The Hard Bounce - страница 58

So we sat, windows open, listening to the city lullaby of distant traffic.

My eyes flicked from window to window on the apartment buildings, hoping. But creeping doubt began to poke its finger in my brain. Nothing said Snake lived where the video was shot. For all we knew, it was a rented space where he shot the videos, only returning when he had a new girl lured in. He might only use the space every few weeks… or months.

I kept convincing myself that this wasn’t the case, that the apartment in the video had that bachelor lived-in look. A pair of full ashtrays. More than one meal’s worth of pizza boxes.

Besides, it was all we had.

Junior loudly munched on a chunk of green pepper that curled up over his lip, almost sticking in his nose. He mumbled something unintelligible through the mouthful of food.

“Swallow first, you goddamn savage,” I said, never taking my attention off the empty street, the empty windows, the empty everything.

A little clearer, he said, “I bet you say that to all the boys.” He finished swallowing and took a breathy slurp from the coffee. “I said, I talked to Underdog.”

“Me, too.”

“I talked to him after you did.”

I didn’t answer him.

“He called me after he left you at the aquarium.”

“Yeah. Forgot to tell you. He’s out. He doesn’t have our backs on this.”

“That surprise you?”

“Not really. Probably should have kept my goddamn mouth shut. I don’t think he’ll turn us in if this thing goes completely to shit, though.”

“Yeah. He didn’t give me that impression either. He wasn’t making threats, but he was worried.”

“About what?”

“He was worried we were about to do something royally fucked up. Something that might screw us over. In a forever kind of way.”

My heart started to sink. I didn’t answer. I didn’t like where the discussion seemed to be heading.

Junior took another big bite of his grinder, chewed, and sucked down more coffee before he went on. “I kinda agree with him.”

Brutal silence hung in the air between us. I was burning up inside. Junior and I had never backed away from each other. Ever. On anything. The feelings of betrayal slammed me right in the heart.

“You want out? Then go,” I said softly, bitterness edging my words. “I’ll step out of the car right now, and you can be on your merry fucking way.”

“What?” His voice was tinged with hurt. “Fuck you, Boo. I’m not backing off nothing. I got just as much at stake here as you do.” He shook his head slowly in disbelief. “Don’t even talk to me that way, you fuck.”

“What are you trying to say, Junior? Spit it out.”

He angrily chucked the rest of his sandwich out the window. “This ain’t our fight no more, Boo. The girl? She’s dead. We got hired to find her. We didn’t. We found out what happened to her, but it’s not the same thing. Technically? We’re done. We’re not getting paid for this, and it’s not our fucking responsibility anymore to pull this midnight-avenger shit.”

“So that’s what this is about now? The paycheck? Fuck what he did to that kid, long as we get paid?”

“Don’t be a fucking prick. Open your eyes. What if this thing goes all fubar and we get busted? Is it worth it to spend the rest of our lives in a fucking cage over this? Over a girl we never even knew?”

I opened my mouth to say something. Anything to interrupt him. But nothing came out. The man was making a point-and a righteous one at that, goddamn him.

Junior said, “Well, is it? I’ve been there, Boo. So have you. We spent most of our lives locked in, and there weren’t even bars on The Home. This guy just isn’t fucking worth it.” Junior motioned vaguely toward the opposite side of the street.

“Maybe he isn’t to you.” Despite the sound logic in Junior’s argument, Snake-whoever he was-mattered to me. I wanted him out of the world I had to live in. I couldn’t explain it to Junior in that moment, but damn it, it mattered. My hands started shaking in anger at Junior’s sudden turnaround.

“All right. Fine. I’m not saying we don’t jack this boy up six ways to Sunday and twice on Monday. I’m not saying we don’t find him and beat his ass like a piñata until he tells us what he did with the kid and we get it on tape.” He paused. “But we leave him, Boo. We leave the fucker alive. We drop the dime on his now-crippled ass with the video and his confession. All on tape. Then we let the real cops handle this. This just isn’t our game anymore. This is bigger than we thought it was going to be, kid.”