hint of improper procedural behavior, even as a private citizen, can hang over your head,’ Vernetta said. ‘Don’t screw with your career. You can always get a new friend.’ She paused. ‘Are you sleeping with this guy?’
‘No,’ Claudia said. ‘We’ve been through a lot together. He’s a good guy.’
‘The good ones are worth a certain amount of grief,’ Vernetta said. ‘But not beyond a certain amount.’ She started to get out, then shut the door again. ‘I can promise nothing to you. Understand that. But the DA would love to get the Bellinis if he could. If your friend has information but isn’t coming forward because he’s broken the law himself…’
‘Whit never would,’ Claudia said.
‘I’m just saying,’ Vernetta said. ‘We could talk immunity. It’s not granted often, and it’s solely the DA’s decision. No guarantees. But it could be a starting point. Think about it.’
Vernetta got out, shut the door, and went to her house, and Claudia watched her go inside, envying her certainty in always knowing what was exact and right.
Greg Buckman. If Gomez was reluctant to act, she wasn’t. Life was a series of choices, and the best choices you made were to help the people you cared about. Claudia made her choice. She pulled out into traffic, the beginnings of a plan forming in her mind.
35
‘What do you mean, you don’t have them?’ Paul screamed into his phone.
‘I mean we don’t have them. They got away.’ Bucks paused. ‘And Eve shot Jerry Smacks. Left him dead in the hotel’s back lot.’ Bucks let the lie settle in, let Paul sweat under the weight of everything crashing and burning for a change. ‘Gonna bring big heat if the cops connect Jerry to us. Not to mention we barely got off the highway alive.’
‘How could you not have them?’ Paul demanded.
Bucks wondered for a second: why did I pick you for a friend? Then he decided he hadn’t picked Paul, Paul had picked him, because the weak were drawn to the strong. That’s what made leaders great. Chad Channing had a whole tape about strength.
‘This isn’t acceptable, Bucks,’ Paul said.
‘Paul, I’m real open to suggestions. They’re gone. It’s over. They’ve got you over a barrel.’ You. Not we. He wondered if Paul would notice. ‘Chad Channing says you got to recognize destructive behaviors and cut your losses…’
‘You know, Bucks, fuck Chad Channing,’ Paul said. ‘Fuck him and every tape he ever made. Call Kiko. I want a summit meeting. We’re gonna strike a new deal.’
‘You don’t have a negotiating chip,’ Bucks said.
‘I have guns that can be placed at heads.’ Paul’s voice rose, at the edge of a scream. ‘Call Kiko. Get him here. He can bring Jose, but that’s all. Tell them I’ve got the money now.’
‘You aren’t going to whack him?’
‘I am. I am. It’s what Dad would’ve done.’
‘This is an extremely bad idea,’ Bucks said.
‘We kill Jose to show we mean business, we torture Kiko, he tells us where the coke’s at. Then we kill his greaser ass.’
‘And you bring his associates down on you like a nuclear bomb,’ Bucks said.
‘They’re in Florida. That’s tomorrow’s problem.’
‘All right,’ Bucks said. ‘I’ll set up a meeting with Kiko.’
‘At the club, he won’t be suspicious coming there. We’ll bring him back to the house. And do it right, Bucks, because right now you’re the biggest single dumbass on the planet.’ He hung up.
Gooch was laid out on the bed in front of Paul. Unconscious. He roused slightly and Paul turned up the Frank Polo tape somebody had left in the bedroom stereo, letting ‘Baby, You’re My Groove’ thunder down the hallway as he worked Gooch over as though he were a punching bag. Face, ribs, stomach, arms. His knuckles hurt, but that pop of flesh against flesh made him happy, let out his tensions. Gooch seemed unconscious again. Doc Brewer came in and very gently shook his head at Paul.
‘He needs to wake up, I got to talk to him,’ Paul said.
‘He’s taken a bullet in the back of the head.’
‘There ain’t no hole, how bad hurt could he be?’
Brewer gave Gooch another injection. Checked the man’s eyes, breathing. ‘You want him to give you information. Then let him recover enough to talk. Beating him is making things worse.’
‘What’d you give him?’
‘My own home brew of cool-you-downs. Do you need a little shot, Paul?’
‘Smack. Give him some smack or something to hype him up hard. A big dose. I want him talking. I want his fucking mouth running away from him.’
‘Leave him alone, Paul. Please, for a minute, let him recover-’
Paul’s fists hurt but he still popped Doc Brewer a hard one. The doctor fell to the floor. ‘Stimulants. Get him conscious and talking. Now. Or I just start mixing shit in your bag and jabbing a needle in your old ass.’
‘Paul?’ Tasha said behind him. She turned down the Frank tape that was playing, helped Doc Brewer to his feet. ‘Let the doctor do his work. Gooch can’t tell you anything valuable right now. Come downstairs with me. Let me calm you with a little massage, sweetpea.’
Bucks clicked off the phone. He stayed still on the couch, watching Kiko and Jose’s amused expressions, hating them as much as he hated Paul. ‘He’s having a bad day,’ Bucks said. ‘He wants to kill you at a meeting.’
‘His day’s gonna get way worse,’ Jose said.
‘Tell him the deal’s off.’ Kiko jerked his head at Jose. ‘Go get that bitch talking.’ Jose got up without a word, headed back to the bedroom.
Bucks didn’t like to hear screams or begging. It made him remember his friends, briefly pleading for their lives in the little house in Galveston. Unpleasant.
‘I got to settle with MacKay,’ Bucks said. ‘Give a bonus to the Wart, too, so he’ll keep his mouth shut and won’t go work for Paul.’
‘Smart move you made,’ Kiko said. ‘Can this MacKay be trusted?’
‘He could have run to Paul when I told him I wanted his help to grab Eve, not kill her or turn her over to Paul. He didn’t. I didn’t cut a deal with the Wart, but he seems cool. As long as he gets paid for his efforts.’
Kiko slid him a thin brick of cash. ‘We’ll give ’em a bonus when she spills about the money. They did good work. Another thousand for each.’
Bucks reached for the money; Kiko covered it with his hand. ‘Bucks. You picked sides. Ours. Don’t forget that.’
‘I won’t. If she talks…’
‘You want to know where the money is, don’t you?’ Kiko said.
‘Yes.’
‘That money,’ Kiko said, ‘really isn’t your concern any more. Don’t worry. You’re gonna get a nice little cut.’
‘Great, Kiko, thank you.’ Bucks cleared his throat. ‘The film of me and my – friends, um, I’ve done what you asked. Give me the film. You promised. Please.’ He hated himself for adding on that desperate word, but he did.
‘After we have the money. That was the deal.’ Kiko gave a little smile, waved Bucks away with his fingers. ‘You don’t want to change the deal, do you? That wouldn’t be fair.’
Bucks nodded, fighting the red rising in his cheeks. He wasn’t quite out the door when Eve let out her first scream, and he closed it fast behind him.
‘You sure you want to hit Kiko?’ Tasha asked.
‘Yeah.’ Paul rose from the bed, paced around the room, worked his shoulders loose. ‘Yeah. Forget this peaceful-coexistence crap.’
