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She said, “Family’s got to come for you when no one else will.”
He took out his cell phone and waved it at her to remind her to keep it near her and on, and Ma
They drove down the long, empty rows of doors and found the unit they had rented, number 181. They angled the car in and got out, and Ma
“You’re going to play that number?”
Ma
When they were done they shared a bottle of water, their faces lined with sweat. Ma
Ray put one of the flashlights up against his chin and made a moaning noise like a ghost in an old radio program. “It is later than you think.”
Ma
“Something my old man used to do.”
“Christ, what, to help you sleep?”
Ray turned the light on the floor. “Yeah, he was a charmer. It was something from an old TV show. Used to scare the shit out of me.”
Ma
Ray said, “Guess we can’t stay here forever.”
“Nah. It’s too fucking hot, for one thing.”
“We had it sewed for a while there, huh? Set ’em up and knock ’ em down. How did things get so fucked up?”
Ma
“We had it under control before. If it wasn’t for that fucking Rick, or that moron Da
“Oh, will you please? If it wasn’t those two it would have been one of the tweakers. Somebody was going to go for a gun eventually. Somebody was going to dime us to the cops or just come to our houses in the middle of the night.” He stabbed the air with his cigarette. “You think, what? Shit can’t go wrong cause you’re smarter than they are? Cause you got a plan?”
“I used to think that. I used to be one smart motherfucker.” He watched a bee hover in the light from under the door, jinking back and forth, looking for an angle on something it wanted. “Now I don’t know shit.” He took the keys to the padlock out of his pocket and gave one to Ma
“Listen, I got to say this out loud. You think there’s any point in giving the money back?”
“Only if you want to be standing still when they kill you.”
“Yeah.”
“You heard that fucking guy’s voice. What do you think he’s going to do? Say thanks and no hard feelings?”
Ray shook his head. He couldn’t say he saw it any different. He shifted on the cement. “If anything happens, we… split up or you don’t know what happened to me, just leave my bag here for a month and then come back and give the rest to Theresa.”
“You don’t have to say it.”
“I know. See, I’m making the possibility that you could lose track of me but I could still be alive. Just by saying it out loud.”
“You think that’s how it works?” Ma
“No, not necessarily. You could’ve just gotten real busy doing something else and the money just slipped your mind.”
“I think you slipped your mind. Look, Ray, we’re just a couple of lowlifes. Guys like us, we make our run and we go out. We get locked up, we get killed.” Kilt, the way Ma
“Did we? I don’t remember going in, is the thing. It was like I was born in.”
“Yeah, well, I never got what you were doing anyway.” Ma
“I was? Why didn’t someone tell me before?”
Ma
“Maybe.”
“Anyway, you were always good company, and who wants to do this shit alone?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
AN HOUR AND a half later they were coming off of 202 in Malvern. The sky was full of clouds, white and dark blue moving across the sun. Things could go either way, more rain or more sun. There was a breeze, but it was just hot air moving. Ray kept trying Da
The house where Da
They both got out and left the doors of the 4Ru
Ma
Ray held the Colt behind his leg and walked to the front door. He looked back at Ma
They stood for a minute. Ray blotted at the sweat at his temple with the back of his free hand. He knocked again, this time banging the butt of the pistol against the door. After a minute he tried the door and found it unlocked. He looked back at Ma