There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Gus was about to check the readout to see if the call had cut out when Shawn’s voice came back. “So, you’re saying that if I see an employee of one mobster going into the place of business of another mobster, it means that the employee is betraying his boss. Selling him out to his rival behind his back.”
“I don’t see what else it could be,” Gus said.
“That’s kind of what I was thinking,” Shawn said.
“You didn’t need me to tell you this,” Gus said. “You’ve seen as many mob movies as I have.”
“Let me try one other thing,” Shawn said. “Let’s say that Cayenne wasn’t a hit man.”
“Shawn, my meeting’s about to start up again,” Gus said.
“Let’s say he’s actually a private detective,” Shawn continued.
“Fine, but let’s say that later,” Gus said. “I really have to go.”
“And let’s say he works for one detective agency, but his boss begins to wonder why he’s never around, so he tails him one day. And you know where it gets him?”
Gus felt his throat go dry. “Shawn, I-”
Before Gus could come up with a verb, Shawn stepped around the corner, slipping his cell phone into his pocket. Barely casting a glance at Gus, he rapped on the shining brass
sign affixed to the building’s granite entrance. The sign that read: RUTLAND ARMITAGE, DISCREET INVESTIGATIONS.
“It gets him right here,” Shawn said.
Chapter Nine
If you love somebody, set them free. That was how the song went, anyway. Not that Shawn had any idea what came after that line because every time it came on the radio, Gus insisted on changing the station. There was some grammatical issue in the line that used to drive him crazy for reasons Shawn probably wouldn’t understand even if he had bothered to listen.
Even so, he got the basic idea that the song was trying to convey. And he was fine with it. Shawn had never been possessive or jealous. He’d always been secure in the knowledge that he was more fun than anyone else around, so if a girlfriend started acting like she was ready to break it off, he knew he was better off without her. If she couldn’t appreciate what he had to offer, then they should go their separate ways.
That was true with friends, too. Even with Gus. Despite the fact that they’d been inseparable for three quarters of their lives, Shawn understood that their paths would have to split off at some point. If that time was now, then so be it.
All of which made it hard to explain to himself exactly why he had followed Gus through the airport to the air train, and then on to BART. He’d waited until Gus had stepped into one silver car, then gone into the next one. Positioning himself at the door between the cars, he’d watched the back of Gus’ head through the window, prepared to duck back if Gus ever happened to glance over his shoulder toward him. But Gus seemed to be lost in thought and stared straight ahead for the entire thirty minutes of the trip. When the loudspeaker announced that the next stop was Powell Street, Gus got up and stood by the door, apparently without a thought that someone might be following him.
Even that left Shawn with mixed feelings. On the one hand it was making his job a lot easier. But it also suggested that Gus had forgotten everything Shawn had tried to teach him over the years. If Gus took a stroll through Darksyde City without paying any more attention than this, he’d be chopped into pieces and made into soup by one of the mobs of feral children that roamed the place.
As the train slid to a stop in the tiled subway station, Shawn told himself to be a little more generous with his old friend. He had no idea what was going on here. Maybe Gus was trying to protect him, or was simply concerned about facing his judgment.
Or maybe Gus was waiting to find out if something was seriously wrong before bringing Shawn into it. Something medical, for instance. Maybe Gus had been slipping away all those times to see doctors and he’d come here to visit a specialist. If that was the case, Shawn had promised himself, if Gus led him to a medical building he’d back off and wait for Gus to give him the news when he was ready. And he’d do everything he could to make Gus’ life easier until that moment came.
By the time the train doors whooshed open Shawn had almost convinced himself that he should turn around and go straight back to Santa Barbara. If Gus needed a little privacy to deal with a medical crisis, Shawn certainly owed him that much. But since he’d been standing in the doorway when he reached that conclusion, he was pushed out to the platform by a surge of exiting passengers just in time to see Gus heading toward the escalator. He figured he might as well trail his friend for a block or two, if for no other reason than to see how good Gus was at spotting the tail.
He was appallingly bad. By the time they were halfway through the station, Shawn was considering jumping up and down and screaming Gus’ name, just to see if he’d notice that. Even when Shawn used the exit turnstile right next to his, Gus didn’t look around to see him. If Gus had simply inclined his head a few degrees while he was riding the steep escalator that brought him from the station up to the street, he would have spotted Shawn a dozen steps behind him. But he remained oblivious.
This, to Shawn, suggested strongly that he had indeed figured out the reason for Gus’ odd behavior. If you’ve traveled four hundred miles to ask a complete stranger whether you’re going to live or die, you’re probably not concerned with much of anything else.
That made Shawn glad he was following Gus. This way when he found the name of the mystery doctor Shawn would check up on him. If the news was good Shawn might leave it alone. But if the doctor gave Gus any prognosis other than seventy more years of happy living Shawn would work night and day to prove he was a fraud. Because Gus was healthy. Shawn knew it. He might not be a medical man, but he did have a sense of the way the universe was supposed to work, and people like Gus did not get serious diseases. That was simply out of the question.
Not that the area above the Powell Street station looked like a medical corridor. Not unless the new government health plan covered postcards, T-shirts, and trinkets. One side of the street was filled with tiny boutiques selling touristy kitsch, which was perhaps not surprising since the sidewalk was jammed with out-of-towners lined up waiting for a cable car.
Gus was already walking up Powell Street alongside the line of waiting tourists. Shawn pushed past an unwashed man who’d stopped in front of him to ask for a quarter, and followed.
If Gus were suffering from some kind of terrible disease it didn’t seem to have reached his legs yet. Shawn nearly had to run just to stay twenty feet behind him. After a couple of blocks Gus made a left turn up a side street, then disappeared into a low, gray stone building. Shawn bolted after him just in time to see the door closing behind him. That was when he noticed the sign on the building’s wall.
RUTLAND ARMITAGE, DISCREET INVESTIGATIONS.
Gus wasn’t sick. Gus wasn’t dying. Gus was interviewing with another detective agency.
For the first time in his life Shawn understood the impotent fury of the cuckold. He’d been covering for Gus with their client, coming up with excuses for his poor performance. And all this time Gus had been sneaking around behind his back, looking for a job with a bigger agency. One with a fancy stone building and snooty name instead of a beach bungalow and a snazzy brand.
If you love somebody, set them free. That was how the song went. But there was a bumper sticker that took that thought a step further. If you love somebody, set them free. If they don’t come back, hunt them down and kill them.
Shawn had hunted Gus down. Now it was time for step two.
Chapter Ten