B009QTK5QA EBOK (13 page)

“What about Marc?”

“Tall guy? Dark hair, that helper guy?”

Sounded close enough, so I nodded.

“Yeah, she’d been hanging out with him,” she said, the fire crackling and popping next to her. “I guess he was her boyfriend or something, but I’m not sure. I know she was hiding the heroin from him, though.”

“How?”

“Careful about her tracks,” she said, shrugging. “Not doing it when he was around. Like I said. She’s new out here. She still looks new.”

I wondered if Marc really hadn’t known about her drug habit but didn’t say anything.

“He told her he could get the money,” Amanda continued. “And he did.” She nodded at Stevie and Boyd. “From Gino. He gave it to Jessica to pay off Laser. But she didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I dunno,” she said. “Probably went in her arm or nose.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“So he said he’d get more and cover her and get her out of here or something like that,” she said, scratching at her jaw. “I don’t know. So he went to go get it from wherever. He comes back and she’s gone.”

“Comes back to where?” I asked. “Where were they staying?”

“About four blocks from here,” she said. “House like this.”

I nodded at Stevie and he handed her two more twenties. She gave one to Mary and they disappeared again.

“Pretty sure Laser took her,” she said, glancing at Mary. Mary nodded. “That’s his thing.”

“His thing?”

“Girls don’t pay, he comes for them,” Amanda said, squinting. “They go to work for him. Dealing, hooking, whatever.”

“What’s he do with the guys?”

“He doesn’t deal to guys,” she said. “Only girls.”

Laser sounded like a real champ.

“He’s one of those guys who pretends to be tougher than he is,” she said, frowning. “Mouths off, pretends to be a bad-ass, but only around people he can handle. Like junkie girls.”

“Where do I find Laser?” I asked.

Amanda started to say something, then looked at Mary.

Mary cleared her throat, kept her eyes on the floor. “Old office building near the grocery store, maybe half a mile from here.” She looked at Stevie. “You know?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“There’s a guy there,” Mary said. “Nate. He’s like Laser’s bodyguard. You have to get past him.”

I nodded. “That’s fine.”

“But there’s a bunch of rooms there,” Mary said, her eyes staring into the fire. “Used to be offices and he turned them into rooms. If he has her, she’s probably there. He can lock the rooms from the outside.”

“Would Marc know this place?”

Mary shrugged, but Stevie nodded. “Probably. People don’t know what goes on in there, but they know the building. He probably knows it.”

Which meant there was a good chance he might be there, too.

“How do you know all this, Mary?” I asked.

The fire popped and hissed. Her eyes stared into the middle of it. “I’ve been there.”

We all sat there in silence, the fire the only noise in the room.

I finally turned to Stevie. “You can get us to this place?”

He nodded.

“How much do you have there?” I asked, motioning at the cash.

He counted the bills. “Two forty.”

I nodded and tilted my head toward the girls. Stevie held it out to Amanda. She hesitated, then reached for it. She stared at it for a long moment, then looked at me.

“You’re giving all this to us?” she asked.

“Yeah. Thanks for telling us what you know.”

She glanced at the money. “This is a lot of money.”

I pushed myself off the frozen floor. “Not really. I wish it was more. But it’s yours.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch. You helped us and we promised we’d pay for the info. That’s it.”

Amanda glanced at Mary. Mary was still staring into the fire. She looked back to me.

“No catch? At all?”

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat. “Stevie. Tell them there’s no catch.”

Stevie stood and so did Boyd. Stevie shrugged. “No catch. He’s for real. He says it’s yours, it’s yours.”

Amanda stared at me for a long moment, then counted out the money and handed half of it to Mary. They shoved it into the same pockets as the other money we’d given them.

“Thank you,” she said.

I nodded. Either of them could’ve been Elizabeth. Alone. Cold. Suspicious of everyone they came into contact with. Hoping to make it to the next day. I hated seeing her face in theirs.

“You’re welcome,” I said. “You hear anything else, let Stevie know. He knows how to find me.”

Both girls nodded and we headed for the door, the cold floor permeating the soles of my shoes. I pushed open the front door and flecks of snow pelted my cheeks.

We stepped down off the porch, the snow billowing around my feet as we hit the walk. I motioned for the two of them to get into my car and we hurried into it, shutting the doors against the cold. I shoved the key in the ignition and cranked the heat all the way up. We sat in silence, waiting for it to warm.

“You trust them?” I finally asked when my fingers started to thaw inside my gloves.

Stevie nodded, his hands pressed to the vent. “Yeah.”

I glanced in the rearview mirror at Boyd. “You?”

He seemed surprised that I was asking him, but he nodded. “Yeah. They’re cool.”

“So, what are we looking at if we go to this Laser’s place?” I asked.

Stevie grimaced. “Nothing good.”

“How so?”

“They’ll be gunned up,” he said. “Him and Nate. Not sure Laser would know how to shoot a gun but Nate does. For sure. And there are probably other guys running interference at the front of the building. Just hired help, but still. We can’t just walk in.”

That presented a problem. I didn’t carry a gun and I wasn’t looking for a firefight.

“Can I say something?” Boyd asked from the backseat.

I glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Yep.”

“She can get us in.”

“She?”

Boyd nodded. “Isabel. They won’t mess with her and they’ll let us in.”

I looked at Stevie.

“He’s right,” he said. “People know her. Even Laser. At the very least, she can probably get us in to see him without the bullshit.”

The snow gathered on the windshield, wet snow that slapped against the glass. The sky was heavy with more and there was no sign of it letting up.

“Okay,” I said, pulling the phone out of my pocket. “I’ll call her.”

THIRTY-ONE

“Why the hell are we here?” Isabel asked, gloved hands on her hips, oblivious to the dropping temperature.

We were on the corner across the street from Laser’s place. I’d called her and told her to meet us there. Now the four of us were standing there, looking at the building, trying not to freeze.

Or, more accurately, I was trying not to freeze. Isabel seemed to be completely comfortable standing there in the wind and snow.

“We think Marc’s girlfriend is in there,” I said and then told her what we’d learned from Amanda and Mary.

The building was a low-slung, brick rectangle. The windows were dimly lit and two glass doors at the front were illuminated by a single bulb. I could see a guy huddled right inside the front door.

“She’s hooked up with Laser?” Isabel asked when I finished.

“That’s what they told us.”

“Crap,” she said. “Okay. So what are we doing here?”

“Going in,” I said.

“And I’m here because?”

“Because we figured you’d get us in a little easier than if we just barged in.”

I expected some resistance, some sort of false modesty. But to her credit, there was nothing like that.

“I’ve dealt with him before,” she said. “He’s a piece of work. But yeah, I’m sure I can get us in. But then what?”

“Let’s get in first and worry about that later,” I said.

We crossed the street, our feet making fresh tracks in the wet snow. The body I’d seen behind the glass doors stood from his huddled position and stared at us as we approached.

Isabel tapped on the door and waved at the guy, a skinny kid in his teens wearing a yellow knit cap, a black ski jacket and jeans that looked two sizes too big for him.

He came over and cracked the door. “Yeah?”

“Marty, we need to see Laser,” Isabel said.

He scanned all of our faces. “He know you’re coming?”

“No,” she said. “But we’re here and we’re freezing so we’re coming in.”

She eased the door open and Marty stood back, unsure what to do. We followed her into the small lobby, which wasn’t much warmer than outside. I stomped my feet against the ground, shaking the snow off of them.

“You need to call him or something?” she asked. “Or should we just go back?”

Indecision ran through his expression. I didn’t think he’d ever encountered anyone just walking into the building and saying they wanted to see Laser.

“We’re going back, Marty,” Isabel said, starting to walk.

We followed her and Marty stayed behind, not leaving his post. I wondered if there would be any consequences for him.

Isabel led us down a shadowed hallway and around a corner. There were people in sleeping bags in several open-doored rooms, passed out and huddled together for warmth. The building wasn’t as cold as the outdoors, but the fact that I could see my breath as we walked told me the heat wasn’t on, either.

We came to another set of locked off doors. There was an intercom and buzzer next to the door. Isabel stuck her finger on the buzzer.

“Yeah?” A voice asked through it.

“It’s Isabel,” she said. “I need to see Laser.”

“He ain’t seein’ anyone.”

“I need to see Laser. Tell him I’m here,” she said.

Thirty seconds later the door lock clicked and it opened. A tall, lanky guy in a gray hooded sweatshirt and black nylon sweatpants stood in the doorway.

“What do you want?” he asked Isabel, then looked quickly at Boyd and Stevie before letting his eyes settle on me.

“I need to talk to him,” Isabel said. “Won’t take long.”

“He’s asleep,” the guy said, still staring at me.

“Wake him up then,” she said. “And you can tell him I told you to. But I’m talking to him.”

The guy frowned, stuck his hands in the front pocket of the hoodie. “Wait here,” he finally said and closed the doors.

I looked at Stevie and Boyd. “Either of you carrying?”

Stevie shook his head and Boyd’s face colored.

“Okay,” I told Boyd. “You’re our only cover. When we get to him, whatever kind of room we’re in, make sure you move away from the three of us. If things go wrong, we don’t want to be a cluster target. But do not bring it out unless it’s absolutely necessary. Clear?”

Boyd nodded, relieved I wasn’t angry. “Got it.”

“And the guy that answered the door?” I said to him, then looking at the other two. “He had something on his left hip. Assume everyone from here on in is armed. Doesn’t mean we’ll see anything, but be cautious and be prepared.”

Stevie did his usual shrug, while Boyd nodded.

Isabel looked tense.

“You’re doing fine,” I told her. “You’re being pushy. That’s good.”

“Good until someone gets shot,” she muttered.

The door lock unlatched from the other side and the guy in the sweatshirt was back. “Okay, he says come in.”

The four of us stepped through the door. The hallway here was better lit and as we walked, I counted twelve doors, six on either side of the hall, all of them closed. We turned a corner at the end of the hall and the doors at the end of this last hall were open. It would’ve been the boss’s office if it was still an office building.

Instead, it was Laser’s home.

Indirect lighting in the corners gave the entire room a shadowy feel. A bed was pushed over into one corner, a large desk on the other. A flat screen was attached to the back wall in front of a couple of leather recliners. Two space heaters sat on opposite walls, heat emanating from them.

A small guy in his twenties with thick glasses and short brown hair was in one of the recliners, his feet propped up, a Diet Coke in one of his hands.

Another guy sat on the edge of the desk. About the same age, but heavier, a baseball cap on backwards above large eyes and a flat nose. He had on a long sleeve Vikings T-shirt and shiny white sweatpants.

“A little late for you, Isabel,” the guy in the chair said. “I’m kinda irritated.”

“Looks like you were awake, Laser,” she said. “So, I don’t feel too bad.”

Laser chuckled, then did a slow take on the rest of us. “Stevie. Boyd. I know you two. But I’m not familiar with your friend.”

I didn’t say anything.