“I reckon you’re right. But it’s starting to get to me now. I’m starting to feel sick about it.”
“I saw the chief today, and he didn’t say much of anything. Usually he’s pretty jovial, see. But today he was quiet, and everyone was asking, ‘What’s wrong with the chief?’ and I’m saying, ‘I couldn’t begin to guess,’ but, shit, I’m not guessing. I know. He’s got his own murder victim visiting on his couch, thawing out like a TV dinner. Good guys one, bad guys zero.”
“It was a good idea. Funny, anyway. Now he’s got the body.”
“Your friend Tad, he’s got a wicked mind.”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “He does. He’s a guy you don’t want for an enemy. He’s got this, what do you call it… sense of irony.”
“I’ll say.”
“Thing is,” Harry said, pulling Kayla closer, “what’s next?”
“We can try another position.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Do we have to think about that right now?”
“I guess not,” Harry said, and kissed her. “But do you ever think maybe this isn’t going to work out so well? Now that they have the body, they can maybe find some DNA on it, a smudge where I had hold of it. Seems like that shit’s all over the place.”
“You wore gloves. We all wore gloves. We were careful. DNA is real enough, but it isn’t magic. It’s not like those TV shows. Those things are science fiction.”
“Consider this, however. My life, my gift, so to speak. It’s pretty science fiction unto itself.”
“Point taken. But it was great getting something on that bastard, Harry. You got to understand, he killed my daddy. And that little sign, that was the kicker. ‘We know.’”
“You made a very good sign, no doubt. Very artsy-craftsy. But it still doesn’t look good for me. I can’t even go back to my apartment. I’m afraid it’ll be me next time, hanging from that light fixture. They haven’t stopped looking for me, to nail me semilegal or in some dark alley somewhere. In the end it’s all the same. I don’t get to do Christmas shopping this year.”
“I’m sorry, Harry. Guess I’m gloating over my little piece of revenge. But it isn’t over, baby. We got to keep thinking. Thing to do, is we got to turn it on them. Play it so smart and tight they won’t know me and Tad are connected to you. They don’t know you have allies. They don’t even know to look here, and I’m careful when I come over. I use my car, I park in the back. I can even fuck quieter I have to.”
“I wouldn’t want that.”
“Tad might.”
“He’s way down the hall. Thing is, Kayla, I’ve just got a feeling, you know, this sort of built-in shit detector telling me I’m fucked. And maybe you and Tad too. Like maybe we’re a whole lot too damn clever for our own good.”
Kayla rubbed her hand across his chest, and then lower. Her perfume filled Harry’s nostrils, made them flare. God, that sweet and musky smell. Wonderful.
“Well,” she said, “if it turns bad, what say let’s go out happy as we can make ourselves?”
56
Two days later, midnight, Harry and Tad sat at the living room table playing chess. So far Tad had whipped Harry’s ass twice and had eaten most of the taco chips, turning the bag toward himself, making Harry work for any he might want.
“You really need more practice,” Tad said.
“Chess, or capturing taco chips?”
“Both.”
“My mind is drifting.”
“You still need more practice. The knight—the horse, as you call it—doesn’t move in a fucking X pattern. I’ve told you that. And point his head in the direction of my men, not back toward you. It’s disconcerting. It’s like he’s riding backward.”
“Tad, there’s no knight on the horse. It’s just a horse’s head.”
“Have you no imagination?”
“Not that much.”
Tad turned the knight around so that it faced the proper direction.
Harry said, “Happy?”
“Fucking ecstatic. Listen here. No moment beyond the moment you’re in is known to you. You plan ahead, of course. You take precautions, but all you can do in between is live as best you can.”
“Is this like a lesson?”
“It is, grasshopper.”
“You’re saying life is preordained?”
“No. That’s stupid. I hear people say that, then I say, ‘Hey, you look both ways before you cross the street?’ And they say: ‘Sure, of course. I don’t want to get killed.’ And then I say, ‘If it’s all truly preordained? What’s it gonna matter, it’s all in the cards already?’ So much for predestination. We all have a built-in survival card and we play it whenever we need it. You can fuck with the deck, Harry. Sometimes really good, sometimes not so good. In the end, the game folds for everyone, but you can sure draw in some big pots before that moment.”
Before Harry could respond, his cell phone rang.
It was Kayla. Her voice was husky-sounding. “Come see me.”
“Aren’t you at work?”
“I’m at home.”
Harry walked outside, into the backyard. It was chilly and moonless.
“I don’t know I can go out,” Harry said. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I’ve got something I really need to show you. I can’t bring it there…. Something’s happened. It’ll be easier if you come here. Walk to your place, get your car, drive it over.”
“My car?”
“Yes.”
“That seems risky.”
“It is, a little, but I can’t come there. I’ve found something you’ve got to see, and I can only show it to you here.”
“Kayla, I don’t know. Why there?”
“I know what I’m asking. But if you’re careful, you’ll be okay. Don’t bring Tad. He would be in the way on this one. You have got to see this. I think it’s going to fix things for you. Make it quick.”
“Can’t you just bring it here?”
“It’s too heavy. Well, I could. But I’d be more likely to get caught than you, lugging it around.”
“It? Heavy?”
“Harry. Trust me.”
“Yeah…well…it’s a little mysterious.”
“Damned if I don’t know it. I wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t important, Harry. Trust me.”
“All right.”
“Harry?”
“Yes?”
“I know what I’m asking. Be careful. Be very careful.”
Tad looked up as Harry came back in. “Kayla, of course,” Tad said. The phone was in Tad’s name, and only three people had the cell phone number. Kayla, Harry’s mother, and himself. So it wasn’t much of a guess.
“Yeah. She was just telling me things could be working out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Nothing specific. I think she was trying to be encouraging.”
“Wasn’t I laying some philosophy on you when you left?”
“You were.”
