wouldn't have gone out and changed three thousand deadbolts because one guy – who wasn't going to be doing it again – finessed a lock. Forget about it.'
'Easy for you to say. You're staying here.'
Leo let that go and reached into the file. He pulled out the stack of money and put it down next to Cassie's plate.
'Our partners are serious people. They know there are equipment costs. That's ten grand there. For camera shopping and whatever else you need.'
'I've already spent close to nine hundred on the basics.'
'Let me ask you something, how up to date are you on all of the cameras and stuff? You know what you want?'
'I'll go see my guy at Hooten's. If he's still there. It's been a long time.'
'Sure has.'
'If he's not, I'll go to Radio Shack. I've kept up. I'll make it work, Leo. Don't worry about that part.'
Leo studied her over his eyeglasses again.
'So what happened, Cass? Why'd you wait so long to call me? I had given up hope of you ever turning up again.'
'I don't know, Leo. I guess at first I just thought I was going to make a run at it, you know?'
Leo nodded.
'The straight and narrow,' he said. 'But it wasn't there for you.'
'One day everything changed.'
'Well, welcome back. We could use you on our side.'
He smiled. Cassie shook her head.
'Leo, this is a one-shot deal. I mean it. I'm not on your team. I'm going to disappear after this.'
She knew the money wouldn't be enough. It would only be a start. But that was all she wanted, the promise of a new start.
Leo nodded and looked down at the yellow page of notes.
'Well, this little caper should get you to wherever it is you want to go.'
'Did you make that call on the passports?'
Leo raised his eyes to hers without raising his face.
'I did. I'm told they're on the way. I'll check the drop later. I like going late, after the counter's closed.'
'Good. Thanks for doing that.'
'No problem. I want you to get to where you want to go, Cassie.'
She picked up the money and stood up.
'I guess I better get it in gear if it's going to be tomorrow. I have to – '
'Wait. One more thing. This is important.'
He pushed his plate aside although his second sandwich was uneaten. From the rear pocket of his pants he pulled an appointment book. It was the size of a checkbook but thicker. He took a rubber band off it and opened it to a page marked with a pink Post-it sticker. Cassie could see it was the current month's calendar. Many of the blocks denoting the days were filled with Leo's printing. Leo ran his finger along the blocks until he found what he was looking for. He spoke without taking his eyes off the page.
'I want you to humor me on something when you're over there.'
'Fine. What?'
'Promise me.'
'I'm not going to promise you anything until I know what you're talking about. What is it, Leo?'
'Okay, this is it. Whatever you do, no matter what happens, don't be in that guy's room between three twenty-two and three thirty-eight in the morning. Okay? That's Wednesday night going into Thursday morning. Write it down if you think you'll forget.'
Cassie felt a bemused, questioning smile come across her face.
'What are you talking about?'
'It's a void moon.'
'A void moon…'
'This is my astrological calendar, okay? I work with those books I showed you in the office and I chart things, including the moon.'
'Okay, so you chart the moon. What's a void moon?'
'It's an astrological situation, okay? See, when the moon is moving from one house to another up there in the constellations, it sometimes is in no house at all. When that happens it means it is 'void of course' until it finally gets into a house. It's a void moon. And like I said, on Wednesday night going into Thursday morning there's a void moon for those, what, sixteen minutes. It's hanging out there between Cancer and Leo. It's void of course from three twenty-two until three thirty-eight. I worked it all out here.'
He closed the calendar and held it up to her as if it were something sacred.
'And so?'
'And so it's a bad luck time, Cass. Anything can happen under a void moon. Anything wrong. Just don't make your move during that time.'
Cassie studied him for a moment and registered his look as completely sincere. Leo had always been a true believer in whatever it was he chose to believe in.
'It's going to be tough,' she said. 'It all depends on when the guy goes down. I need to go two hours into the sleep pattern. At least two hours to be sure.'
'Then go in after the void. I'm not fucking around here, Cass. You know Lincoln, McKinley and Kennedy were all inaugurated during a void moon? All three of them and look what happened to them. Clinton, too, and he might as well've been shot, what happened with him.'
He nodded very somberly and held the calendar up again as if it were proof of something itself. To Cassie there was something endearing about his fervent belief. Maybe it was because she wasn't sure she believed in anything anymore.
'I mean it,' Leo said. 'You can look this stuff up going back as far as you want.'
Cassie took a step toward the table and reached for the book. But as Leo offered it, she pulled her hand back. She wanted to ask something but wasn't sure she wanted the answer.
Leo read her. He somberly nodded.
'Yeah,' he said. 'I looked it up. That night six years ago with Max, he had a void moon, too.'
She just looked at him.
'Remember what you said before about there being a jinx? It was the void moon, Cass. That was the jinx.'
At the door Leo wished her good luck and said he would see her after the job was completed. Cassie hesitated on the front steps. The discussion of the void moon and Max had put a somber veneer over everything now. She rolled her shoulders as if catching a chill.
'What is it?' Leo asked.
She shook her head as if to dismiss the question and then asked her own.
'Leo, do you think about Max?'
Leo didn't answer at first. He stepped through the open door and looked up at the night sky. The moon was pale and hung like an egg in the sky.
'It will be full in a couple days. Nice and bright.'
He continued to stare for a moment and then looked down at Cassie.
'Not a single day goes by that I don't think about him,' he said. 'Not a day.'
Cassie nodded.
'I still miss him a lot, Leo.'
'Me, too, Cass. So you be careful over there. I don't want to lose you that way, too.'
9
