Paul left early for a run with Ray and Denis as I was getting up. They had settled on the run around the lake. I suggested the trails up by the dam were better shelter from the rain under the trees but they didn’t see a problem. All it would take was one run in the rain to figure out they might need to get some proper outdoor wear. It was maybe six degrees above freezing and once the rain soaked into their clothes they wouldn’t warm up for days.
I was finishing my toast and scrambled eggs at the table when Paul barged through the kitchen dripping and swearing about the weather.
“You want to get some proper rain gear while we’re out today?” I asked his back as he stomped down the hall to the shower to warm up. He didn’t answer and I wondered if Ray or Denis won their race to Mrs. Desmond’s shower. Hopefully their language was better or they would get an earful from her. I put on coffee for him and went to the spare room to count up the money for Kenny. Paul had only seen the clean money box that had been the change from breaking the larger “dirty” bills.
Paul was getting out of the shower as I finished getting the parcel ready. It was wrapped in puffy bundles of tissue at the bottom of a plain blue gift bag. As an added touch I added a birthday card in an envelope for the data card and crammed it into the top.
“Warmed up?” I asked him.
“You were right,” he grumbled.
“Coffee’s hot. There’s a good place for outdoor gear near where we’re headed later. If you’re going to attempt that again you’ll be a lot happier in something that keeps the freezing rain out. Are you eating upstairs or down?”
“Upstairs I guess if you’re finished.”
There was a knock at the door and I let Denis in.
“Beat Ray to the shower?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Denis laughed. “He can be a real pussy about the weather … you got coffee on? I’m not old lady enough for tea.”
“Sure Denis. You know where it is.”
Ray joined us twenty minutes later. “Bee is baking something for breakfast. Do you know anywhere to get some rain gear Anna?”
“A couple of good places in the mall we’re headed to later. Come on, let’s get your mugs in front of the camera again.”
They were still warming their hands up around their coffees as they came along to the spare room again. I had changed the backdrop and the lights a bit. I also had them sign their new names in the signature boxes cut from passport applications, they went into the greeting card with the data card containing the photos.
“It’s going to be easier for you if we have the signatures in your own writing … you’ll never practice enough to forge someone else’s writing.” I explained.
“How’s this work today?” Paul asked as we headed back to the kitchen.
“You’ve never dropped a wad of cash to a slimy ex to pay for forged ID?”
“Ex?” Denis rolled his eyes. “This keeps getting better.”
“In his own mind at least,” I told them. “You’ll drop me off a couple of blocks from the mall at around noon. There’s a food court inside. I’ll get a seat at the lower section in the south end. You can find yourselves a spot with a decent view at the other end. Get some lunch and try not to stand out. He’ll be there about one-thirty.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Paul said.
“Here’s the hard part,” I turned my attention to Paul. “You have to promise that no matter what you see you’ll stay in your seat and save what you have to say to me for later.”
“Is he going to be armed or something?” he asked. “I’m not putting you in danger for some cards … not worth it.”
“Nothing like that Paul. He needs to worry about me snapping him in two … promise you’ll be silent and stay put?”
“I have to promise without knowing why?”
“I guess not,” I sat back in my chair.
“Kenny doesn’t trust anyone when it comes to his side business. I don’t trust him either. He humiliated me once and even though I didn’t turn on him when I got caught with the car he took me to steal he still thinks I might have it in for him.
“I’m going to be checking him for a wire. I’m going to have my hands on him, in close like we get along really well. It has to look easy and comfortable or it just comes off like I’m trying to get a cheap thrill. He’s going to be doing the same thing.
“I prefer a public place so that’s how it goes. If I’m not satisfied I won’t offer the bag and if he isn’t he won’t take it.”
“He better not be satisfied,” Paul grumbled. “I’ll stay put but I don’t like this at all.”
Paul dropped me off a couple of blocks from the mall so that I walked past a gas station on the way there stopping for cigarettes and a free book of matches. The clerk looked at my stomach and gave me a disapproving look so I just smiled and ignored her. I would give the cigarettes to Denis. I just needed the matchbook.
When I got to the mall I made a couple of small purchases on the way to the restroom. In the stall I took out the matchbook and a pen and wrote inside Mark Turner 34 John Lund 32 Daniel Webb 28 with heights and weights and closed it back up. They were the names and ages for Ray, Paul, and Denis in the order their pictures were on the data card from the camera. Kenny would give them some valid address. The matches went back into my pocket.
I entered the food court from the south end not looking up to where Paul and the others would be, ignoring them. I had no idea if they ignored me. Not likely, but sitting up top at the other end they were hopefully far away to avoid attention. Kenny would have spotted me in the mall already and would be watching to make sure I was alone. I knew I would be waiting for a while so I got some tea and a sandwich and hung my coat on the chair behind me. It was only one.
Kenny was late. It was twenty to two when I heard his voice beside me. I had almost fallen asleep in my chair.
“Anna … surprised to see you come crawling back.” Sounded like he’d reconsidered the odd proposal he’d given me a couple of months before. I looked up and he was smiling at me so I stood up to hug him.
“Only because I have to,” I told him as I put one arm around his back under his coat and ran the other up his chest. I thought I felt the strap of a shoulder holster with my forearm as I felt his back but I wasn’t sure. His hand was on my back and as I finished feeling his chest he skipped his hand under mine and grabbed the front of my bra while I was close enough for his open coat to conceal it. Then he kissed my cheek closer to my mouth than he ever had when we’d done this before and his hand dropped to my stomach.
“I always knew you were easy,” he said.
“Mmm. Just keep telling yourself that,” I mumbled to him then I threw my head back and laughed.
“Buy me lunch,” he said. He hung his coat up on the other chair at the table. I picked up the blue gift bag as he put his arm around me and took me to one of the food counters.
“So who’s Mr. Right?” he asked as he dropped his hand down to my butt. “One of those three gorillas up top?”
“No idea.”
He ordered. I paid. We waited.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “You’re not the only one who didn’t come alone … there won’t be any trouble as long as they stay put.”
That was a new move for Kenny. He and I used to be just steps in the middle for these transactions and I wondered what he had gotten himself into. Who had he made trouble for that required him to go out with protection or worse yet what kind of people might he be trying to prove himself to. He had his arm back around my waist and stuck his nose in my ear.
“Let’s see how strong his stomach is,” he said as he moved his mouth closer to mine. I stepped back a bit and watched his eyes as I slowly ran the tip of my tongue around just inside my top lip. He lowered his eyes to watch.
“Yeah … you like that,” I whispered to him and slipped the arm I had used to feel his chest around him. I hesitated momentarily when my hand brushed past a gun under his arm but I pushed myself in closer until my hand was on his back. Then I kissed his cheek and started working my way to his ear.
“What the hell Kenny,” I whispered as quietly as I could; my lips out of sight from whoever he had come with. “Should I take the bag and walk away?”
“Mm mm,” he whispered. “We’ll always be good at this … solid.”
I hoped he meant our deal was solid. If he walked away with the money never to be seen again we’d have to make due with identities that Damian could trace.
He made me carry his tray to the table for him and I had to wait while he ate. Then he wiped his mouth and started patting his pockets.
“Damn … I think I left my smokes in the car.”
I sighed and offered the package I bought. He took one and put it in his mouth then he stood up.
“Sorry I missed her birthday,” I said as I gave him the gift bag. He took it. “I’m terrible with sizes … there’s a gift receipt in with the card in case she needs to exchange it.”
“Thanks … she always liked you.”
By she he meant him. Then he started rooting around in his pants pockets. “Got a light?”
I gave him the matches and he put them in his pocket.
“Don’t call me again,” he said as he walked off. As I watched him leave four men got up from another table just a few feet away and joined him. They disappeared into the mall.
I finished my cold tea and stayed at the table. Kenny would be out of the mall and on his way as quick as he could. He wouldn’t want to be caught carrying all that cash. That plus the photos and signatures would get him in a lot of trouble.
Paul came and sat with me. “Ray and Denis are making sure they left,” he said.
“Paul … tell them to come back. That could have been really bad. Kenny had a gun and he knew you were up there. Those four are probably armed too.”
“They’ll be fine,” Paul said.
I wasn’t happy about it. “I’m sorry … Kenny never took it that far before. He was trying to push you because he saw you all watching me. I thought I felt a gun on him … I had to get close to him at the counter again to be sure. He was armed. Two of those guys with him were in to some nasty things with his brother. Please call them back. Kenny is going to get as far away from here with that stuff as he can.”
Paul sighed and called Ray and told him to return right away.
“Wasn’t there another way to do that?” He asked. “I really want to straighten him out now.”
“You’re sweet,” I kissed his cheek. “So would I. The alternative is undressing for each other on some dirt road in the middle of nowhere. That’s why I prefer the way we did it.”
“At least he wouldn’t have touched you,” Paul said. Then he reached in my pocket and took out the cigarettes. “Not again Anna.”
“No … part of the exchange. Denis can have the rest. The cigarettes are a prop … a reason to give him the matchbook. I’d written instructions inside it.”
“Are we going to have to do this again in a week?” he asked as Ray and Denis joined us.
I shook my head. “That will be a lot easier … but you still can’t straighten him out for today.”
“I still don’t like it.”
I sat out in the mall while they got their rain gear, then we headed home. Denis said he would take me car shopping the next day after their run which was fine. I needed a nap before dinner so when we got in Paul and I headed downstairs for some time alone. I needed Paul for a while to get Kenny’s attention out of my mind. So did Paul.