them, you think they won"t be able to find you just because you got some nice new ID?" that book, girl. People like them, you think they won"t be able to find you just because you got some nice new ID?"
She was quiet for a second. When she opened her mouth, I could see a drop of blood on her lower lip. She must have bit down real hard.
"What if they"re already there, Sugar? At the house. Waiting."
"You said they always come at night, right? We"ve still got plenty of daylight left."
"Not that that much. And what if-?" much. And what if-?"
"If they"re waiting, then I"m the one they grab. But so what? I"ll have what Albie left you. I"ll tell them you paid me to sneak in and put it back.
"Whether they"ll buy it, who knows? But they"ll know I I didn"t write that note. The way I"ve got it worked out, no way you come into it. Ever." didn"t write that note. The way I"ve got it worked out, no way you come into it. Ever."
"It"d never work."
"It"d work perfect perfect. They"d pound on me, just to make sure they got all the juice out of the orange. When I"ve taken enough to convince them, I"ll tell them the whole truth."
"The...what?"
"The truth. Solly sent me. To get Albie"s book. And I did that. They"ll see that for themselves. Solly told me to get that book no matter what what I had to do. I had to do.
"Get it? Me, I had to hurt you pretty bad to make you talk. Solly was on the phone all the time I was doing it-he could hear everything. When you finally told me where to find Albie"s book, Solly told me, make sure I don"t leave anything behind.
"So I killed you. Then I ran out and mailed Albie"s book to Solly. Only reason I went back in was to wipe the place down, make sure there wasn"t anything there that could trace back to me. That"s why I had the prayer bag on me. Only, Albie"s note, it"s going to be inside inside the bag, get it?" the bag, get it?"
"That is is where it was." where it was."
"It doesn"t matter. They"re never going to think a thug like me would open that bag. I"m just a guy Solly hired. Hired to get the book book, see? That"s why I"d have to let them work on me for a while, because telling them who paid me, that"d be like ratting him out."
"Why would you care? About Solly, I mean."
"I don"t. But you don"t rat. That"s the rules."
"The what?"
"Never mind. It"s too...complicated to explain now. But those men, they"d they"d understand." understand."
"They"d kill you, Sugar."
"They might. But they wouldn"t have have to. There"s no reason for them not to believe my story. How else would I know about Solly? Or Albie? Or the book?" to. There"s no reason for them not to believe my story. How else would I know about Solly? Or Albie? Or the book?"
"They"d still-"
"Maybe not. Maybe they wouldn"t want to make a mess, I don"t know. But that"s all downside. If I can get in there and leave Albie"s stuff without being caught, now that"s that"s a message they"d get for sure." a message they"d get for sure."
"Which is ...?"
"You found the note. And found the note. And you you left it for them. They"d know Albie"s handwriting. They"d think you did what the note said to do. Albie made sure they"d know there"s no reason to hunt you now-they"d already have everything there was to get. Why be mad at you? You played it square all the way. You didn"t left it for them. They"d know Albie"s handwriting. They"d think you did what the note said to do. Albie made sure they"d know there"s no reason to hunt you now-they"d already have everything there was to get. Why be mad at you? You played it square all the way. You didn"t have have to leave anything for them, but you did." to leave anything for them, but you did."
"I don"t like-"
"It"s not for you to say."
"Why? Because you"re the man."
"Because you"ve got all your...feelings in this, and I don"t. Right or wrong, those men, they"d know Albie wouldn"t just leave his prayer stuff behind."
"Of course he wouldn"t! I...oh!"
"So, if I don"t put it back, and if they can"t find it, they"ll know you you have it. They wouldn"t care about that-what they"d want is that little blue book. With Solly telling them his story, they"d go right for that partners desk. They find it empty, they have to find have it. They wouldn"t care about that-what they"d want is that little blue book. With Solly telling them his story, they"d go right for that partners desk. They find it empty, they have to find you you, understand?"
She lit another smoke. I hadn"t even noticed her finishing the first one.
"Which means they"d be looking for you, too."
"If that"s what you believe, if you think I"m going back in there to cover myself, don"t say another word. I"ll go back and tell Solly I had to take you out, too. That"ll make him feel safe, back in control. Albie"s gone, and he"s holding both books. He never knows about the note. So, soon as he has Albie"s book, he contacts those hard men himself.
"He can tell them any story he wants. Long as he"s got both little blue books, he"s golden. He"d have to admit he sent me down for the book, sure. But that just proves you"re in the ground, so you"ll you"ll never be talking, see?" never be talking, see?"
"I hate you."
I felt like smacking her. "You f.u.c.king must must, you think I"d be going back in that d.a.m.n house to cover my own a.s.s, b.i.t.c.h."
"Sugar, can"t you see what I"m really really afraid of? Believe me, if those men got their hands on you, all those big muscles wouldn"t mean a thing." afraid of? Believe me, if those men got their hands on you, all those big muscles wouldn"t mean a thing."
"Only one way to find out."
"Sure. And if you guess wrong..."
"No. I mean, find out if you want to be with me, Lynda. "Cause if you do, you got nothing to say about anything I ever ever do to keep you safe." do to keep you safe."
"That"s why you killed Jessop? You thought he might-"
"No. I killed him for me, Lynda. Not for you."
"For you? You didn"t even know him."
"I know what he did. And I know who he did it to."
"You mean, selling me to Albie? That was the best thing anyone ever-"
"And Jessop, he f.u.c.king knew knew that, huh?" that, huh?"
She was either going to have another smoke or start crying, I thought. But she just turned and looked at me.
"I was glad you did it, Sugar."
"We can"t keep sitting here, girl. There isn"t much daylight left."
I knew Lynda had cut all the alarms off before we left the last time, so I just jammed the pry bar under the window as deep as I could, then I jacked it up, slow and strong, like I had with the arm-wrestler. The locks popped and the window went up.
I went in without the gun. If the men Lynda was afraid of were already there, no gun was going to help me. But if cops ended up in the picture, a gun would cook me.
I get pinched, I"d say the owner hired me to break in because there was valuable stuff inside and he wanted to run an insurance scam. It would be pretty lame, since I"d be describing a guy I never met-Lynda didn"t know what what name was on the deed to the place. Better than nothing. Not much better, but...something, anyway. name was on the deed to the place. Better than nothing. Not much better, but...something, anyway.
I didn"t prowl. If they were already waiting, I wanted to make sure they could hear me.
The place was empty. Or, if it wasn"t, I couldn"t tell.
Were they already there? Waiting to see what I"d do before they did whatever they they wanted to do? wanted to do?
So many rooms in that house. So many places they could be.
I could feel it getting darker, like the sun was dropping inside the house.
The rule is that you never work scared-if the job"s too risky for you, pa.s.s.
I tried, but I couldn"t seal my mind off from those hard men.
I knew exactly where I was going, so I moved fast. That"d fit my story, too.