That is not comforting to me in the least, Stoney,’ she said. She sat across from him in the heavy armchair. Closed her eyes. ‘I can’t believe this has happened. This had a bad vibe from the beginning and I ignored it.’ She opened her eyes. ‘You’ve fucked up my aura, Stoney.’
‘You still have the emerald?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where is it?’
‘Safe.’
‘Alex wants it. He’s not going to give up. I told him one lie about where it was, but he didn’t buy it.’
She gave a little shudder. ‘Why did you get involved with this guy?’
‘A truly legit contract archaeologist wouldn’t have agreed to do the dig. Alex did. And he’ll do the re-dig on your land, make all the records and processes look clean.’ He paused. ‘You know your boyfriend came to see me.’
‘Oh, God.’
‘He knew I’d met Patch those couple of times.’
‘Oh, God.’
‘I said Patch was just an acquaintance. He believed me.’
‘I want you to stay away from Whit,’ she said.
He got up, sat on the armchair’s arm next to her, put his arm around her. She felt good. He liked Lucy, her pert little nose, blue eyes, little barely visible freckles on her cheeks. Nice tits beneath the blouse, he thought, wondering if maybe those little kissable freckles were down there, too. He’d thought about what it’d be like to bed her, if she ever got over that judge and gave him a real glance.
‘It’s gonna be okay,’ he said, patting her. ‘I sure don’t have a thing against him.’
She stiffened under his hand. ‘So now what?’
‘Alex might be a problem. Not just for me. For you. Or for your boyfriend,’ he said. He had to be careful, not panic her overmuch. She might crack and run to Whit or to the police, even if it cost her everything. He ran a thumb along her shoulder blade.
She shrugged his hand off.
‘Sorry, just trying to be a help.’ He leaned back. ‘I know you’re upset – you got every right.’
‘I don’t want you to ever touch me, Stoney. You understand?’
‘Sure, Lucy.’
‘I love Whit.’
‘I know you do. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to be a friend.’
‘You let Alex kill my uncle and Thuy and you want to be my friend?’
‘I couldn’t stop him,’ he said and then he had an idea, not a bad one at all, to solve his problems. It might work. ‘Lucy. That gum. You really know how to use it?’
She narrowed her gaze. ‘Why?’
‘Like I said, Alex might be a problem.’
‘You said you need him for the fake dig.’
‘Sure. But he’s gotten real unpredictable. Maybe if he doesn’t want to do the fake dig on your land, just wants to take off, well, he might decide to hurt me. Or you, if he finds out someone else has the Devil’s Eye. And he knows Whit talked to me. He might hurt Whit. I don’t know.’
She stared. ‘You want me to shoot Alex.’
‘I want us to be careful, sweetheart. We get through this, we both get what we want. You get your money, you get out of your debts, you get Whit.’
‘I don’t know I want to sell you my land anymore, Stoney. And I think I have Whit-’
‘Until he finds out about what you’ve done. Then he’ll be gone, Lucy.’
‘I want out. This isn’t what I signed on for, Stoney.’
‘Can’t, Lucy. Train left the station.’ He went back to the couch, smiled at her, thinking, And I will fucking touch you when I please when all this is done. ‘I’m not suggesting you kill Alex, Lucy. Clearly not. Just want you to be careful. I mean, he thinks Whit’s a threat to him, he’s going to come after him. We’re kind of pretending that I’ve been kidnapped right now-’
‘What?’
‘Just calm down. I don’t want to go into the why. But the last person who saw me was your boyfriend. Alex considers him a threat.’
Lucy stared at the gun in her lap.
‘You know how to use it?’ he asked again.
‘Patch showed me,’ she said. ‘When I was a lot younger.’
‘Alex is staying at a little motel on the outskirts of Port Leo. The Sandspot. You know it?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Room 133.’
She didn’t say anything, looked down at her fingers closed around the gun.
‘Well, now you know where he’s at, sweetheart,’ Stoney said. ‘The rest is up to you.’
26
The little prostitute was sitting on the flying bridge of Don’t Ask, munching an apple, apparently enjoying the late-afternoon breeze and the shade.
‘Where’s Gooch?’ Whit called as he came aboard.
‘He said he had to hunt down someone,’ Helen Dupuy said.
Hunt down. Not a good sign. ‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. He said he’d call in a bit. He said it was okay for me to be here.’
She had decided he was an enemy. He sat next to her, kicked his sandals off. ‘I’m sure it is. You’re his guest.’
She finished her apple, wiped her hands.
‘Do you normally get on planes with men you barely know?’
‘That’s a really stupid question,’ she said. She seemed a little less intimidated by him out of the robe. ‘What do you think?’
‘You’re either very trusting or you’re very naive or-’
‘Or maybe I just want to help Gooch get the guy who hurt me.’
‘Okay.’
‘You think I’m not good enough to be his friend. I can tell he told you what I do. You changed the way you look at me.’
‘Gooch has the widest range of friends of anyone I’ve ever known.’
‘He’s nice. Really nice.’
‘When he wants to be. Don’t get on his bad side.’
‘I bet I seen more bad sides than you have.’
‘So how long are you staying?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t have to rush back.’
‘You don’t have a pimp?’
‘I have a manager. Gooch explained to him I had a civic duty to come help.’
‘Oh, Lord.’
‘I’m not a streetwalker,’ she said. She drank from a glass of water. ‘I got a regular clientele. Blue-collar guys. Most of ’em aren’t even married.. They just can’t afford to spend a ton of money buying drinks for stuck-up girls who won’t give ’em none.’
‘More civic duty.’
‘You want my help or should I just leave now?’
‘I want your help, Helen.’
