O'Clair slugged down the rest of his beer and said, 'Who're you looking out for?'
Fly said, 'Who do you think?'
O'Clair raised his empty. 'Got another one?'
He held the Caddy-with the new windshield that cost twelve hundred bucks, and the two side windows that were three bills each-steady going sixty. There were still holes in the front and back seats where the arrow had gone through, but he didn't care about that.
O'Clair had gotten his keys and wallet back, including the twenty-eight dollars that Fly had folded and stuffed in the front right pocket of his jeans. Fly wore a silver skull and crossbones ring on one hand. O'Clair had noticed it when he handed him the money.
'You've got to admit you don't appear to have much going for you,' Fly said. 'Dude, you seen a mirror recently. Look at you, your clothes. That sport coat's a fuckin' relic.'
O'Clair said, 'What convinced you?'
'You mentioned he was a bookmaker with a safe. I remember Karen going out with him-an A-rab, isn't he? And then it all made sense. Maybe you knew what you were talking about. There was something else that was strange. She paid me two hundred to pick up her car at this motel. I think she was shacking up with some dude.'
Right, O'Clair was thinking. He had to pick up her car 'cause she took Johnny's. Why exactly, he couldn't quite figure out. They were on 696 heading for Garden City, a town O'Clair had never been to in his life, Garden City the gateway to Romulus. Fly hadn't stopped talking since he got in the car. Now he was bragging about his days riding with the Renegades, a Detroit biker gang.
'Sixty of us badasses would rumble into a small town, scare the shit out of people. I mean like a western movie. Grown men ducking into stores, mothers pulling their children to safety. Cops would just watch us, too afraid to do anything. We'd go into a bar challenge the whole place.' He glanced over at O'Clair. 'What's the matter? Am I boring you?'
O'Clair looked out the window, saw a street sign that said 'Windsor.' They were in a residential neighborhood, passing parked cars and small brick ranch houses.
Fly said, 'Take a left up there. It's the third house on the left.'
O'Clair made the turn, pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine.
'Okay, let's go get her,' he said to Fly.
Chapter Twenty-nine
The first day back from the hospital Samir had slept all afternoon and all night, and was still sleeping when Ricky went to check on him the next morning. He hoped and prayed Samir would die in his sleep, but no such luck. Ricky listened to his labored breathing and watched his chest rise and fall.
He went back to check on him an hour later and Samir was awake, but groggy. His eyes would open and look at Ricky and then close and open again.
'How you feeling?'
Samir said, 'Where's the money?'
'What money?' Ricky said, playing dumb. 'Oh you mean the money Karen stole from you? No word yet, but I'm on it.'
'The collections,' Samir said.
Ricky said, 'You've been asleep since you got home.'
'Now I'm awake.'
Ricky thought he had a few days before Samir would bring this up, and by then the Iraqis would have Karen and he'd be able to pay Samir back the $82,000 he'd lost, and be rich. 'The doctor said you shouldn't work or even think about business for two weeks at least.'
'Bring me my money,' Samir said, raising his voice. He started coughing and couldn't stop.
Ricky went over and picked up the water glass on the bedside table and handed it to him. He drank some water and it helped. He drank more and stopped coughing. 'I'm not going to jeopardize your health.' Ricky remembered the doctor saying something like that at the hospital. Ricky thought it sounded good. What could Samir say to that?
'I'm not going to ask you what you did with the money,' Samir said. 'You have till tomorrow to give it to me- all of it.'
'Take it easy,' Ricky said. 'I've got it.'
Ricky went downstairs and called Tariq. His phone rang three times.
Tariq said, 'Yes?'
'What's going on?' Ricky said. 'Talk to me, tell me something good.'
Tariq told him they went to the lawyer's house and almost had her.
Ricky said, 'Almost had her? What're you doing? Two of you can't handle a girl? You've got to find her today. I'm going to give you each $50,000. You know how much money that is?'
'If you pay $150,000,' Tariq said, 'I guarantee we will find Karen Delaney.'
Now the Iraqis were trying to take advantage of him. 'I'll go one twenty but you better deliver.' He hung up and thought, but what if they didn't find her? What if he didn't recover the money? Ricky needed a backup plan. He called Wadi Nasser. He hated to do it but didn't have a much of a choice. He asked Wadi if he could borrow a hundred grand for a few days, a week at the most.
Wadi said, 'I don't know Ricky, that's a lot of money. I'd have to charge you 20 percent.'
Ricky said, 'That's fucking robbery.'
'Listen,' Wadi said. 'I'm doing you a favor. You want it or not?'
Chapter Thirty
'Your mom's very disappointed you're mixed up with someone of my ilk,' Bobby said. 'That's a direct quote.'
'I am too,' Karen said.
Bobby said, 'You propositioned me, remember?'
Yeah, she remembered, and regretted it every time she thought about what happened. They were in the kitchen ready to leave. The little blonde was standing a few feet away. She looked bored.
'Do it quick,' she said, 'okay? I want to get out of here.'
Bobby looked at her and said, 'What do think I'm going to do, take my time, make a night of it?'
'I never know with you,' the blonde said.
'Yeah, well don't worry about it.'
The blonde said, 'I'm not worrying, I'm just telling you.'
'We're going to take your car,' Bobby said to Karen, 'so it looks like you're coming back from wherever you've been.'
He had gone through her purse and found her keys. She'd left her gun in the trunk.
Bobby said, 'Who's at the house watching the money?'
'A friend of mine,' Karen said. 'A guy named Bingo.' She thought using a real name would sound more believable.
The blonde said, 'What kind of name is that? Is he a clown?'
'No,' Karen said. 'He's a security guard, big teddy bear of a guy. You don't have to worry about him.' She did know a security guard named Norm Darwish who had worked auto shows with her and his nickname was Bingo, but he didn't have anything to do with this.
'Okay,' Bobby said, 'but I'm warning you. You try anything…' His words trailed off.
