Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
EDIE
Bender is at the fountain when I get there at one, but he ignores me.
I fish in my pocket for a penny, fingers trembling slightly as they close around the cold, worn metal.
For a moment, I just hold it, rubbing my thumb over Lincoln’s faded profile.
Then I toss it into the water. I don’t wish for him to come back to me or for the ache in my chest to subside.
Instead, I close my eyes and wish for Luka’s scars to fade from wounds to memories.
For him to know happiness, even if I’m not there to see it.
The penny sinks out of sight.
He sidles up, not even looking at me. “You’re late.”
“I came as fast as I could.” His map today was like a maze around random blocks and through a random store.
“What happened at the hotel?”
“It was just a hookup. And he doesn’t want to see me again. We’re finished.”
“Did you do something to turn him off?”
“Excuse me? No. He was just like, this is over. From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t have repeats with anybody, and I saw him three times, so I think I should get a reward. ”
“Anything to report?”
“Not really. We don’t discuss mafia business.”
“So you can’t think of anything of note.”
“Like what?”
“How about the fact that his face looked like a punching bag?”
My heart nearly jumps into my throat. So they’re following him?
“Isn’t fighting, like, an everyday thing for a guy in the mafia?”
“Don’t play stupid. He was attacked. That’s something of note.”
“Sorry.” I frown at the fountain, not loving how mean Bender’s gotten. Or maybe the chummy ally bit was the act.
“Did he say anything about who he fought?”
“He said, ‘You should see the other guys,’ and had a bad concussion. That’s why I stayed.”
“Guys plural? More than one?”
“Yes.”
“Any significant injuries?”
I think about the old scars. But that’s not what Bender’s asking about. “I’m not a nurse, but he was pretty messed up. Cuts, bruises, the whole head injury situation. Acting out of it.”
“Too out of it to fuck you?” Bender says.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard the question.”
“I don’t find such details germane.”
“Listen to the schoolgirl. Germane . Well, I find such details quite germane.”
My heart is pounding. “Why?” I ask, even as I’m wondering why I should care. Is the hill I’m gonna die on?
“I’ll decide what’s important,” he says.
I sniff. “Well... it was a prostitution hookup. That involves sexual activities.”
Bender frowns like he’s unhappy to hear that Luka could be injured and still want to have sex. Does he see himself as being in some kind of pissing contest with Luka in addition to wanting to arrest him?
“What did you discuss?”
“Not much. I’m hardly a confidant. Orton came by in the morning.”
“What did he and Orton talk about?”
“It was hard to hear. I was in the other room.”
Bender regards me suspiciously. “But I bet you heard a little bit, right? Being that you know how important it is to help me out. Anything else about Lazarus? Did he reach out to Aleksio?”
My belly feels queasy. Is this a test?
“Is there a plan? A meet?”
Does he know about the Razvan plan?
Whatever flicks across my face, Bender notices.
He grabs my wrist, coming in closer. “You know how long I’ve been a cop, Edie?”
I try to pull away. “Let me go.”
“Go ahead. Take a guess. How long?”
“Please!” I try to pull away, shocked, but he just tightens his grip. He’s so strong; it’s like he’s crunching my bones.
“The answer is that I’ve been a cop long enough to know when somebody’s lying. You know something about a meeting. Your eyes just told me so.”
“W-what?”
“You think Luka’s gonna be angry if you reveal what you heard? That ain’t nothing compared to what I’ll do to you if you don’t give me what I want.”
My heart races. “I don’t know?—”
The way he’s looking at me, it’s like he knows I know. He twists, sending a jagged bolt of pain up my wrist. “Wrong answer.”
“Ow! Please?—”
“You’re gonna tell me all about whatever’s going down, or I will snap your little wrist, and that’ll be the least of your problems. It will be the least of Mary’s problems, too. ”
My mind swims with pain and fear. “Please.”
He twists harder. “I will see that she suffers extra.”
“Ow, please! I’ll tell you!”
He lets up a tiny bit, and I hear myself blurt out the time and place of the Razvan and Aleksio meeting.
“What else?”
“Nothing!”
He tightens his grip.
My lips move, but I can’t think. I can’t form words. I’m in a blind panic. “Nothing!” I manage. “They spoke in a weird language...”
He seems to decide I’m telling the truth, which I am, and he eases off a bit more. “What language?”
“A weird one. Not normal like French or German.” Which is true of Latin.
“Albanian? Did it sound Slavic?”
“I don’t know Slavic languages.”
He finally releases my arm. I cradle my wrist against my body, head spinning, unable to process that he’s suddenly treating me like a criminal.
“You have to find out what language he spoke,” he says like everything’s normal again. “That could be the key to finding out where the fuck he’s been all this time. It could lead you to travel conversations, and you could ask how he’s so fluent?—”
“He doesn’t wanna see me again,” I say. “He even took back my phone.”
“He took the phone? The one he gave to you?”
“Yes, that’s how much he doesn’t want to see me.”
“Fuck!”
I wait. My wrist is on fire, and I’m petrified he’ll grab it again.
“It’s just a twenty-dollar phone. Why take it from you? Why not just... never call again?”
“I don’t know. But he told me to go to Vegas. We’re done.”
“No, no, no, no. You can’t be done. You still have time left on your contract with him. We have to get you back in with him to discuss languages and get his story and see why they’re meeting. And I need you to get a strand of his hair. Then we’ll be done.”
“Wait, what? You literally want me to cut his hair?”
“No, I need you to pull it out or find a strand still intact. With the little white thing at the end of it.”
“Pull a hair off of his head? He doesn’t want to see me anymore, and you want me to yank out his hair? How does that not get me killed?”
“You don’t have to yank it. You can get a hair off a comb or a pillow. People shed ‘em all the time.”
“He made me give back the phone!” I protest. “He’s through with me!”
“I don’t care.” He scowls for a moment. “Oh! Here’s what we do. We’re set up at his restaurant, where he holds court two or three times a week. We’ll let you know when he’s there, and you’ll just show up.”
“That’ll be completely suspicious.”
“He’s a good-looking guy. Maybe you have a thing for him.”
“I don’t think that’s how prostitutes work.”
He levels a hard stare at me, and my blood goes cold.
“I understand you’re getting straight As.
A smart girl like you, you’re gonna figure out a way to make it happen.
Coax out what you can about this language he and Orton spoke and whatever else, get the piece of hair, and then and only then will our deal be done. ”
“ Will it be done? I’ve fulfilled my end of our bargain, and you keep changing the rules.”
“I do, don’t I? Tough luck, you’re not in a court of law here. You’re in the Wild West, and I own you. You understand that? Your life is in my hands, and when I say jump, you jump. And you know why you’ll keep jumping? Because I guarantee you, the alternative will be worse.”
“I’m not so sure about that anymore,” I say.
“You ever played poker, Edie? ”
“Does it matter?”
“Let me tell you about my cards. One card could be sending you to jail for prostitution, which you have definitely been doing. One card is the men I control who are holding your sister. They have her in a cage, and she’s safe for now, but that cage has a door.
And the men on the other side of the door have knives?—”
“You’re holding my sister? You know where she is?”
Bender doesn’t tell me. Has he known where she is this whole time?
Or is it all bullshit? I stare miserably at the fountain while he continues telling me the horrible things that bad men might do to my sister, clearly delighting in it.
I have no way of knowing if any of it’s true.
I have no power against this man. I have been working as a prostitute. He probably even has proof.
I want to weep.
“Here’s another card,” he continues. “I could put you in a cage, too. I was keeping that card a secret, but I think I know you well enough now that I can tell you about it.”
“What?”
“You. Think of it. A cage, just like your sister’s and men with knives. Even now, nobody knows where you are. Or I could just go ahead and put the word out that you’re a snitch. I could put it exactly where it would get to Luka. How do you know I don’t have a few photos of us together already?”
“You have photos of us together?”
“What makes you think I’m working alone? There are thousands of cops in this town, and every one of us wants Luka. There’s nowhere you can run from us. Every police car. Every cop on horseback.”
“So this goes on until I’m dead.”
“Don’t be dramatic. You’re more capable than you want me to think, and you got closer to him than you let on. I’m just asking for a couple more favors.”
“He said we were in a transaction—a transaction he’s done with. ”
“Is he, though? Because I keep thinking about him taking that phone away. It’s just a piece of trash to him.
He’d never re-use it. And you’re right about him never fucking the same woman twice.
But he’s seen you multiple times.” He pauses and shows a horrible smile.
“I find that very interesting. You know what else I think? I think he took the phone back because he wanted to remove the temptation. Like an alcoholic getting rid of bottles of booze.”
“No,” I say.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think this is gonna work. Unless you fuck it up. And you don’t wanna fuck it up, do you?”
“He doesn’t want to see me again!”
“Well, he’s gonna see you again, isn’t he? You’re gonna make it happen. I’ll text you when he heads to the restaurant next, and you are fucking showing up there, you understand? You tell him you miss him and beg him for one more date.”
“He’s gonna know something’s off.”
He leans in. “Better do a good job like I know you can, then. You’ll be reunited with your sister, and everyone will be happy. The only way out of this is through.”