door. The moonlight and that woman filled my chest with awe.
“You working for Ross?” she asked me.
“After a fashion. You workin’ on him, or with him?”
“I was just giving him a little justice,” she said.
“Justice?”
“I told him that I knew he didn’t rob Gator but all I could do was to give him the secret knowledge that he had the boss-man’s woman before he ran.”
“No wonder he was so mad when we interrupted you.”
Amiee smiled and gestured at me with her jaw.
Only that morning I thought that I’d never kiss another woman.
We wrestled around for a minute or two. Her hands were quick and clever. I felt every hormone and instinct in my body surging but still, I took Amiee by the shoulders and pressed her back against the door—at arm’s length. Not daunted by the distance she pressed a bare foot against my erection and smiled.
“No,” I said.
“Not yet,” she replied. “But it’s comin’.”
“No,” I said again. “It’s not.”
Amiee composed herself then accepted my refusal without anger.
I felt a powerful urge to jump out of the car and run back to Bonnie. I wanted to tell her something, but I had no idea what.
“I’ll never forget you, Easy Larry,” Amiee said.
“Why’s that?” I asked in a voice much deeper than usual.
“I never had a man frustrate me twice in the same day.”
We both laughed.
“You still need a ride home?” Amiee asked. She leaned over to give me a half-friendly kiss.
“Naw,” I said. “My ride is a couple’a blocks away from the garage.”
“You gonna tell me why you workin’ there?”
“To see if there’s some other explanation for the robbery.”
“You find anything?”
“Nope.”
“But you’re there to help Ross?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“For a favor to Saul. That’s the guy I was with.”
“What if I told you something?” she said. “I mean, could I trust you to keep secret where you heard it from?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But I don’t know how to prove it.”
“Oh I’ll take your word, honey. I can feel how much you wanted me and still you held back. Some woman has made an honest man outta you.”
Her words seemed to be full of meaning.
“Any man that true,” she continued, “will keep his word if he can.”
“All right,” I said. “You got my word. So what can you tell me?”
“Gator and Tilly are movin’ stolen sports cars.”
“From the used car lot?”
“Uh-uh. They work on ’em late at night and then sell ’em from off the street.”
“How so?”
“They get the car in and paint it, then they leave it on some corner and send the buyer the key.”
“How long they been doin’ that?”
“Couple’a years.”
“And was Ross in on it?”
“I don’t think so.”
“And how do you know about it?”
“Eggersly don’t give two shits about me. He got at least two girlfriends at any one time an’ he ain’t hardly ever home. When he is he treats me like a piece’a property. He brags about what he’s doin’ like I wasn’t in the room. Talk about women he had, men he beat, and the cars too. Gator always says that he was born poor white trash but
