Page 38 of A Handsome Devil

Gunning said, “Gummies seem much less harmful to patients.” We knew that, because we gave prescription gummies to patients at the Establishment Club to wean them off the hard stuff. “They think it’s candy.”

Erin rolled her eyes. “Especially if they can’t remember anything.”

I said, “Maybe people die at Pine Valley, and Bridge keeps taking the Medicare money.”

Erin asked, “I wonder where they put all the bodies?” She was always a tough cookie. She sure was delving deep into this story.

Gunning’s phone lit up his face as he thumbed it. “I’m gonna find us a place to rent near Needles. Someone who doesn’t care who we are. Camping out is getting ridiculous.” His hands trembled with cold.

“At least here we have a can,” said Denmark. But the toilet’s water didn’t run, so we couldn’t even wash our hands.

Alessio stood in slo-mo. “Holy fuck.”

“What?” I asked, standing too.

He gazed at everyone. “Jack Hoffman. He’s found us.”

I looked at his phone screen. It resembled a regular text to Alessio’s probably fifth burner phone. I read aloud. “Alessio, congrats! You hid for a whole week. But I put a dynamic geofence for your phone heading east from Livermore. I saw you at the school in Barstow, where I am now. And now you’re in an industrial area in Ash Hill.”

Denmark jumped to his feet, fingers outspread. “What? The? Fuck?”

“What’s a geofence?” cried Erin.

We all looked around us, as if the walls had eyes. Then we freaked.

I stupidly picked up the flashlight without thinking. Erin and Denmark ran toward one door. Gunning ran to the bathroom door. Alessio and I ran to the rollup door that we’d left three feet open. The light bobbed, creating a flickering show of open mouths, splayed hands, and boots hitting the floor.

I was halfway scrunched down, ready to spring out the rollup, when Alessio shouted, “Hold. Hold.” Like we were all puppies.

We held. Gunning was the only one who’d already slammed the bathroom door shut behind him. The four of us gaped at Alessio. He snatched the flashlight from me, swooshing it over our bodies.

“Hold. This could be good.”

“How?” bawled Erin.

Alessio shined the light onto the ceiling so we were all showered with a gentle glow, believers at a manger. “He said he wanted to meet us. He’s often said he’s not going to get us in trouble.”

“And we believe him?” whispered Denmark. “Who believes anyone anymore?”

“Hear me out. He’s a journalist. And like Erin said, news sources survive on our types of stories. Not articles about a sports bar closing, which bills passed, or affordability.”

Erin made a lip fart. “Who wants to read about that?”

“So I’m gonna go with the idea that he’s gonna help us. Of course, he’s gonna blow up the internet with his stories, gain even more visibility, go viral. But I really think he has no interest in having us arrested.” He turned to me. “Tru? You good with that?”

I had to believe him. We’d talked about it many times. Hoffman gained nothing if he fucked with us. He seemed to be sincerely on our side. “I’m good. So you don’t need a new burner?”

“Nah! Let me keep this one. Let him follow us to Pine Valley Senior Living. Then he can see for himself what the fuck this Pleasant Bridgewater is up to.”

Denmark pointed at the floor. “But only after we’ve done with that jackoff! I don’t want to get mobbed by a trillion net rats. And we definitely don’t want them overrunning the old folks.”

“Yeah,” I said, “we’ll have to figure that out with Hoffman. Like, he can video us or whatever, but not say where we are.”

Erin said, “Pretend we went back north.”

Alessio liked that. “Yeah! He can say we’re heading to Reno or something. In the meantime, we can make our case, tell that we’re chasing down corrupt doctors dosing seniors with tranq. That part’s fine. You’re right, Denmark. We don’t want a billion stans flooding Needles.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s find a place to stay near Needles and leave your phone there while we go to Pine Valley.”