Out of the Black (7 page)

“First we make the call,” I said. “I want to get this over with.”

“We have to wait for Roach.”

“Why?”

Jay glanced back at the woman, then leaned in close and whispered. “She’s staying at the salon in case the police have questions. Once it’s all clear, she’ll meet us here and then we’ll call the old man and set up the exchange.”

“How long?”

“However long it takes.” Jay took the woman’s wallet from her purse and pulled out several bills. He counted them and slid them into his pocket. “Did she have anything else on her?”

“I didn’t check.”

“Maybe you should.”

“What happened to just driving?”

Jay looked at me. “You want me to do it?”

He dropped the wallet back in her purse and started toward her, but I stopped him.

“Forget it,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

I walked back to where the woman was sitting and knelt beside her. I checked her pockets, all empty.

Before I got up, I asked her if she needed anything.

Silence.

I started to ask her again, but then I heard an engine and the sound of tires passing over the gravel lot outside.

I got up and looked over at Jay. the lights’as

He nodded and put a finger to his lips.

A minute later, a car door slammed.

I walked over to where he was standing and said, “Who is that?”

Jay shook his head and opened the top desk drawer. There was a black .38 inside. He picked it up.

I wasn’t expecting the gun, and it took an instant to register what I was seeing. Once I did, I grabbed his arm and said, “You told me no guns.”

“First this.” Jay nodded toward the door. “Then we’ll talk.”

I stepped closer. “Put it back.”

“This isn’t the time to—”

Someone knocked.

For a moment, neither of us moved. Then I started for the door.

“Wait,” Jay said. “Don’t answer it.”

I ignored him. I knew if the police had found us, the last thing they’d do was knock.

Jay followed me to the door.

I leaned in close and said, “Who is it?”

A tiny voice. “Open the Goddamn door.”

I reached for the handle and pulled.

Rochelle stepped inside, rubbing her hands over her arms. “What the hell is wrong with you two? Don’t leave me standing out there like that.”

Her dark hair was tucked behind her ears, and she was wearing a thin, silver coat and skirt that ended closer to her waist than her knees. When I looked, I saw that the skin on her legs was almost blue.

“Next time get dressed before you go outside.”

“Are you being funny, Matt?” Rochelle’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not like you.”

I turned toward Jay and pointed at the gun. “You want to explain? I thought we talked about this.”

Jay lowered the gun, never taking his eyes off Roach. “You’re not supposed to be here. What about the cops?”

“They didn’t show.” She walked past us into the main room. When she saw the woman in the corner, she turned back and spoke softly. “The driver made a call, then drove away. I stuck around for twenty minutes then told everyone I felt sick and needed to go home. I don’t think anyone saw a thing.”

Jay smiled at me, and I could see the relief in his eyes. “Did I tell you?”

“What about the driver?” I asked. “Did he follow us?”

“He went east into town.” She pointed to the woman’s purse on the desk and looked at Jay. “Did you check?”

Jay nodded.

“How much?”

Jay reached into his pocket and handed her the money he’d pulled from the woman’s purse. Rochelle’s lips moved as she counted it. When she finished, she put her arms around his neck and whispered something to him that I couldn’t hear.

“Just hurry,” he said.

Roach folded the money and slid it into her jacket pocket. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

She started for the door.

“Wait, weX away., Matt. have to finish this.”

“Oh, right.” Roach reached into her pocket and took out a prepaid cell phone. She tossed it to Jay. “Wait until I get back. Let him stew for a while longer.”

“You got it.”

Roach blew Jay a kiss then walked out.

Once she was gone, I turned to him.

&# covering half

After an hour, I looked down at my watch and said, “Where the hell is she?”

“She’ll be here.”

“He’s going to call the police,” I said. “If he hasn’t already.”

“He won’t.”

“We have to make the call, now.”

Jay was sitting at the desk, leaning forward with his head resting on his arms. He didn’t say anything.

“Did you hear me?” I asked. “We’re running out of time. We’ve waited long enough.”

Jay exhaled long and slow, then pushed himself up and paced the room, ignoring me.

I watched him for a minute, then shook my head and said, “Jesus, look at you.”

It was hot in the warehouse, but Jay was shaking. His arms were folded tight in front of his chest, like he was trying to stay warm, and there were tiny beads of sweat on his skin, running down his face.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Just cold.”

“Goddamn it.” I leaned against the workbench. “I knew it.”

“I said I’m fine.”

I turned and slammed my fist against the top of the bench. The sound was loud, and Jay jumped.

The woman in the corner didn’t flinch.X want to “How do you know that?”

“I’m done waiting,” I said. “Give me the phone.”

“Hold on.” He held up his hands. “We’re on schedule. It’s just now starting to get dark. We can’t do anything until then anyway, so—”

“I can’t believe I trusted you,” I said. “I knew you’d find a way to fuck this up, but I bought into it anyway.”

“Once Roach gets back, we’ll make the call. Everything will work out, you’ll see.”

“She’s not coming back.”

“She’ll be here.”

“If you think I’m just going to sit here and wait for the cops to show up, you’re out of your mind.”

Jay stared at me, his eyes darting back and forth between mine. “You want to make the call?” He reached into his pocket and took out a white business card and held it out. “The phone’s on the desk.”

“No, you call and I drive. Like we agreed, remember?”

Jay slipped the card into his pocket. “I’m not calling until Roach is back.”

I bit down hard on the insides of my cheeks to keep from screaming, then looked over at the old woman. She hadn’t moved in a while, but I knew she was listening to every word we said.

I turned to Jay and shook my head. It took every bit of self-control I had to walk away.

“Where are you going?”

I didn’t answer, and I didn’t look back. I was afraid if I did, if I had to look at Jay’s face one more time, I’d end up killing him.

I walked down the hall to the front door and kicked it open. Once outside, the cold wind coming off the river cut through me, clearing my head.

I had a decision to make.

The longer we waited, the more dangerous the situation became. If the driver didn’t call the police from the scene, it was safe to assume the cops weren’t involved, at least not yet. That meant the old man was expecting a call.

He was waiting, but for how long?

I crossed the lot to the van and leaned against the far side, out of the wind, and cursed myself for not seeing this coming. Every part of me had known signing on with Jay was a bad idea, but I went along anyway. I gambled with my life and my freedom, but worse than that, I gambled with Anna.

If I got caught, I wouldn’t see my daughter again until she was an adult, a completely different person. They’d take her childhood from me, and I’d only have myself to blame.

No matter what, I couldn’t let that happen.

I stayed outside for a while longer, fighting the urge to climb in the van and drive away. In the end, I decided to stay and make sure the woman was safe. Everything had to go as planned, and if that meant stepping up and taking charge, that’s what I was going to do.

When I went back inside, Jay was sitting at the desk, rocking back and forth in the chair. When he saw me, he stood and smiled. “I thought you left.”

I took the cell phone off the desk and held out my hand. “Give me the number.”

“Roach isn’t back yet.”

“I’m not came around the corneranasi b waiting.”

“This is my call, Matt. Remember, we—”

I stepped closer. “Give me the number or I’ll take it from you.”

Jay looked up at me but didn’t move.

“You know I can do it,” I said.

For an instant, I thought he was going to take a swing at me. Part of me hoped he would. My muscles were wound so tight they felt like they were going to snap, and after all that’d happened, it would’ve been a pleasure to take some of that tension out on him.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he reached into his pocket for the card. Before he took it out, he turned toward the door, cocked his head to the side. “Listen.”

At first I didn’t hear anything, then I did.

Someone was pulling up outside.

“See?” Jay smiled. “I told you.”

Jay met Roach at the door. I stayed by the desk, turning the cell phone over in my hands. I could hear them talking in the hallway, but it was all whispers, and I didn’t catch anything.

When they came into the room, Rochelle pushed past me and sat at the desk. She had a brown paper bag in her hand. She opened it and took out a thick blue rubber band and two thin syringes.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I looked over at Jay. “This is what we’ve been waiting for?”

Jay was leaning against the wall, his face wet with sweat. Every part of him seemed to tremble.

I crossed the room and pulled him away from the wall, then slammed him back against it again, hard. A thin mist of dust fell around us, and when I let him go, he lost his balance and slipped to the ground.

“Jesus, Matt.”

I walked back to the desk. Rochelle was staring at me, and when I got close, she stood and stepped away, her hands out in front of her.

“Don’t touch me.”

I looked down at Jay. “You told me this wasn’t going to be a problem.”

“It’s not.” He stumbled over his words. “I mean it won’t be, it isn’t—”

“Do you know the kind of shit we’ll be in if we’re caught? Do you have any idea what’s at stake?”

Rochelle laughed.

I turned on her. “This is on you. This has always been on you.”

“He’s a big boy. He can make his own decisions.” She looked me up then down. “When did you get so uptight? I don’t remember you being
this
bad.”

“Junkies put me on edge.”

“Fuck you.”

I stepped closer to her then felt Jay’s hand on my arm. I shook it off. “Get your hand off me.”

He did.

“Come on, Matt. Calm down.”

“Give me the number.”

Jay looked past me to Roach, then shook his head. “It’s too soon. I want him to sweat. I the lightnes out of ’ll call in a few minutes and then we’ll—”

I swung, putting all my weight behind the punch, and connected just beneath Jay’s ribs. I felt something give, and he dropped, struggling for breath.

Roach closed on me, slapping me, screaming.

“Don’t fucking touch him.”

I put my hand on her chest and pushed her away. She hit the desk chair, tripped, and fell backward, hitting the ground hard. She stayed there, staring up at me.

I bent down and started digging through Jay’s pockets until I found the business card with the old man’s number.

Jay moved to his knees, still struggling to breathe.

I stood over him. “Once this is done, you and I are through. I don’t want to see you or hear from you again.”

Outside, the snow had started to fall, and the wind came off the river in sharp, freezing gusts. I pulled my coat tight as I crossed the gravel lot to my van. I got in and tossed the gun into the glove compartment. Then I started the engine and turned on the heat.

My hands were shaking from the adrenaline, and I squeezed them together tight. I could feel the tension racing through me, and I slammed my fist against the steering wheel again and again, trying to let it out.

It didn’t work.

Every bad thing I knew about Jay had shown itself. I’d hoped he was different since coming out of prison. But he wasn’t, and now it was up to me to do damage control.

If there was a way to fix the situation, I couldn’t see it, and the more I thought about it, the worse it all seemed. I couldn’t take the woman home, and I couldn’t walk away and leave her with Roach and Jay.

I was stuck.

I knew I had to make sure she was safe, and that meant everything from here on had to go as planned. The only way out that I could see was to keep moving forward.

I had to make the call.

But first, I needed to calm down.

I leaned back in the seat and counted each breath, trying to clear my head. Outside, there was a long line of cottonwood trees stretching along the road leading down to the river. Their branches were stripped bare by the season, and they stood, black and cold, silhouetted against the white sky like deep cracks in the surface of the world.

I stared at them for a long time.

Eventually I felt my muscles begin to relax, and soon the world slipped back into focus.