"When he comes home," Foley said, "set him straight. You're doing all the work-tell him you want a raise."
"I'll talk to him," Dawn said to Jimmy. "If you feel you should be rewarded. You can't tell Cundo anything, you put it out there and it becomes his idea."
"He can read a bank statement," Little Jimmy said. "All he wants to know is how much money he's got."
Foley said, "You don't want to start out with the idea he's dumb-" and stopped, not sure if Dawn heard him:
Dawn with Jimmy now, her hand on his arm, Dawn saying, "Jimmy," in her quiet way, "you know Cundo loves you. It's why he expects you to be loyal to him. Think of how long you've been together, as close as brothers."
It stopped Foley. Where was she going with this?
"What I see him doing, Jimmy," Dawn said, "he's giving you the chance to be important in his life, to stay with him no matter what. I think you do owe him that."
Foley said, "You don't think Cundo owes Jimmy?"
Dawn stunned him with a look.
"Didn't I say I'd speak to Cundo? Maybe you weren't listening, Jack."
Man-a quiet, killer tone of voice.
"Why don't you just get him a raise," Foley said, "so he doesn't have to skim? I bet Jimmy knows Cundo better than we ever will, even reading minds."
They'd get into it good once Jimmy left, Foley sure of it.
They killed the pitcher of martinis and he took Jimmy out to the alley. The bodyguard didn't seem surprised to see him weaving, grinning as they put him in the Bentley. Foley asked the bodyguard how he was called.
The guy said, "Zorro."
He was slim, as old as Cundo.
Foley said, "Where's your sword?"
"I'm a different Zorro."
"Is that right?" Foley said. He saw the name came from this guy's narrow face with the look of a fox, the guy standing with his suit coat open, patient. Foley said, "I like Jimmy-I hope you're taking good care of him."
"Yes, of course," Zorro said.
"What do you pack, a Glock?"
"Sometime. Most time a Colt Python."
"That's a big gun."
"It gets respect."
"Jimmy puts you in situations?"
"Mr. Rios is careful, always. He knows to be responsible." "He gets ripped?"
"I take care of him. He don't do it often, except he's with Dawn, the bruja"
"You don't like her."
Zorro shrugged.
"But you respect Jimmy?"
"As long as he don't get sweet on me."
"I don't want anything to happen to him," Foley said. "He's crossing the street and gets run over."
"It won't happen," Zorro said. He took a cigarette from his shirt pocket. "So, you the bank robber, uh?"
Foley returned to the house with a glow-on and a bad feeling about Dawn. He'd ask her in a nice way why she turned soft on Jimmy and listen to her tone of voice: see if it was the one Adele and maybe all women used when they were looking down at you.
Dawn's advantage was her mystical gift she could spring on you, as a psychic and a medium too. She'd convince you she knew things about you from the past and could make up things in your future if she wanted. Put ghosts in your house if you didn't have any and charge you ten grand to get rid of them. Reverend Dawn scamming rich ladies. No, she'd tell you she was entertaining them. They felt the best they'd ever felt in their lives and would insist on paying her.
But disagree with her one time, she stings you without raising her voice.
Maybe you weren't listening, Jack.
What happened to We've found each other, Jack?
She was still in the kitchen, turning from the sink as he came in. Foley thinking that if she happened to use that other tone they had, like they're trying to be patient while explaining what she was doing with Little Jimmy-.
She said, "Do you still love me, Jack?"
He didn't see it coming. It stopped him and cleared his mind of accusations. He said, "I didn't understand what you were up to."
"I'm sorry, Jack. You know what I was afraid of? I thought, What if we got Jimmy too worked up, telling him he's the good guy and stupid Cundo doesn't know what he's doing. Jimmy could decide all of a sudden to clean out the accounts-you even suggested it-and make a run for it. If he did, where would that leave us?"
Foley said, "You're selling Cundo short."
"You're right," Dawn said, "he isn't stupid about pulling jobs. You mind my using that expression? I love it. We're gonna pull a job." She smiled but said right away, serious now, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not in this for thrills and chills, a new kind of adventure in my life." She said, "I've been thinking about this for a long long time," and smiled again. "Are you with me, Jack?"
Foley didn't answer. He'd been thinking she was with him.
"We started talking," Dawn said, "I couldn't believe it. You're the perfect guy for this, the dedicated pro."
It sounded better, but dedicated to what, going to jail?
"I hope you understand I see you in charge," Dawn said. "Whatever you say goes."
"Since you've never pulled a job?"
"Jack, don't make fun of me, all right?"
"I will if you stop reading my mind." Now Foley smiled, back in the game, feeling better about his partner. He said, "Jimmy's not ready yet, he has to work up his nerve. He skims and nothing happens, he thinks it's okay. But to go for broke, grab whatever he can put his hands on, now Little Jimmy's an outlaw, right up there with John Dillinger. He'll think about it until he sees there's no getting around it, he's gonna need help." Dawn said, "You think so?"
"If he doesn't see it," Foley said, "I'll point it out to him."
ELEVEN
FOLEY CAME DOWN FROM THE ROOF, THE GLASSES HANGING from his neck, saw Dawn still in bed as the phone rang and saw her eyes open. Foley picked up the phone from the nightstand looking down at her eyes watching him now. He said hello and said yes, he'd accept the charge, waited and said, "Cundo, how you doing? You all right?" He listened and said, "Today? No, I haven't seen her…No, not since she came over and introduced herself," Foley staring at Dawn, telling Cundo, "No, we haven't switched yet, she wasn't ready to move, still getting her stuff together. I called her yesterday, see how she's doing. She said fine, she was painting." Foley listened and said, "How do I know, I'm telling you what she told me. She did the painting in the room here," Foley watching Dawn making a face now, Me? "Yeah, I guess. I didn't ask her." He listened and said, "You mean in the painting? She has on a bathing suit, a two-piece." Listening now he looked away from her as he said, "I imagine she went to the store, maybe she needs eggs, I don't know." Foley listened and said, "How would I know? I said maybe…What I should've said…Cundo, listen to me. What I meant to say, if she isn't home, she probably went to the store. Isn't that what you'd think? Wait and try her again." He looked down at Dawn giving him a soft look, touching her lips with the tip of her tongue. "No, I only saw her the one time… yeah, right, and spoke to her on the phone." He listened and said, "I'm makin' it. I take walks, I eat out mostly." He watched Dawn slip the sheet down to uncover her left breast and mouth the words Who am I? Foley saying to Cundo, "I knew you were gonna ask me that. I can't think of the name of the place…No, but it's on Abbot Kin-ney. Listen, Cundo, why don't you call her in a while, give her time to do her shopping." Foley listened and said, "Just a second," and pressed the phone against his side so he could tell Dawn, "Go home, quick. He's gonna call you when he hangs up." "You told him to wait, didn't you?"