River swallowed.
It was time to decide.
The man had told him his name.
He wouldn’t have done that if he was going to let River live.
88
Alabama wasn’t a match for London, not in the long run, but had enough anger and surprise going to get the woman to the ground and then use the momentum to pin her arms above her head. London struggled but Alabama straddled higher up on the woman’s chest and reigned down with all her weight.
Wilde looked at London and said, “What are you doing here?”
“Get her off me.”
Wilde exhaled.
“Okay, Alabama, enough.”
The woman didn’t move, not for a few heartbeats, then stood up and said, “When I get back you better not be here.” Then she was gone, slamming the door behind her. Wilde listened to her heavy steps pounding down the stairs, then ran to the window.
“Hey, you’re sexy when you’re mad.”
She looked up.
“Prove it.”
He laughed.
Suddenly London was right behind him, straightening her hair.
“How about me? Am I sexy when I’m mad?”
“I don’t know. It didn’t look like you were mad.” He picked up a pack of Camels from the desk, tapped one out and lit up. “So, now we’re back to my original question. What are you doing here?”
“I have something for you.”
She pulled a piece of folded paper out of her purse and handed it to him.
“That’s the original map,” she said. “You were right this morning to walk out. I got weak. I let the map change me. It’s time to get my old self back. Whatever riches I might get aren’t worth turning into who I was becoming.”
Wilde unfolded the paper.
The drawing was quicker and sketchier than the last paper she’d given him. It looked more like what you’d expect if you were alone in a dark tomb copying something by flashlight from the underside of a casket.
“It’s real,” London said.
Wilde took a deep drag and blew a ring.
“What am I supposed to do with it?”
London came close.
She ran a finger down the outside of Wilde’s arm.
“Give it to Bluetone,” she said. “Get him off my back. Negotiate a truce. He gets the map but he has to promise to leave me alone. Make him understand that the only thing I want at this point is out. I want to be left alone. He goes his way, I go mine. I’m going to stay in Denver but quit the law firm.”
Wilde frowned.
“I’d do it if it would work, but it won’t work so I won’t do it.”
London wrinkled her face.
“Why won’t it work?”
He tapped ashes into the tray.
“Lots of reasons. This is a simple map. You could have a copy or even have it memorized. You might secretly have a plan to beat him to it. The only way he can know for certain that you’re going your way is to kill you. That’s what I’d do if I was him.”
London shifted feet.
“We could go to the police,” she said. “We’ll tell them everything. If I end up dead they’ll know he did it.”
Wilde wasn’t impressed.
“He could hire somebody, he could make it look like an accident,” he said. “He’ll have an alibi. It won’t work. If he wants you dead-which he does-you’re going to end up dead. The only reason he didn’t kill you this morning is because I was there.”
He handed the map back.
“Get out of Denver and do it now,” he said. “If you want, I’ll escort you down to the train station or the airport.”
She laid the map on the desk.
“I don’t need an escort because I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Get Bluetone off my back, please. At least try.”
She gave him a worried look.
Then she was gone.
Wilde watched from the window as she headed up Larimer and disappeared around the corner. As much as he hated to admit it, if Secret didn’t work out, London was the one.
There was something between them.
It was animalistic but it was real.
Alabama showed up five minutes later, took a quick look at the map and tossed it back on the desk. “It’s another fake,” she said. “All she’s doing it trying to get Bluetone off her back. She’s playing you again, just like before.”
Wilde lit a book of matches on fire.
They burned down to his fingertips then he tossed them out the window.
“Maybe,” he said.
“There ain’t no maybes about it,” Alabama said. “Stay away from that woman before you end up dead.” A beat then, “You said I was sexy.”
He smiled.
“You were.”
She came close.
“Does that mean you’re ready to prove it?”
“Maybe later,” he said. “Right now I have to run.”
He grabbed his hat, dipped it over his left eye and headed for the door.
“Where you going?”
He almost answered.
He almost said he was chasing after London to be sure Bluetone or one of his cronies wasn’t sneaking up behind her.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
Then he was gone.
