Another cold day in Paradise. Jackie was starting to get a little cranky about it. I got my first cancellation. I was almost done with the roof. I wasn’t much use to anyone, though, because all I could think about was Natalie going undercover in Toronto, trying to connect with this woman named Rhapsody, and then, beyond her, with a network of international gun smugglers. I had to try pretty hard to imagine a worse group of human beings to fool around with.
I think I hit my fingers with my hammer about four times before Vinnie finally stopped by and asked me what the hell was wrong with me. I gave him the quick version. I was up on the ladder, finishing up a row of wooden shingles. The sun was trying to fight its way through the gray clouds, finally giving up for the day. Summer was still on back order.
“She’ll be fine,” Vinnie told me. “You know they’ll be right behind her.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I know that.” Like I really believed it. Right behind her. Tell that to my old partner.
When we were done, we had dinner at the Glasgow. We sat by the fire. My hands were sore from the cold and the hard work and from hitting them with the goddamned hammer. When it was late enough, I wished everyone a good night and went back home. The phone was ringing when I opened the door, so at least I didn’t have to sit there again like a high school kid.
“Alex,” she said, “tell me what you did today.”
“Never mind me. What happened with the undercover thing?”
“Please. You first. I want to hear about you so I can clear my head a little.”
“What’s there to say? I worked on the cabin with Vinnie.”
“Tell me everything. What did you do?”
She wasn’t going to let me go, so I told her the spellbinding tale of how we nailed on some more wooden shingles.
“Is it still cold there?”
“It’s unbelievable,” I said. “I’ve never seen it like this before. It’s almost July.”
“It was actually kinda nice here. It was a great day for making new friends.”
“How did it go down?”
“Good, good. I think. I don’t know.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was in the coffee shop. I was sitting at a corner table, with a laptop. We had one car parked on the street outside, couple of guys in plain clothes. One with a newspaper, the other with a cell phone. She usually stops in around nine or nine thirty, so I was there at eight thirty, just to be sure.”
“Were you nervous?”
“No, not at all. Terrified, maybe. But not nervous.”
“I got it. So go on.”
“I was sitting there for an hour. By nine thirty, there was no sign of her. I kept sitting there, waiting. I was thinking maybe she wasn’t going to stop in today. Or maybe, hell, it’s crazy but I was wondering if she made us before she even opened the door. Just smelled something funny and kept walking.”
“There’s no way.”
“I know. I’m just saying, it’s the kind of thing that goes through your head. Anyway, it was almost ten, so I figured we’d have to shut it down. Then she came in. You should have seen her, Alex. She had this white jacket on, black skirt, this blouse that was sort of like a Dalmatian print. Like that woman in the movie. What was her name?”
“What movie?”
“With the Dalmatians. Cruella De Vill. Like her. Except younger. And better looking.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Black-and-white shoes. She even had a white streak in her hair. She was just so…put together. Like it was almost too much but not quite. Somehow it looked good on her.”
“What were you wearing?”
“Oh, I was all in black. They bought me this nice black suit, with a short skirt. Black stockings, shoes, the works.”
“I’m trying to picture that,” I said. I had a strong suspicion she looked pretty great dressed like that. It gave me a hollow feeling in my gut.
“They got me a real Coach bag, too. Black, of course. The idea was to show a little flash, but I don’t know. Seeing her walk in, I felt totally outclassed.”
“There’s no woman on this earth who could outclass you, Natalie.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Well…”
“Keep going.”
“She generally doesn’t spend much time there. She gets her coffee and leaves. So I made like I was coming back to get a refill. I was standing right behind her. You should have smelled this perfume, Alex. It smelled almost like Opium, but the top note was different.”
“You’re losing me now.”
“Sorry, it’s just that…I mean, it’s funny how much you notice when all your senses are on red alert, you know?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I waited a few seconds, and then I said, ‘You’re Rhapsody.’ She turned around, and she said, ‘Do I know you?’ She was pretty cold about it, too. Like she wasn’t sure if I was wasting her time. I said, ‘I hit Kingston right around the time you left. I saw you around for a few days.’”
“Kingston?”
“The women’s penitentiary. In Kingston, Ontario. It’s closed down now. But the backstory was that I was going in the same week she was going out. Like five years ago.”
“What were you in for?”
“Jailhouse etiquette is not to ask that question, even when you get out. But if it came up, I was in for grand theft and assault.”
“I can see that.”
“Yeah, thanks. Anyway, the whole point of today was for me to just say hello, let her know I recognized her. So maybe the next day, if I was there again-”
“You could strike up another conversation.”
“That was the idea. But she came right out and asked me what I was doing in town, if I lived there now. I told her no, I was just in town for a few days, working on putting a deal together.”
“A deal?”
“Yeah. She asked what business I was in. I said, ‘Personal protection.’”
“Very nice.”
“Then I said, ‘How about you?’ She said, ‘Oh, I’m into all sorts of things these days. It’s good to be diverse, don’t you think?’”
“She said that?”
“She was so smooth, Alex. And here I am with my knees knocking together.”
“Natalie-”
“I had a good exit line, though. As she was leaving, I said to her, ‘Nice shoes.’ You think Resnik would have thought of that?”
“Natalie, are you sure about all of this? I mean, what’s supposed to happen next?”
“Eventually, if we get to it, I’m going to be there in Toronto, trying to move some guns across the border. I’ll have a supplier in Michigan, and I’ll be trying to connect with the right person so I can put a deal together. I’ll be staying at the downtown Hilton with my muscle.”
“Your muscle?”
“Yeah, Resnik gets to play that part. He’s about six foot five, and he looks like he could wrestle a grizzly bear. He’s a real good guy, though. Ordinarily, you’d expect him to resent me for coming in and taking over the lead role. But he’s been fine with it.”
“Natalie, I’m sorry, but this all sounds crazy to me.”
