“It will. It will. It's just going to take some time. Now are you going to pay me or what?”
Ian nodded and shrugged at the same time. “We'll keep our arrangement a little longer.”
I gave him an annoyed stare until he actually called up his account and transferred the funds.
Satisfied, I said, “Good. And if you touch my hand again, I'll fucking kill you.”
Ian laughed. “You're unbelievable, boy-o. You sure got a pair on you.”
“I'm serious.”
“Sure you are,” he said, like he was talking to a child.
I did my best to ignore the sarcasm. “I got something for you,” I said.
“What?”
“I was on Maggie's home system last night.”
“How'd you manage that?”
“I've been doing this kind of thing for a long time,” I answered without really answering. “Anyway, I found a set of files that have your name on them.”
Ian became fully attentive. “What's in them?”
“I don't know. They're encrypted. It'll take months to break them using Lagartan crackers, but I found an offworld company that can crack them open in less than thirty hours. It's going to cost you, though.”
“How much?”
“A lot.”
“How do I know you're not just going to pocket my money?”
I handed him a slip of damp paper from my shirt pocket. “That's the company's name and an account number. I've already uploaded the files to them. You pay them directly, and they'll start the decryption process.”
“What's this other number?”
“That's the price.”
He raised his brows at me. “I can't afford that.”
“I know, but I bet your offworld friend can.”
He looked at me dubiously.
“Listen, Ian, Maggie's been compiling dirt on you for months. Based on the file sizes, my guess is those are vid files. That camera in your hair might not have been the first.”
Ian closed his eyes and shook his jar of a head. “I should just kill that bitch.”
“You know that's a bad move right now,” I said, thinking fast, more lies taking shape in my mind. “She shows up dead, and her family will find those files on her system and start wondering why she was surveilling you. You'd be suspect number one, and her family's got the juice to get a serious investigation launched. Play this my way, and I'll keep you safe until you get that squad leader post. Then you can get her transferred out of homicide-problem solved.”
Ian gave a begrudging nod. “I'll talk to Horst.” He crossed the room, placed his hand on Liz's shoulder and then began whispering in her ear.
I stayed in my seat, thrilling on my scam. Not only was I getting Ian to decrypt the camerman's vid files for me, but I'd gotten the technician at the offworld company to agree to doubling the price and splitting the surplus with me. I'd get that spine paid for one way or another.
Liz was up out of her seat and coming my way, leaving Ian and Horst to discuss my proposal. She took the seat across from me. “How's your hand?”
The pain had receded except for an insistent throbbing coming from my pinky. “It's okay.”
She helped herself to my bottle, pouring a couple fingers' worth into her goblet. “Ian can be such a bully.”
“What happened to him?” I wanted to know.
“What do you mean?”
“Did you know him before?”
“Yes,” she said after a pause.
“Well, what happened to him? It's like he's a different person.”
Her face changed. She looked over at Ian, where he was talking to Horst. For the first time, I felt like I was seeing her, the real her. She was watching her boyfriend, her eyes filled with longing, and not the puppy-love kind of longing. It was more the kind of longing you'd see on a widow's face.
I said, “So you're not so thrilled with the new Ian.”
She snapped her gaze back in my direction, as if my observation surprised her. “I didn't say that,” she said.
“You didn't have to. Why do you stay with him?”
“He means a lot to me.”
“He means a lot, or he meant a lot?”
“Both,” she said with more emphasis than necessary, like she was trying to convince herself more than me.
“One of these days, somebody's going to teach him a lesson,” I said.
“And you plan on being that somebody?” she teased.
I didn't answer.
The real her was already gone. The mischievous flirt was back in full force. She played with a lock of hair that hung alongside her face. “I guess you know a thing or two about bullies.”
I leaned forward, wanting to be close to her. “That's right.”
“You have firsthand experience, don't you?”
“What makes you so interested in my past?”
“I like cops.”
“I'm not a cop.”
“But you used to be.”
“Why do you like cops?”
She kept twirling her hair as she took a sip of brandy with her other hand. “Answer some of my questions first.”
I nodded.
“As the chief's enforcer, it was your job to keep other cops in line?”
I nodded again.
“And how did you manage that?”
“I'd rather not say.”
She took my left hand in hers and folded my fingers into a fist. She studied my misshapen knuckles, running her finger over countless scars. “That's okay. I think I can guess.”
My hand went tingly at her touch. I was alive. At that moment, Niki was erased from my mind. I looked over at Ian, who was deep in conversation with Horst. He didn't seem to care that his girlfriend was flirting with another man so, I decided it was just fine to flirt back. I took hold of one of her hands from underneath and dropped my splinted hand overtop-a cool move that went wrong when I had to wince at a sharp pain coming from my pinky.
“Let me see that,” she said.
I protested unconvincingly as she started pulling the wrappings free. With each layer of bandage peeling off, my mood turned increasingly sour as I remembered all the times Niki had nursed these hands, all the times she cleaned off the blood and sanitized the wounds. How I'd sit on the toilet and lean my head on her hip as she worked over the sink, or when there was too much blood, how she'd sit on the tub and hold my hand close to the faucet. All cleaned up, we'd go to bed, and she'd nurse my soul, telling me that I was doing the right thing. Paul Chang and I were running KOP, using our power to shape the city into a place that would attract offworld tourists and bring offworld money into our crippled economy. And even after Paul and I had lost our way and become nothing more than common thugs, concerned only with extending our own power and wealth, she never accused me of being such. She was my wife, and she supported me no matter what. No matter how misguided I'd become.
Liz had all the wrappings off and piled like spaghetti. Three of my fingers had stayed properly splinted while my pinky had sprung loose, unnaturally poking out to the side.
“This one's causing all the trouble,” she said as she caressed it gently.
“Yeah. I'll have to get it set again.”
Suddenly, lightning quick, she grabbed hold of it and snapped it back in place.
I yelped and jerked back in my seat. “What the fuck!”
Liz gave me a coy smile, and I felt her foot in my crotch. I felt dizzy as the pain washed over me. I just about blacked out while her toes probed my privates.
“What the fuck?” I repeated.
Liz just smiled at me. Then she made a show of dropping a hand down under the table. She rolled her shoulder, making it clear that she was touching herself. She let out a small moan. I wanted to reach down, grab her foot, and twist her toes until the pain equaled mine. I was furious… and confused… and repulsed…
But I was also hardening.
“You'll have to come by my place sometime,” she said. A second later, her foot was gone and a second after that, she was gone, walking back to the autopsy table and tickling both Ian and Horst's ears before taking a seat between them.