should talk.'
'Okay.'
'Jennifer and I are having some trouble.'
'You mean, this isn't official police business?'
Riggens went back to the couch and sat down. 'It could be, you want. We could have information that you been up to something. We could even find a snitch to back it up. That would look real good for your license.'
Thurman's face went dark and he said, 'Shut up, Floyd.'
Riggens spread his hands. What?
Thurman came to the front of my desk and sat in the right-side director's chair. He leaned forward when he sat and stared at me the way you stare at someone when you're trying to figure out how to say something you don't want to say. 'I'm here for personal reasons, and they have to do with me and Jennifer. You want to pretend she wasn't here, that's fine. I understand that. But we still have to talk. See?'
'Okay.'
Riggens went, 'Jesus Christ, get on with it.'
Thurman's face clouded again and he once more looked at Riggens and said, 'If you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to clock you, Floyd.' Enough's enough.
Riggens frowned and crossed his arms and drew himself into kind of a knot. Drunk enough to be pissed, but sober enough to know that he'd stepped over the line. These guys were something.
Thurman turned back to me and sat there, his mouth working. He was having trouble with it, and he didn't strike me as a guy who'd have trouble with a lot. He made a little blowing move with his lips, then laced his fingers and leaned forward. 'We followed her because she's been pressing me pretty hard about some stuff, and I knew she'd try something like this. She's pretty strong-willed, and she gets a head on about things, if you know what I mean.'
Riggens made a snorting sound, then recrossed his arms and put his feet up on the little coffee table I have in front of the couch. I didn't like it, but I didn't say anything.
Thurman said, 'Jennifer and I have been going together since we were kids. I've been acting kind of distant with her for the past couple of months and I haven't told her why, and Jennifer has it figured that I'm mixed up in something. I know that's what she talked to you about, because that's what she talks to me about. Only, that isn't it at all.'
'No?'
'No.' Mark Thurman looked down at his feet and worked his jaw harder and then he looked up at me. 'I've got another girlfriend.'
I stared at him.
'I knew that if she hired someone, they'd find out and tell her, and I don't want that. Do you see?'
I said, 'Another woman.'
He nodded.
'You've been seeing another woman and Jennifer knows something is up, but she doesn't know what. And you're trying to head me off so I won't blow the whistle.'
He nodded again.
Riggens uncurled his arms and pushed up from the couch. 'You don't need to know anything else. The word is that you're a straight shooter and we're looking for a break. It was me I'd slap the bitch down and move on, but he doesn't want to play it that way. Why don't you give the kid a hand?'
I said, 'Jesus Christ, Riggens, why'd you come along? Moral support?'
Riggens said, 'No one's trying to muscle you, smart guy. Everyone's playing straight up.' Riggens jerked his head toward Thurman. 'Tell him we're playing straight up.'
Mark Thurman looked back at me, only now there was a lost quality to his eyes. 'I didn't want you telling Jennifer. When it comes, it's got to come from me.' He was leaning forward so far I thought he'd fall out of the chair. 'Do you see?'
'Sure. I see.'
'It's personal. That's how it should stay.'
'Sure.'
Riggens said, 'No one's asking you to turn down the fee. Just play it smart. Do us the favor and someday you'll get a payback'
'But I can keep the fee.'
'No problem.'
I looked at Thurman. 'Some right guy you've got as a partner, Thurman, saying it's okay for me to stiff your girlfriend.'
Riggens said, 'Fuck you,' and banged out. Thurman sat in the director's chair, not saying anything, and then he pushed himself up. He was twenty-four years old and he looked like a baby. When I was twenty-four I looked a million years old. Vietnam. He said, 'You do what you want, Cole. No one's telling you what to do. But I'm asking you not to tell her what I said. I get ready, I should be the one tells her. Shouldn't I?'
'Sure.'
'I just got to work this out, that's all I'm saying.' Like he was in the principal's office, like he had been caught
