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When we were done, we had dinner at the Glasgow. We sat by the fire. My hands were sore from the cold and the hard work and from hitting them with the goddamned hammer. When it was late enough, I wished everyone a good night and went back home. The phone was ringing when I opened the door, so at least I didn’t have to sit there again like a high school kid.

“Alex,” she said, “tell me what you did today.”

“Never mind me. What happened with the undercover thing?”

“Please. You first. I want to hear about you so I can clear my head a little.”

“What’s there to say? I worked on the cabin with Vinnie.”

“Tell me everything. What did you do?”

She wasn’t going to let me go, so I told her the spellbinding tale of how we nailed on some more wooden shingles.

“Is it still cold there?”

“It’s unbelievable,” I said. “I’ve never seen it like this before. It’s almost July.”

“It was actually kinda nice here. It was a great day for making new friends.”

“How did it go down?”

“Good, good. I think. I don’t know.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“I was in the coffee shop. I was sitting at a corner table, with a laptop. We had one car parked on the street outside, couple of guys in plain clothes. One with a newspaper, the other with a cell phone. She usually stops in around nine or nine thirty, so I was there at eight thirty, just to be sure.”

“Were you nervous?”

“No, not at all. Terrified, maybe. But not nervous.”

“I got it. So go on.”

“I was sitting there for an hour. By nine thirty, there was no sign of her. I kept sitting there, waiting. I was thinking maybe she wasn’t going to stop in today. Or maybe, hell, it’s crazy but I was wondering if she made us before she even opened the door. Just smelled something funny and kept walking.”

“There’s no way.”

“I know. I’m just saying, it’s the kind of thing that goes through your head. Anyway, it was almost ten, so I figured we’d have to shut it down. Then she came in. You should have seen her, Alex. She had this white jacket on, black skirt, this blouse that was sort of like a Dalmatian print. Like that woman in the movie. What was her name?”

“What movie?”

“With the Dalmatians. Cruella De Vill. Like her. Except younger. And better looking.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Black-and-white shoes. She even had a white streak in her hair. She was just so…put together. Like it was almost too much but not quite. Somehow it looked good on her.”

“What were you wearing?”

“Oh, I was all in black. They bought me this nice black suit, with a short skirt. Black stockings, shoes, the works.”

“I’m trying to picture that,” I said. I had a strong suspicion she looked pretty great dressed like that. It gave me a hollow feeling in my gut.

“They got me a real Coach bag, too. Black, of course. The idea was to show a little flash, but I don’t know. Seeing her walk in, I felt totally outclassed.”

“There’s no woman on this earth who could outclass you, Natalie.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Well…”

“Keep going.”

“She generally doesn’t spend much time there. She gets her coffee and leaves. So I made like I was coming back to get a refill. I was standing right behind her. You should have smelled this perfume, Alex. It smelled almost like Opium, but the top note was different.”

“You’re losing me now.”

“Sorry, it’s just that…I mean, it’s funny how much you notice when all your senses are on red alert, you know?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I waited a few seconds, and then I said, ‘You’re Rhapsody.’ She turned around, and she said, ‘Do I know you?’ She was pretty cold about it, too. Like she wasn’t sure if I was wasting her time. I said, ‘I hit Kingston right around the time you left. I saw you around for a few days.’”

“Kingston?”

“The women’s penitentiary. In Kingston, Ontario. It’s closed down now. But the backstory was that I was going in the same week she was going out. Like five years ago.”

“What were you in for?”

“Jailhouse etiquette is not to ask that question, even when you get out. But if it came up, I was in for grand theft and assault.”

“I can see that.”

“Yeah, thanks. Anyway, the whole point of today was for me to just say hello, let her know I recognized her. So maybe the next day, if I was there again-”

“You could strike up another conversation.”

“That was the idea. But she came right out and asked me what I was doing in town, if I lived there now. I told her no, I was just in town for a few days, working on putting a deal together.”

“A deal?”

“Yeah. She asked what business I was in. I said, ‘Personal protection.’”

“Very nice.”

“Then I said, ‘How about you?’ She said, ‘Oh, I’m into all sorts of things these days. It’s good to be diverse, don’t you think?’”

“She said that?”

“She was so smooth, Alex. And here I am with my knees knocking together.”

“Natalie-”

“I had a good exit line, though. As she was leaving, I said to her, ‘Nice shoes.’ You think Resnik would have thought of that?”

“Natalie, are you sure about all of this? I mean, what’s supposed to happen next?”

“Eventually, if we get to it, I’m going to be there in Toronto, trying to move some guns across the border. I’ll have a supplier in Michigan, and I’ll be trying to connect with the right person so I can put a deal together. I’ll be staying at the downtown Hilton with my muscle.”

“Your muscle?”

“Yeah, Resnik gets to play that part. He’s about six foot five, and he looks like he could wrestle a grizzly bear. He’s a real good guy, though. Ordinarily, you’d expect him to resent me for coming in and taking over the lead role. But he’s been fine with it.”

“Natalie, I’m sorry, but this all sounds crazy to me.”

“You sound like my CO now.”

“Your CO thinks it’s crazy, too? Oh, that’s a good sign.”

“He’s just looking out for me, Alex. A few days ago, I was the new kid on the block. Now I’m going undercover.”

“You’re undercover, all right. If this goes any further, you’re gonna be about as deep undercover as you can get.”

“They’ll take over a whole floor of the hotel, Alex. There’ll be men in the rooms on both sides, and across the hall. Cameras, microphones, the whole deal. I’ll be the safest woman in Toronto.”

“Yeah, until the bad guys show up.”

“They had another homicide today,” she said. “Out in Regent Park, with a gun from the States. That’s twelve already this year. Twelve people shot dead and it’s not even July yet.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but-”

“They told me I could keep the clothes when we’re done. Not bad, eh? What do you think?”

What I thought was that she was making jokes about it because she had no idea what she was getting into. That she was even more scared than I was, if that were even possible.

“Natalie, for God’s sake. Are you gonna be careful?”

“Of course I am. When we’re all done here, you’re going to come out and visit me, right?”

“Sure. Of course I will.”

“I’ve got to go to bed now, Alex. I need to meet with everybody again first, then get ready for another meet at the coffee shop.”

“You’re gonna call me tomorrow night?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’ll try to call if I get a chance. But things might happen fast here. Once I get in the hotel, we’ll be pretty much working this thing around the clock. It’s like my whole life will be on hold for a while.”

“I understand. Call me when you can.”

“I will. Just don’t wait up for me, okay? It’s going to be hard enough.”

“Hard enough? What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry. That sounds bad.”

“Just tell me.”

“I’ve got to do this, Alex. Okay? I’ve got to do this the only way I can. I can’t be thinking about anything else tomorrow.”