phone next to a pop machine in the parking lot.
“Paris?” Fearless said, answering Milo’s phone.
I gave him the address.
“Milo wants to know what’s happenin’.”
“Tell ’im that we’re looking for the money. That should make him happy.”
“See you soon,” Fearless said.
THERE WAS an all-night coffee shop down the block where I loaded up on pork sandwiches and beer. Milo sent Fearless down with a pint of rye whiskey. It was the friendly gesture of an insecure business partner. I think he knew that if Fearless took the gift, he wouldn’t let me cut the ex-lawyer out. He was right about that.
We watched the motel from my car parked across the street. I was in the front seat, and Fearless was in back. We sat low so as not to be seen if the cops cruised by.
“Paris?” Fearless said at a little after one.
“What?”
“You think she in there lovin’ him?”
“How should I know?”
“I didn’t ask if you knew,” Fearless pointed out. “I just wondered what you thought.”
“Why?”
“It ain’t like she’s your girlfriend or nuthin’. Damn, she just laid you so she could get your money and your car.”
“Thank you, Fearless. I didn’t know that until you told me.”
“You don’t have to get all mad, Paris. It’s just that I been thinkin’ about her.”
“Thinkin’ what?”
“She’s definitely smart. Smart like you, you know? And she’s in deep. Now what’s she gonna do? Woman cain’t run around like a man. I mean, I know she shot Conrad Till, but more times than not she be in a situation where the man has the more muscle. So she got to use bein’ a woman to fight her way through, like she said at that shack.”
“This the first time you ever thought that a woman use sex to get what she want?” I said.
“ ’Course not. But I never thought of it like fightin’. I never thought that a kiss could be like a loaded gun.”
I had never thought of that either.
BY FOUR A.M. Fearless had fallen asleep in the backseat. It was cold again, and I could see the steam of my breath in the darkness. I closed my eyes, trying not to think about what Elana and Latham were up to.
In the dream I was standing at a corner flirting with a woman, Elana Love. I had a long key chain, and I was twirling it while telling her lies about my riches and exploits. There were children playing on the street and a fat man sitting on a wooden crate. The man was winded and asking for help. I thought that he might have been having a heart attack, but I kept talking to Elana anyway. In mid-swing of my key chain I felt something like a nibble on the bait of a fishing line. I looked and saw three of the children from the day before running away. They were rounding the corner into an alley.
“Stop him!” the fat man yelled. “Stop!”
I realized that the smallest boy had taken my keys. I took off after them. It was the opposite of the dream I usually have. Usually I’m running hard trying to get away from some attacker; I’m running hard but I make no progress. In this dream I was running at full speed unable to close the gap. The children were scurrying like little kids do while I barreled down on them, getting no closer. The fat man was laboring behind me, yelling, “Stop! Stop!”
“Paris!” Fearless said.
I was just gaining on the kids, but then someone grabbed my shoulder. Three loud gunshots blasted through my dream.
I opened my eyes. Fearless was rushing out of the passenger’s door from the backseat.
“What?” I said, and then there was a fourth report.
Fearless was running toward an alley down the block from the motel. I turned the engine over and nosed the car to follow. Before I reached the alley I heard a car screeching in the motel lot. I looked back and saw Latham’s sedan race off in the opposite direction.
Under the neon glow of the motel sign I caught a glimpse of Elana Love at the wheel. I couldn’t follow though, because Fearless needed me. It was just like old times, times that I wished were over and forgotten.
Lights were coming on in the windows of an apartment building that bordered the alley. Two men were down.
