I gave a low whistle.“And how much is that?”
“The twenty percent?” he asked.
“No.The total net.”
He looked away.“I’m not sure. I’d have to run the numbers.”
“Don’t bullshit me,” I said.
He glanced up at me and shrugged. “Fine. I made a hundred and forty last year.But traffic is up huge.I’ve made almost fifty so far this year.But I can’t get to most of the money, man.It’s all off-shore, so you’re going to have to wait until-”
“I don’t want your blood money,” I told him.
He gave me a confused look.“Wha-what?Then what do you want?”
“Kris,” I said.“Out.”
He remained confused for a few seconds while he touched his cheek tenderly.The cut had stopped bleeding, but the cheek was already swelling up, making it look like he had half a tangerine buried in his cheek.
“That’s her real name? Star’s?”
I nodded.“Yeah. And she’s only sixteen.”
I expected him to grow whiter, but he only swallowed and nodded. As we sat in silence, the fear in his eyes slowly receded.
“You’re not with the Russians, are you?”
I shook my head.
“And you’re not a cop.”
“Nope.”
“Who are you with?”
I leaned forward again.“What you probably want to be worrying about is not who I am, but what I plan to do.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No,” I told him and immediately regretted it.“But I might put a huge hole through your foot.Make you walk with a nice limp for the rest of your life.”
Jackson swallowed again, but when he spoke, his voice was smoother.“If you aren’t going to kill me, then what are you going to do?”
“I could still kill you,” I said, but we both knew it was a lie.
“No, you won’t,” he said, reminding me of a car salesman.I imagined him using that tone on Kris, convincing her that she was a star and one hundred percentclassy.Or had that been LeMond?“ So we’re at a Mexican standoff.”
“Maybe,” I said.“Except for two things.I’m not Mexican and it’s only a standoff if you’ve got a gun, too.”
He shrugged again, confidence seeping back into his demeanor. “Call it what you want.You have some information on me.I have some against you-assault and burglary.Pretty serious stuff.”
“Like child pornography?”
Jackson’s lips drew up in a smile, then he winced and touched his cheek where I’d pistol-whipped him.“That’s just society’s bullshit,” he said.“And soon to change.”
“Spare me the Professor LeMond rap,” I said.
His face turned to a scowl and that made him wince again.“It’s true.Like it or not, it is the truth.In ten years, maybe five, I won’t have to work out of my basement.I’ll be able to rent a studio right out in the open. Any young woman who has achieved the age of reason can choose to come to work for me.My DVDs will be for sale in the local video store and from Netflix.”
“That’ll never happen.”
He shook his head.“It’s already almost that way in Amsterdam.”
Goddamn Dutch, I thought.
“Five years,” Jackson said.“Ten, max.”
51
I’d been through enough of Jackson’s house to know there was a large roll of duct tape in one of the kitchen drawers.I used it to tape his hands and feet to the chair.He glared at me carefully throughout the process.
“Don’t be stupid,” I said.
“I’m not planning on it.”
“I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if I have to.”
He shrugged, as if to say maybe you will and maybe you won’t, but he didn’t try any moves while I finished taping him to the chair.
“What time is the girl coming over tonight?” I asked, putting the tape back into the drawer.
“What girl?”
I smacked the back of his head with my palm.He grunted.“The one you had scheduled for a solo shoot tonight,” I reminded him.
“Oh.Her.”
“Yeah, her.”
“Ten or so.She’s kind of flighty.”
“What’s her name?”
“Candi.With an i.”
Of course.
“I’ll be back before ten,” I said.“If Kris is where you say she is, then we’ll settle this.If she isn’t, you might want to re-think whether I’m up to killing you or not.”
For the first time since I told him I wasn’t going to kill him, fear crept back into RogerJackson’s eyes. I found myself liking that.I liked it quite a bit. I smiled at him while I patted his pockets. I removed his wallet and tossed it on the table.
“You have a cell phone?” I asked.
He shook his head.
I grabbed a steak knife from a kitchen drawer and sliced the telephone cord a foot from the wall.Then I checked the tape at his hands and feet and left.
52
The Greyhouse Apartments weren’t ritzy, but they were nice.The shrubbery was neatly trimmed for winter and the parking lot was clean.The complex was situated at the foot of the Five Mile Hill, and up on top of the hill was the Five Mile Prairie, where most of the nicer homes in northern River City were being built.In River City, old money was on the South Hill, but new money was flocking to the Prairie.
I parked and found number nineteen easily.It was on the third floor, near the middle of the outdoor walkway.
I listened at the door, but only heard low music coming from inside.Remembering a basic tactic from my days on the job, I stood to the side of the door while I gave it a solid knock.A few seconds later, the chain rattled and the door swung open.
Kris appeared in the doorway.Her hair and face were made up but she wore a pair of jeans and a white shirt.After searching for her for the last few days, it was almost surreal to be staring her in the face.
Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me.“Who are you?”
“Let’s talk inside,” I said, taking her by the arm and moving through the doorway.
Kris jerked her arm from my grasp as soon as we were inside.“Who do you think you are, asshole?Get out of my apartment!”
I shook my head.“It’s over, Kris.”
“What are you talking about? How do you know my name?”
“Your dad sent me.I’m here to take you home.”
Her eyes widened again, though I couldn’t place the emotion that was in them.
“I’m not going home,” she said.
“Yes, you are.Get your things.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Suit yourself,” I said with a shrug.“You can come like a lady, with all of your stuff. Or I can throw you over my shoulder like a sack of grain. But you are going back.”
She backed slowly away from me, shaking her head.“No way.I can’t go home.Not now.Too much has happened.Maybe after I’m a star, but not now.”
“Your mom and dad don’t care about what’s happened or whether you’re a star or not,” I said.“They love you.”
She shook her head.“I’m not going back.”
“You’re sixteen,” I told her.“You’re a minor.One way or another, you are going back.If you don’t want to go with me, I can call the police and they will come and transport you.”
Kris licked her lips, which were painted a glossy red.She kept backing up slowly and was getting close to the bedroom.“If you call the cops,” she said,“I’ll say you raped me.”
I moved forward to close the distance between us.“Listen, I don’t have to call the cops.And if it’ll make things easier, I don’t have to tell your parents about all that’s happened.Believe me, they’re going to be so happy to see you, they won’t care about anything else.”
“They don’t want me back,” she said.
“Sure they do.”
She shook her head.“They don’t.Roger called them for me, to tell them I was all right.They didn’t want me back.”
That was a lie and I knew it.“If that’s true, then why did your dad hire me to find you?”
There was a flash of something in her eyes, like maybe I’d gotten through to her just a little bit.Then her glance flitted over my shoulder andthere was a voice from behind me.