F Wilson - Deep as the Marrow

“Yeah?” Paulie said, smiling through his beard. “How do you know?”

“Got a message from him this morning. Guy’s practically falling all over himself to cooperate.”

“So he bought it, huh?”

Snake spotted a quick look pass between him and Poppy. What was going on here?

“Bought it?” Snake said. “What’s to buy? It’s his kid’s toe.”

“Yeah, I know. But he could’ve thought she was already dead and we just cut her toe off, or something like that. But then, with fresh blood on the toe, I guess he’d have to believe she was still alive.” Snake had never heard Paulie babble like this… and he didn’t like it.

“Something wrong, Paulie?”

“Wrong?” His eyes got a funny, guarded look. “No. Why should anything be wrong.”

“Because you’re not acting like yourself.”

“Maybe because he never had to molest a child before,” Poppy said.

Snake didn’t bother looking at her. “Nobody molested anyone. And who asked you anyway?”

“What do you call chopping off a six-year-old’s toe?” she said. “Not exactly a walk in the park. And we’re damn lucky she didn’t take one of her fits.”

Now he had no choice but to face Poppy, and he was shocked by the naked anger and revulsion in her expression—as if she were looking at something that had just crawled out from under a rock. He fought an urge to step over there and wipe that look off her face.

“Fits?”

“Yeah. The fits she takes those pills for.” Now he got it. “Oh. You mean convulsions.” He let the words drip acid. “You need to work on your vocabulary, honey.”

“And you need to work on your research. How come you didn’t know she took fits?”

Snake had had just about enough of this bitch. He turned to Paulie.

“Tell your girlfriend not to speak unless spoken to.”

“She’s got a right to her opinion.”

“When I want the opinion of someone with purple hair, I’ll ask for it.”

Paulie held up his hands. “All right, all right. The point she’s trying to make is it was pretty goddamn dicey getting that toe. I hope to hell it was worth it.” Snake gave himself a few seconds to cool.

“Yeah. It was worth it. You should have seen her father’s message. Frantic as hell. If it had been on paper it would have been covered with tear stains.” Snake smiled. As he’d read those pleading words he could almost hear Vanduyne’s sobs. Please oh please oh please oh PLEASE don’t hurt her again!

“I guess you’re real proud of yourself,” Poppy said.

She was asking for it… really asking for it…

“C’mon, Poppy,” Paulie said, giving her a hard look.

“Yeah,” Snake continued, ignoring her. “No more arguments from Daddy. He’s ready to do anything we want.”

“And just what is it we want Daddy to do?” Paulie said.

“That’s between me and the other people involved. Better you don’t know.” No way in hell was he telling these two.

“So, where’s the little package?” he said to Paulie.

He jerked his head toward one of the doors leading off the living room.

“In there.”

“Well, I’ll just take a look, and that will complete my inspection tour.”

“She’s sleeping,” Poppy said.

Didn’t this bitch know when to shut up?

“Blindfolded?” he said to Paulie.

“Sure. That’s SOP.”

“Good.” He started toward the door. “Then I’ll just take a peek.” Poppy was up and standing by the door, her worried eyes nicking from Paulie, to the door, to Snake, and around again.

“Don’t. You’ll wake her up. You don’t know what a time we had getting her to sleep.”

“That’s what baby-sitters get paid for.” He breezed past her and opened the door. The light was out so he found the switch and flicked it.

Poppy slipped past him and stood by the foot of the bed—no, hovered was more like it. She looked nervous as a cat, biting her lip, rubbing her hands together. Looking at her you’d have bet half your net worth the package was her own kid.

But Snake had to admit that everything looked okay: The package was blindfolded and tied to the bed frame, just as she should be. She wore a plaid shirt and overalls of some sort, a sneaker on her left foot, and a big gauze bandage on her right.

He nodded and walked out, leaving Poppy behind. Out in the front room, Paulie still didn’t look right. And that worried Snake. He didn’t want these two to get cold feet on him. The game still had a way to go before it was finished.

“Hey,” he said with a smile, “she looks pretty damn good. No worse for wear, as far as I can see. And she’ll never miss that toe.”

“I’m real glad it worked,” Paulie said.“ ‘Cause I don’t know if I could go through that again.”

“What’s the matter with you, Paulie? You going soft?”

“No. I just—”

Snake felt his rage flare. Time to lay down the law to these assholes.

“You just nothing! You’re working for me. I tell you to cut off her fucking hand, you say, ‘Which one?’ Or you’re out of this!” But Paulie was shaking his head. He was looking at the floor, but he was hanging tough.

“All right,” he said. “Then we’re out of it. Find someone else to do your dirty work. But we ain’t cutting up a kid. It ain’t right.”

The words shook Snake. Find someone else? Where the hell would he find another baby-sitter at this stage of the game? This whole gig was going to hell. First he had to take out an insurance policy with Salinas, and then he had to deal with that unpredictable Vanduyne, and now the peasants were threatening revolt. What next?

“You threatening me?”

Paulie shook his head. “No threat. Just telling you the way it is. We’ll play this thing through just like you want it, but no more persuaders.” Snake couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t make him look bad. And since he couldn’t do what he really felt like doing—put a .38-caliber hole in Paulie’s face—he decided to make his exit.

Yeah. Leave them wondering what his next move would be.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said, and headed out the front door.

He fumed on the way across the yard. And to think he’d been feeling guilty about throwing Paulie and Poppy to Salinas’s wolves when this was over. Just went to show how useless an emotion guilt was. Getting rid of these two was a great idea. He’d had it up to here with Paulie and his bitch.

3

As soon as the door closed behind Mac, Poppy threw her arms around Paulie.

“Paulie! You were awesome! The way you stood up to him… totally awesome!” She could feel him shaking but wouldn’t mention it— not for a million dollars.

“Yeah, well, I just didn’t like him talking to you like that. Know what I mean? I mean, enough is enough.” She looked up at his face and realized something was different about him.

He’d started getting quiet last night after taking the blood from Katie.

Poppy had held her while Paulie jabbed the corner of a razor blade into the pad of her little toe. They figured they were going to have to bandage her foot anyway to make it look like she’d had her toe cut off, so why not like get the blood from that spot.

And Katie had been so good about it, a real champ. She’d winced and whimpered, but that was about it. She said she was used to getting stuck because of the regular blood tests she had to get as long as she was taking her medicine.

And after Paulie came back from delivering the persuader, he’d been quieter still, and had continued that way this morning. She’d thought he was still ticked at her for making him go out to that funeral home last night, but now she realized it was something else. Something deeper.