“Alex saw right through it,” she said. “Jacques never had a chance.”
“The man wanted Laraque,” Cap said. He transferred Leon’s gun to his right hand and threw it in a high arc. It splashed in the middle of the channel. Then he started to walk around me in a slow circle. “So we gave him Laraque. I thought it would be easier this way.”
The fake Laraque put his hands up. “Hey,” he said, “you didn’t tell me this guy would be here.”
“Shut up, Jacques,” she said.
“No, this guy’s crazy. I didn’t sign up for this.”
“Just shut the fuck up.”
“Seriously. I’ll let you guys work this out. I’ll be right over here.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“The hell I’m not. I just quit.”
Cap turned from me and shot him twice in the throat. Shoomp shoomp, two muffled shots like the sound a nail gun would make. Me on the roof of my cabin, nailing down a shingle. That was the exact sound.
At first, the man showed nothing but surprise. He tried to speak, but couldn’t make a sound, his vocal cords obliterated with everything else as the blood rushed down the front of his coat. He went to his knees, looking at the ground like he still couldn’t quite fathom what had happened to him. He tried to speak again. Then he pitched sideways and spent the next few seconds staring up at both of us.
“Was that necessary?” she said.
“You told me he wasn’t even a good driver.”
I watched the man die on the ground. It occurred to me, maybe this was one of his reasons for shooting him in front of me, so I’d know exactly what he was capable of.
“I thought you were long gone,” I said to him. “After you tried to trick me into going after Mr. Gray.”
“What’s this?” she said. “This sounds interesting.”
“Never mind,” he said. He kept circling me. “It was just an idea, a spur of the moment thing.”
“I thought you weren’t afraid of Gray,” she said.
“I just put a bullet in his head two days ago. Does that sound like somebody who’s afraid of anybody?”
“You killed Gray?” I said.
He stopped in front of me. “Yes, I did. Now tell me where the guns are, or you’ll get the same deal. I promise you.”
“I think he was afraid of you, too,” she said to me. “I think that’s why he came up with this idea.”
“Rhapsody…”
“‘Get Jacques to pretend,’” she said, imitating him, exaggerating the swagger in his voice. “‘McKnight won’t know any better. If he ends up killing him, so what?’”
“What do you think?” he said to me. “Do you think I’m afraid of you?”
“I think you talk pretty big,” I said, “when your woman has your back.”
He made like he was going to turn away, then surprised me with a punch right in my gut. It folded me in two. I went with it, going all the way to the ground, feeling for the mini automatic under my pant leg. Lift and fire, if I do it fast enough…
No. Not yet. Either one of them would mow me down in a second.
“Okay, enough chit-chat,” Cap said. “Where are the guns?”
Play this out, I thought. Buy some time, figure out what the hell is going on.
“They’re out there,” I said, pointing to the water. I was struggling to get my wind back. Laraque was dead. Gray was dead. I couldn’t believe it was all coming down to these two.
“What are you talking about, McKnight? Out there where?”
“I have to take you to them.”
“What did you do, hide them on some island like a pirate?”
“That’s exactly what I did, yes.”
He leaned down closer to me. “Do you have any idea how much you’ve fucked up my life already? Do you?”
“The man says he’s going to take us to the merchandise,” Rhapsody said. “So let him do it.”
“You actually believe him?”
“He looks like a smart man. He knows if he gives everything back, we’ll let him walk away.”
He grabbed me by the back of the collar. “Where are they, McKnight?”
“He said he’d take us to them,” she said. “Are you deaf?”
“I’m not falling for it,” he said. “I swear to God…”
“You got a better idea?”
“Yeah, I do.”
He put the gun against my temple.
“That would be smart,” she said. “We’d definitely get the guns back that way.”
He made a long muffled sound in his throat as he let go of me. I was starting to see the way things were between them. They obviously had a long history together.
“We need to clean up here first,” she said. “Why don’t you drag Jacques into the boathouse?”
“We can take him on the boat,” he said. “Dump him in the water.”
“I’m not riding in the boat with him. Just put him in the boathouse for now. You take him back out and dump him later.”
“McKnight can do that.” He kicked me. “On your feet.”
“He’s still recovering from you little cheap shot, Cap. Just shut the fuck up and drag Jacques’s ass into the boathouse, will you?”
“Rhapsody, I’m going to say this once. We’re partners now. That means you don’t get to talk to me that way anymore.”
“Pardon me. Will you please relocate Jacques to the boathouse? Is that better?”
He stared her down for a while, then he finally hooked his wrists under the dead man’s underarms and started dragging him.
“Let’s go,” she said to me. She waved me forward with her gun, careful not to step in the blood. “Cap, you better hose this all off when we’re done, too.”
He spat sideways and kept dragging. When we got to the door, he dropped the man for a moment and rummaged around in his pockets for the key to the door.
“Do you really need a key?” she said.
“I suppose not,” he said. “On account of our friend breaking into the place. Real smooth, McKnight. Did you use a sledgehammer?”
“I thought your pal Brucie was watching over things,” she said. “Where is he?”
“We can go see him if you like. But I don’t think he’s in any state to receive visitors.”
“Just open the door,” she said. “It’ll be dark by the time we get out there.”
He did as he was told. Then he dragged the dead man in and left him on the gangway.
“How far are we going, McKnight?” Cap jumped into the boat and turned around, the gun pointed at my chest.
“It’s not far,” I said. “I’ll take the wheel.”
“Like hell you will. You’re going to sit there and you’re going to tell me where to go.”
I got in and sat down on one of the chairs. Rhapsody sat across from me, a good six feet away. Cap climbed up to the captain’s chair and started the engine. A minute later, we were pulling out into the channel.
“Which way?” Cap said, his voice raised enough for me to hear him over the engine. “To the right?”
“Yes,” I said. “Go all the way out to the lake.”
He turned around and looked at me, then at Rhapsody.
“You heard the man,” she said. “Go to the lake.”
He shook his head and swung the wheel to the right, flipping on the GPS to follow the safe route, same as I had done. I sat there and thought about what was happening, and what my options were. With Laraque gone… Hell, it just wasn’t making any sense to me.
“Did you really kill him?” I said to Rhapsody. “I can’t see you doing that.”
“Is that a compliment or an insult?”
