"Where is it?"
"Jack, you don't need to know all this."
"Where's the gun?" "I have it hidden away." "How did you get it?"
"I told Tico I'd hide it for him. I'm sure some detective will ask why I didn't produce it right away. Why? Because as long as Tico was alive I was scared out of my wits." Dawn's voice said, "Jack, I can't imagine you'll have a problem. I don't know anything about roof ball, but all you'll have to say is Tico tripped, or he was showing off, walking along the edge, and fell. You can say you tried to grab him if you want. But I wouldn't overdo it. He fell." Her voice said, "Aside from all that, what would be wrong with us getting together again?"
"I don't know," Foley said. "Maybe."
"The payoff is still the same. We get Jimmy to assign the properties to me, or to you if you want, I don't care. I trust you, Jack." "You make it sound easy."
"We sell the houses and disappear. Leave the building with all the business in it to Jimmy. What do you say we get back together?" Dawn's voice said, "Jack, the whole time I was with Cundo I was scared to death. But if I told you, I knew you'd have a talk with him and that's all it would take. He'd imagine we were cheating on him again. I was so afraid this time he'd have you killed. One phone call, that's all it would take. And if we did keep seeing each other, I know he'd find out sooner or later. We were too intense, Jack. Remember?"
There was a silence.
"I have to think about it," Foley said. "Two guys I know are dead and I just got out of the can. I want to see if any surprises could jump out at me."
"Come on over," Dawn said, "we'll look at it together."
"Let me see where I am in this, okay? I'll give you a call."
Foley hung up the phone.
He stood at the counter remembering Cundo at different times. He saw him every day for three years. He could say to Jimmy it sounds like Cundo's dead. But he wasn't thinking of him being dead.
What he had to think about now was Dawn with a gun.
Lou Adams came up to Tiny Banger in the alley behind the house Foley was in. He said, "You still working for me, or you working for him now?"
"I do a favor for him and he pays me, the only difference."
"What'd I tell you? When we're through here, or I don't have to fire your ass and send you home, it's payoff time. But now I catch you fuckin' off on the job. You work for me or him?"
"I work for you," T.B. said.
"Then what're you doing for the guy you're suppose to be watching?"
"He axe me to tell him when the lady come home's all I done. And he paid me."
"You're in deep shit," Lou said.
He walked along the side to the front of the house and went in. A lamp was on in the sitting room though it wasn't dark yet. He called out "Foley!" as loud as he could, and called a few more times before Foley came down the outside stairs in his T-shirt and Levi's, stood in the doorway and said, "What?"
Lou came around.
"You paid one of my guys fifty bucks to tell you when Dawn Navarro gets home?" "Yeah…?"
"He don't run errands for you when he's working for me. You understand?"
"But I'm the one he's watching. Where's he out of line? He knows where I am, I talked to him on the phone. How'd you find
out?"
"I hadn't heard from him. They don't call I look into it."
"Lou, you've been running a surveillance on me since I got out, and I'm standing here talking to you. Does that make sense? Maybe when you started out it looked like a good idea. You'd made up your mind sooner or later I'd rob a bank. You still think I will?"
"It's all you know," Lou said.
"I've got some money now, I don't need to steal any. You saw me, I was in a bank the other day, setting up an account and making a withdrawal. The young lady and I came out, there you are on the job. I'll tell you something, you didn't look yourself, Lou, you looked tired. I would think you'd be bored out of your fucking mind. At one time, if you felt any excitement about your plan-"
"You're trying to throw me off what you're doing," Lou said, "and then start up again."
"I've learned banks," Foley said, "aren't the way to do it. I think it's time for you to get back to being an active special agent, and I'll find something in my retirement to keep me busy. Doesn't that make sense? Quit the Mickey-Mousing around with the home-boys, call 'em off and get back to going after real bad guys."
Lou Adams stared. He looked worn out.
"Let's go out to the kitchen," Foley said, "and have a beer. You can tell me about your book."
"You go straight," Lou said, "I won't have the finish I want."
"Be patient," Foley said, "I'll see if I can get you an ending."
TWENTY-NINE
MAYBE TELLING FOLEY HIS BUDDY WAS IN THE FREEZER WAS a mistake. He seemed to know already Cundo was dead but didn't act like he believed it, or didn't want to. He turns up in a homicide and the police look at him with hard eyes. But Foley wasn't dumb. He'd know when to talk and when not to talk. The whole thing would gradually blow over: the cloud passes and the sun comes out again to shine down on your mess, Dawn thought. Here were the problems:
She could not see giving Foley half of what she'd make from the houses. She would do whatever necessary to make him disappear instead.
But she needed him to get rid of the bodies. Both were in the freezer once she dragged Tico to the garage, had to remove bags of ice to get him to fit inside and poured loose ice over him. She could see there wasn't room for three. It was a shame the way fate was fucking with her again. But she was not going to split the take after waiting eight years to get it. He wasn't part of the job anyway, he was off playing hide the weenie with the actress. Setting her up was work. The mistake was introducing ghosts. She should've made Fo-ley some other kind of expert. One who deals with simple hexes and can work things out on the other side.
She thought, What if she let him have the two-million-dollar house and she kept the one worth four and a half?
Why? He didn't do a goddamn thing to help. She was letting Foley in bed persuade her. He was getting better. If she wanted to she could make him a star.
Or make some other guy a star. Six million was better than four. Do a blood oath thing with Little Jimmy and let him keep the building full of business. It occurred to Dawn, if she seduced Zorro she could get him to take the two bodies out to sea. No remains of the dead, no bodies, no case. No court appearances to worry about. Foley, the simplest way would be to shoot him and dump him in the canal. Not the one that ran between Cundo's houses, a different one. Drop him in from a street that crossed the canals. In fact, all three could be dumped in different canals. It would be a kick to follow the investigations. Hmmmm, are they related? Three bodies, two gunshot victims and one that fell off a building.
The Walther was in the drawer again, the silencer screwed on. But she wouldn't be playing Cuban music for him this time. If he ever decided to come over. She could place the gun in a drawer in the kitchen. Dawn was sure she could get him out there for a drink.
Or get him in bed, her nude painting on the wall. He's having his after-the-furor cigarette. Reach into the drawer… Pow, or ping, and wrap him up in the covers, Jesus, and drag him to the car.
Eight years ago she never once saw it as physical labor. Drop all three from the bridge and be in Vegas when she got the call from the police. Or Nevada deputies knocked on the door. What? You mean they drowned?