Peter Spiegelman - Thick as Thieves

Carr nods. “Which is what he did. Boyce squeezed, and Prager rolled over.”

“So things worked out fer him after all-that’s grand.”

“Don’t kid yourself-Boyce is out of pocket one hundred million plus some hefty expenses. He wants his money back. And I want mine.”

Declan’s laugh is full of irony. “Ah, young Carr, is that what all this is about to you-nothing more than money?”

Carr pushes his mug across the table. His face is hot. “I could ask you the same. Was this just about money to you? Was it worth the fucking body count?”

“Don’t moralize, lad. I’m a thief-same as them. Same as you.”

“I didn’t slaughter the men I worked with.”

Declan stands quickly and runs a hand through his hair. “You think that’s what I set out to do?”

“I think you have an amazing ability to rationalize just about anything. That firefight at Bertolli’s place, being out there in the dark, blasting away, making it up as you go-I think you love shit like that. It’s right up your alley. I think the only thing you love more than money and yourself is risk-and fuck the collateral damage. If there are bodies in the street, it’s their own damn fault for getting in the way.”

“They knew the downside of this work, same as you. They knew what could happen.”

“Bessemer didn’t know it. Amy Chun didn’t know it.”

“Bessemer was never going to make it, and Chun was questionable.”

Carr’s jaw aches from clenching. “And what about our own guys? Did they know that their biggest risk was the man they were working for? For chrissakes, they trusted you!”

“Trust? You naive ass-you think they wouldn’t have sold you out? You thought they’d ratted me to Bertolli. You thought they were going to do the same to you-and they might’ve, lad, given half a chance. Look what they did in Mendoza: ran off when the shooting started-with a chunk of my money, mind-and then lied to you about it. They’re professional liars! You’re telling me you trust men like that?”

Carr shakes his head in disbelief. “You don’t seriously believe that, do you?”

“You should thank me for opening your eyes. They were thieves and killers, not my feckin’ kids. You were on borrowed time with them, same as me-only I had borrowed more.”

“So that makes it okay, then? We were going to fuck you eventually, unless you fucked us first?”

Declan waves a hand, as if he’s shooing a fly. “This is a young man’s game, and I was too long at it. It was just a matter of time, and that bastard Boyce wasn’t going to let me retire. He won’t let you go either, you’ll see.”

Carr pushes away from the table and looks out the window. Light is swelling in the sky now, and the ocean is yellow and scored with whitecaps. He looks at Declan-a grizzled old man in rumpled pajamas, with a gun in his hand. He reaches once more for those feelings, but it’s just empty pockets.

“I can’t even follow your bullshit anymore, Deke. It’s too convoluted, or I’m too tired. It’s all just noise.”

Declan squints at him and at the Taurus, and slides the gun onto the table. His smile is thin and tired. “Maybe the simple answer’s the best, then. Maybe I did it for her.”

Carr laughs coldly. “You did it for love?”

“You sound shocked.”

“I expect cynicism from you, not delusion.”

Declan’s smile is tired. “Not a believer, lad?”

“In a love that has you killing your own? I don’t call that love.”

“You think it’s all paper hearts and stolen kisses? You’re not that young, Carr. You’ve read a book or two.”

Carr sighs. “I hope she’s worth it.”

Declan laughs bitterly. “Too soon to tell, lad,” he whispers.

Then the bedroom door opens, and Tina walks through. She’s wearing fatigue pants, a black T-shirt, a black plastic holster under her left arm, and another on her right hip. Her platinum hair-longer now-is tied in a tight braid. She slams a clip into a Glock as she crosses the living room, and slides the gun into her shoulder holster.

She shakes her head in disgust. “If I have to listen to much more of this, I won’t wait for Boyce to shoot me. I’ll do it myself.”

There is heat in Carr’s face again, and a rushing sound in his ears, and the feelings that eluded him with Declan come surging back now. He looks at the Taurus on the table, and has to make a fist to stop himself from reaching for it.

“Long time, Tina,” he says.

She purses her lips. “Not long enough, if you know what I mean,” she says, and looks at Declan. “You pat him down?”

“Jaysus, girl, he’s not come here to throw down. If that’s what he wanted, he’d have done it already.”

“That’s your view. Pat him down.”

Declan rolls his eyes and puts up his hands in mock despair. “Indulge her, lad,” he says. Carr stares at Tina for a moment, and then he stands and puts his palms on the table and spreads his legs. Declan is quick and thorough, and there’s only the slightest hesitation when his fingers find the mic taped between Carr’s shoulders. He smiles at Carr and looks at Tina. “Like a baby,” he says.

Tina goes to the kitchen window and looks up the hill. Then she turns to Carr. “Great. Now if you two are through catching up, we can-”

“Not quite through,” Carr says softly.

“What, more questions? Let me guess-Valerie?”

“I want to know what happened to her.”

Declan coughs nervously. “Come on, lad, you-”

Tina cuts him off. “He knows what happened to her. He knows.”

Carr nods slowly, as his chest tightens. “It was at Chun’s place?”

“She never saw it coming, if that makes you feel better. And it was clean. And fast.”

The floor is shifting beneath him and Tina’s voice is faint. Carr sits down again, carefully. Declan is staring at the floor, and Tina is back at the window. “I shouldn’t have let Chun see it happen, though,” she continues. “That was a mistake. The woman went fucking ape-shit-put up a hell of a fight.”

“Where?” Carr says. His voice is small and choked. “Where is she?”

“Valerie? Burial at sea, due east of the Boca Beach Club, four miles out or so. I don’t know the GPS coordinates or anything.”

The room seems to darken, and Carr’s knees shake. “Christ,” he whispers, and he closes his eyes and there is Valerie in Napa, the candlelight on her arms and neck, her hair coming loose from its braid, her smile. And there she is in Portland, the dying orange light on her face, her hands cold under his shirt. Maybe that’s what we’ll do afterward, you and me. We’ll conduct a little research to find some happy couples. We’ll be like archaeologists. And there is her amber voice, close in his ear, intimate. Afterward. And there is the weight of her, above him, the heat of her body washing over him. Carr’s chest aches, and his bones are lead.

“Regret’s a bitch,” Tina says from somewhere far off. “You spent all that time wondering about her, but she wasn’t lying to you. You ask me, I think she liked you. She put up with your whining, which was more than I-”

“Stop talking,” Carr says. He is surprised to find himself on his feet, his chair overturned. He wants the Taurus, but Declan has a hand over it and is shaking his head.

Tina looks at Carr. “At last, something we agree on: enough fucking talk. How many men out there?”

“Too many,” Carr says.

“I count seven,” Tina says. “Am I right?”

Declan chuckles. “You planning on a war, love?”

“I’m not planning to go anyplace with Boyce.”

“Darlin’, I think they’ve got us fair and square.”

Tina crosses her white arms on her chest. “The hell they do. We’ve got Carr. If they want him back in one piece, they’ll let us walk.”