The car braked and parked at the curb.
“That’s them,” Elsie said breathlessly. “The Bobbsey twins, all grown up.”
The two men got out of the vehicle. They were the same height and weight, and both wore denim jackets and had ponytails. The driver walked with his shoulders hunched forward as if he’d spent his life with the wind at his back. His partner was younger and had the flashlight. Billy’s eyes grew wide. It was the same pair of animals who’d trashed his condo earlier that night. The creepers. What were they doing at Gabe’s place?
The creepers walked up the front path and stood on the front porch. The one with the flashlight pressed the bell. The door opened and Nate’s shiny face appeared. The younger one said something that brought Nate’s guard down. Nate let them in and shut the door.
The poor bastard never saw it coming, Billy thought.
“Does the video show them coming out of the house?” Billy asked.
“It most certainly does.” Elsie reached between their chairs and tapped a quick command on the keyboard that sped the video forward fifteen minutes in time. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
The video resumed. Nate’s killers came out of the house and walked down the path to their car. The younger one was drinking a bottle of beer, which he drained and dropped in the grass before climbing into the passenger seat. The older one was holding a doughnut, which he held in his mouth while unlocking the car and getting behind the wheel. The car started up and drove out of the frame.
Billy’s mind raced. When the creepers hadn’t found him at his condo, they’d gone to Gabe’s place in the hopes that Gabe would tell them where he was. Only Gabe wasn’t home, so they’d pummeled poor Nate. That explained their motives, but not much else. Like who the hell they were and why they were so bent on hunting him down.
Billy liked to think he’d done a good job of hiding his tracks. Neither his car nor his condo was registered in his own name, nor was his contract with his long-distance provider or the cable company. They were all registered under aliases.
He’d also kept his ties to his crew hidden. Each member got paid in cash after a job was done so there was no paper trail. And he and his crew rarely socialized outside of work and kept their personal lives separate from their professional ones.
Which left a lot of burning questions that he didn’t have good answers to. Like how did these animals know where he lived or that Gabe was a member of his crew? And how did they know where Gabe lived? Billy didn’t have a clue. But he sure needed to find out, because these guys had enough information to become permanent problems.
His mug was empty. He glanced over his shoulder at their hostess.
“May I have a refill?”
“Certainly,” Elsie replied. “Gabe, how about you?”
Gabe said nothing. The images on the screen had done a number on his head, and Gabe looked ready to jump out of the nearest window.
“He’d like some more,” Billy said.
“Coming right up.”
Elsie took their mugs and headed off to the kitchen. When she was gone, Billy gently jabbed Gabe in the ribs, breaking the jeweler out of his trance. “Go talk to your neighbor and tell her that the guys in the video are friends of yours,” he said.
“What?”
“You heard me. Otherwise she’s going to call the police and report them, and we don’t want that.”
“What should I say?”
“Tell her they’re a couple of guys who worked for you when you owned the jewelry store, and that you told them to drop by whenever they happened to be in town.”
“You want me to cover for those fucking guys?”
“Yes. I’m going to run them down.”
“How the hell are you going to do that?”
“Stop questioning me, will you? Go talk to your neighbor.”
“I want to know.”
Billy started to steam. He had a temper, and sometimes it got the better of him and made him do things that he later regretted. He hoped that wasn’t where things were headed with Gabe. “Do what I tell you, you stupid shit.”
“Don’t talk to me like that. I’m old enough to be your father.”
“You think I don’t know that?” He paused and silently counted to three. “Look, if your neighbor calls the cops, it will start an avalanche of shit that we won’t be able to stop.”
“You shouldn’t have slapped me.”
“Is that what’s bothering you, that I slapped you?”
“Yeah.”
“Get over it.”
“I can’t get over it. You wounded me, you little fuck.”
Gabe’s eyes had turned hard and Billy thought he understood. You could take anything away from a man except his pride. Robbed of his pride, a man often acted out and did stupid and irrational things. Billy had caused this problem, and only he could fix it.
“I was wrong. I’m sorry, man.”
“You mean that?”
“Of course I mean it. I’m sorry, and that’s the God’s honest truth.”
Gabe’s face went soft and he returned from the dark place he’d gone to.
“Don’t do it again, okay?”
“Do what?”
“Slap me. In the face.”
Billy wasn’t going to make a promise to Gabe that he wouldn’t keep. He ran the show, and he would do whatever was necessary to keep his crew in line, even if it meant getting rough with them. “Go talk to your neighbor.”
“You’re not...”
He shook his head. “No,” he added for emphasis.
Gabe started to protest but bit his tongue instead. Billy did not tolerate dissent when they were on a job, and Gabe knew it as well as anyone. But that didn’t make things right between them, and Gabe headed off to the kitchen without uttering another word.
It was the first smart thing the jeweler had done all night.
Twenty
Travis pulled the rental into the Dollar lot and parked in the drop-off area. While he went inside to settle the bill, Billy waited for the courtesy bus with Cory and Morris. The desert sand did not hold the heat, and an icy breeze knifed through his thin shirt.
“Where’s Gabe?” Billy asked.
“He’s inside using the john,” Cory said. “What’s the deal with him? He’s acting weird.”
“How so?” Billy asked, wanting to get Cory’s take on Gabe.
“He keeps mumbling under his breath; can’t make out what the hell he’s saying,” Cory said. “That guy we buried was a friend of his, huh?”
“They were tight.” Billy stole a glance over his shoulder. The rental office was empty except for Travis at the counter haggling with the reservationist over the bill. You could never be too careful, so he lowered his voice. “I want you to keep an eye on Gabe. If he starts acting funny or makes a crack out of turn, you need to shut him down.”
Cory and Morris traded concerned looks.
“Shut him down how?” Cory asked.
“Tell him to shut up. Do it nicely. If he keeps blabbering, grab a bottle and smack him over the head. Don’t kill him, just knock him out.”
Cory swallowed a lump in his throat, as did Morris. They were spooky that way. Like a pair of twins, they shared many mannerisms and weird tics. Billy stared into each of their faces.
“Did you just hear what I said?”
Cory and Morris both nodded.
“Remember, the sky palace we’re staying in is bugged. If Gabe says something out of line and it gets picked up by a hidden mike, Carnivale’s management will hear about it. If that happens, they might posse up on us.”
“Posse up?” Cory said.
“It’s a hustler’s expression. What’s worse than getting caught cheating? Do you know?”