“Send them to my condo,” Jesse said. “And have them park where they can watch the front door. Molly’s inside, Suit’s out back. Nobody in. Nobody out.”
“Okay, Jesse.”
Jesse looked at Crow.
“She called Esteban,” Jesse said.
Crow nodded.
“For whatever reason,” Jesse said. “You know he’s got a contract on you.”
“He’s an idiot,” Crow said.
“To try to kill you for ten grand?”
“Ten grand,” Crow said, “is for drunken middle-aged broads.”
“We both know,” Jesse said, “that anyone can kill anyone. It’s a matter of how much they want to and what they’re willing to do.”
“Got something to do with how good the anyone is,” Crow said.
“Something,” Jesse said.
“I figure she gets me to meet her in the middle of the causeway,” Crow said. “Except she doesn’t show up, and Esteban and company drive by and shoot me full of holes.”
“And they’ll come from the Neck,” Jesse said. “Toward town, so if we respond quickly we can’t seal them in by blocking the causeway.”
Crow nodded.
“Her father came to visit me,” Jesse said.
“He’s in town.”
“Yep,” Jesse said. “Wants his daughter.”
“You tell Amber?” Crow said.
“No.”
“So we don’t know if Esteban knows he’s in town or not,” Crow said.
“We know that Esteban can get in touch with Francisco,” Jesse said.
Crow’s eyes brightened and he smiled.
“And if you were Esteban?” Crow said.
“I figure he knows where she is now,” Jesse said.
“She would have told him,” Crow said.
“And he knows how to get in touch with her father,” Jesse said. “And if I were Esteban, I might call Dad up and say for another ten big ones, I’ll deliver Crow and your daughter. One each, dead and alive.”
The two men sat quietly for a time in Jesse’s office, looking at nothing.
“Why would she call him?” Jesse said.
Crow grinned.
“Love?” he said.
