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“If they snitch to you, they’ll snitch on you. I can never forget that and I’m not good at acting. In what I do I have to act civilized in the company of many sleaze balls or out and out creeps. As I say, I’m not good at it.
“This one got in touch, said he had information. Solid gold. Keys to the bank solid. High value information, high explosive, too. Said he would only deal direct with me.
“He was told that wasn’t on the menu. Of course. But he insisted. Said that was the only way. So after that he was told we didn’t need his shit and we didn’t believe him anyway.
“Then he furnished some evidence. A little proof-of-concept. Some bona fides, you might say. Anyway, it was enough topersuade who he was talking to that he had something and that I should hear him.
“We set up three burner phones and got the call redirected from one to the next. All very elaborate. For extra safety, when I took the call I was on the inside of a boat, way out in Puget Sound. Seemed over the top, even to me. But on the other hand, I trust a snitch about as far as I can throw a truck at them.
“When he called, straight away he told me very unappetizing details about the habits and tastes of one particular councilman. The one heading up the zoning permissions on the Sky Table Resort development.
“When I went to meet the snitch, it was in a low-rent hotel lobby. I blended in about as well as a long-haired Burmese blue cat in the city dog pound. The snitch wasn’t there ahead of me.
“That really had me on hot coals. Snitches arrive early. Always. They want it done and they want their payoff. After five minutes on the sticky rug by the bar, I knew for sure that he wasn’t coming. Some of the bigger mutts in the bar were shaping up to form a pack around me by then.
“That’s when I saw her,” the memory makes me gasp, “Jado. I did a double-take. I knew that a PI had said he found her, but that was somewhere near Miami Beach. A very long way away.
“If that rat-faced bitch knew what was best for her complexion and general well-being, she would never even think about coming back here. She would be walking straight into a murder rap, as she well knew.
“If any one of us got hold of her, she’s wish the cops had taken her instead.
“But there she was. Bold as a jab in your eye. Right across the street. I thought it couldn’t be her. Surely. It must have been someone who looked like her and it triggered me.
“I remember as I stepped away from the bar, every man’s neck turned after me. They all got up to follow me as I dashedfor the door. Grunts and cackles and dirty laughs came after me and taunted me as I ran. I stopped and held myself back in the shadow of the doorway, craned my neck to look across the street.
“There she was, alright. Stretching, with one arm up and her eyebrows high. Smiling as she hailed a cab. Cabs are about as common here as honest attorneys, so that should have been a signal.
“I was distracted because she seemed to be looking my way. I ducked back, but it was like she was looking for me. When the cab pulled up alongside her, she bent to speak to the driver and opened the rear door, then she stopped to look around again.
“Her head turned in my direction and I ducked back into the doorway. I thought she was definitely looking for me, though, and she knew where to look.
“I should have put all that together. Joined the dots and seen the bigger picture. Daddy always told me, You see something that doesn’t look right, it’s not right. Stop and think why. Think what’s wrong.
“But I didn’t.”
I bite my lip.
“I just messaged Mikey to pick me up and, seconds later, when he slid the car up alongside me, I got in and told him to get after the cab.
“Two intersections down the street, a van comes straight at us. T-bones the car. Slams us across the street and into a mess of poles. If I’d been driving myself, at least Mikey wouldn’t have gotten injured.
“An ambulance is there, super fast. They haul me out of the back of the car, get me on a stretcher. Start pulling up my eyelids and flashing lights in. That’s to see if my pupils dilate, right? They do that to look for brain injury. An ER doctor told me that. If your pupils are reacting, then that’s a good sign.
“The ambulance races, swerving and bouncing with the sirens whooping when I start to realize, they only took me. How come? I didn’t see another ambulance there for Mikey, or for the driver of the van.
“While I’m trying to put it all together, a man in paramedic scrubs leans over me, pulling my eyes open. He’s asking me questions. Demanding answers. But even though he’s shouting right in my face, all that I can hear are muffled sounds. I can’t make out a word. And, while I can see him, at least while he pulls back my eyelids, I can’t move my eyes. I can’t even focus. He’s just a shape, swaying in my field of view.
“That’s when the second crash slams the ambulance, making it slew and tip. The paramedic spills on top of me as the whole cabin lurches until it falls on one side.
“The ambulance went over and fell on my side, so I’m tipped, face down, against the side wall, with the paramedic sprawled on my back.
“There’s a hammering and heavy clatter from outside, then some bangs and I hear the back door fall open. Men clamber in and the paramedic is dragged off me. He shouts, but his voice is cut off at the sound of a thud and a groan. Hands are pulling me, unstrapping me and carrying me out. Then I’m laid across the soft bench of another vehicle.
“Outside, a couple of whining shots crack through silencers and this new vehicle jumps forward.” I grip his arm. “I hear a voice. It sounds familiar. I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Have I been saved, or am I on the road to hell. Have I been taken by angels or devils?”
He takes a breath and a long moment. Then he pulls me close.
“Mrs.Jagofor fuck’s sake. Why the hell does her name keep on coming back? She shot Dad. There’s no doubt about that.” His eyes stay on me for a long beat. “It was her gun. The ammo box in her room was covered in her prints.” His head shakes. “That thing that you said up at the old house, that was confusion, right?”
