He throws the picture over the edge. He peers over the lip of the drop and sees it caught in the top of a pine tree about a hundred feet down. Let it rot there, he thinks, and goes back to the house. Alice has put their little bits of luggage in the Mitsubishi. There’s no reason not to drive it east. It’s a good vehicle, it can’t be tracked, and Reggie won’t miss it.
‘Where did you go?’ Alice asks.
‘Just for a walk. Wanted to stretch my legs.’
They are sitting in the rockers on the porch when Bucky comes back. ‘I saw a friend and bought you a little going-away present,’ he says, and hands Alice a pistol. ‘Sig Sauer P320 Subcompact. Ten in the mag plus one in the pipe. Small enough to carry in your purse. It’s loaded, so be careful how you grab it if you have to take it out.’
Alice looks at it, fascinated. ‘I’ve never fired a gun before.’
‘It’s simple enough, just point and shoot. Unless you’re standing close, you’ll probably miss your target anyway, but you might scare someone off.’ He looks at Billy. ‘If you have a problem with her carrying, speak up.’
Billy shakes his head.
‘One thing, Alice. If you need to use it, use it. Promise me.’
Alice promises.
‘Okay, now give me a hug.’
She hugs him and starts to cry. Billy thinks that’s good, actually. She’s feeling her feelings, as they say in the self-help groups.
It’s a long, strong hug. Bucky lets loose after thirty seconds or so and turns to Billy. ‘Now you.’
Little as he cares for man-hugs, he does it. For years Bucky has just been a business associate, but over the last month or so he’s become a friend. He gave them shelter when they needed it, and he’s on board with what lies ahead. More important than those things, he’s been good to Alice.
Billy gets behind the wheel of the Mitsubishi. Bucky walks around to the passenger side, looking very Colorado in his jeans and flannel shirt. He makes a cranking gesture and Alice powers down the window. Bucky leans in and kisses her on the temple. ‘I want to see you again. Make sure I do.’
‘I will,’ Alice says. She’s crying again. ‘I sure will.’
‘Okay.’ Bucky straightens and stands back. ‘Now go get that son of a bitch.’
10
Billy stops at the Walmart Supercenter in Longmont, getting as close to the building as possible to improve the WiFi connection. Using his personal laptop, which is VPN-equipped, he sends the pictures of Alice to Giorgio and asks him to post them on to Klerke ASAP.
Tell him the girl’s name is Rosalie. She has a window. It opens three days from now and will close four days after that. Price is negotiable but floor is $8,000 for one hour. Tell him Rosalie is ‘prime stuff.’ Tell him to check with Judy Blatner if he doubts that. If you want, tell him that you will make the arrangements free of charge to compensate for the unavoidable complications on the Allen job. Tell him the delivery rep will be Darren Byrne’s cousin, Steven Byrne. Let me know as soon as you hear.
He signs it B.
They stay that night at a Holiday Inn Express in Lincoln, Nebraska. Billy is bringing in their luggage on a courtesy trolley when his phone dings with a text. He observes, with zero nostalgia, that it’s from his old literary agent.
‘Giorgio?’ Alice asks.
‘Yes.’
‘What does it say?’
Billy hands her his phone.
GRusso: He wants her. November 4, 8 PM 775 Montauk Highway. Text me thumbs up or down.
‘Are you sure you want to do this? Your call, Alice.’
She finds and sends it.
CHAPTER 23
We left Lincoln early and drove east on 1-80. For the first hour or so we didn’t talk much. Alice had my lappie open and was reading everything I’d written in the summerhouse. On the outskirts of Council Bluffs a car blipped past us with a clown and a ballerina looking at us from the back seat. The clown waved. I waved back.
‘Alice!’ I said. ‘Do you know what today is?’
‘Thursday?’ She didn’t look up from the screen. It made me think of Derek Ackerman and his friend Danny Fazio back on Evergreen Street, hypnotized by whatever they were looking at on their phones.
‘Not just any Thursday. It’s Halloween.’
‘Okay.’ Still not looking up.
‘What did you go as? Your favorite, I mean.’
‘Mmm … once I was Princess Leia.’ Still not looking up from what she was reading. ‘My sister took me around the neighborhood.’