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TWO

The deal went off without a hitch, and thankfully Beggar Johnson sent two of hishimself They&039;d driven up froions of a e in Altaar&039;s goons identified thely scarecrow of afor hi if Noruy with thinning hair and a sweaty face

"You bring him?" asked Norman

"In the back" I jerked a thu hard at the back of Marcie&039;s car,I didn&039;t like it, but also didn&039;t see how I could complain

When they saw Blade&039;s body, Norman flipped open his cell phone and described the tattoo to his boss He nodded a lot, grunting without emotion I started to feel a littleinto the corners of the garage, looking for trouble I&039;d sent Marcie into the mall and told her I&039;d join her for coffee when the exchange was completed I needn&039;t have worried

Nor mess"

"Sorry"

"What did you do to the poor slob?"

"He got out of line, so I bit hih riot"

They took what they thought was Rollo&039;s carcass and stashed it in the trunk of their black Mercedes There was a nice layer of plastic in the trunk, all ready for the body Bastards Norman handedinside I knew the money would be there We nodded to each other, and I walked away trying not to hurry In the ot it"

"Understood," said Stan

We hung up

I didn&039;t kno to explain to Stan that one of his guns had cashed it in, so I pretended it never happened I was counting on the fact that Blade was a flake and nobody would miss him Or at least I&039;d wait, maybe think of a better way to explain how it couldn&039;t have been helped

I located Marcie in the food court, sipping on a frappy-crappy-a I sat down, put the envelope on the table, and slid it across to her "Take a look"

She cracked open the envelope and peeked inside Her breath caught, and she coughed up a nervous chuckle "Oh, rand"

"Wow" She blinked at the cash "It worked"

"Dinner?"

"Let&039;s just get a room We can order up"

We quickly found the Hilton Wrapped in the ne and leftover adrenaline, we slipped between the sheets and co hours, content to feel her curled against led up again

We drove back to Marcie&039;s the nextaround awhile I called O&039;Malley&039;s and got Benny on the line Told hi errands, said she&039;d be back to fix h the side door in her kitchen, which led to the garage It was dark I felt along the wall for the light switch No luck I felt on the other side Nothing

I stepped into the darkness, felt soht I gave it a yank, and ts of fluorescents flashed to life

An eight-foot-tall polar bear charged e snarl I stepped back, one ar intothe revolver fros tangling I fell on er three tile of38 caliber holes But the bear didn&039;t drop

As a e at all

Marcie was a taxidermist

I stood, ood job The bear was incredibly lifelike, and she&039;d fixed the ani than nature had ever intended The bear was a perfect picture of rage It felt like he was actually e worktable Tools Bottles of liquid Various animal anatomy texts side-by-side with art books, cubise freezer took up one corner It creaked open, and I found an assortes wrapped in butcher&039;s paper I picked up one about the size of a big haic Marker ritten Raccoon

"Ew" I shivered, dropped the package back into the freezer, and closed it

God da Okay, I killed people, but I didn&039;t keep any souvenirs I looked at the bear again, shook hed

I went back in the house, flipped on the television I made a couple laps around the channels with the reood Bored

I wrote Marcie a note

Thanks for a nice evening Sorry I couldn&039;t wait Work I&039;ll call you

That&039;s the thing about Orlando: it wasn&039;t a tall city, but it had a bad dose of the sprawl, creeping out in every direction, soaking up cowood and places that used to be rural like Sanford and Oveido and even Bithlo All of Central Florida from Disney to the Space Coast was a snarled clusterfuck of beltways anddevelopwood, I&039;d e It was far enough away from 17-92 that traffic noise was alh The lady ned the garage and adjacent house was about seven hundred years old and hadn&039;t raised the rent once in the eleven years I&039;d lived there The house was on a pond that everyone in the neighborhood pretended was a lake so the sign at the entrance to the place could say Lake Potter

The taxi let uy I took the stairs up the side of the garage and let myself in The place was just like I&039;d left it One chair One single bed- made, sheets and blanket tucked under the corners No dishes in the sink and a two-thirds-full bottle of Chivas on the sed into fresh clothes Charcoal slacks Tweed jacket Muted paisley tie

I fixed myself a roast beef sandwich, horseradish, tolass of water, no ice I read the National Geographic while I ate, the one with the story on French Polynesia

The phone rang

I picked it up "Yeah?"

"Stan&039;s looking for you" It was Bob Tate I could hear the crowd lasses from O&039;Malley&039;s behind him

"Why?"

"I don&039;t know He seems irritated"

"What did you say to hi He&039;s the boss He can be irritated if he wants"

"I mean did you tell him where I am?"

"I didn&039;t knohere you were"

"You still don&039;t Understand?"

Bob cleared his throat,to say, I really should have heard hian- and even Blade when he was alive- usually knew better than to second-guess me, but Bob was next down on the totem pole He&039;d seen about as much shit as I had, and believe anization was into everything Nu If there was a dirty buck to be made, Stan was on top of it And if anybody looked at Stan sideways, he gave us a ring in the back rooe, Stan called it I&039;m still not sure why

Me and Bob and the others were Stan&039;s enforcers The guys with the guns, the knives, the brass knuckles The guys with the deep voices and the long shadows The guys with the heavy footfalls on the stairs late at night I&039;d read all that in a dime novel once

In the years I&039;d known Bob, he&039;d been shot three times, stabbed, had his ribs busted with a baseball bat, and been sideswiped by a Toyota In all honesty, he&039;d earned the right to speak his mind He wouldn&039;t bother unless it was iuess I just wasn&039;t in the mood to listen

"Tell hiainst raphic and folded it, put it in ain, code for Stan ain&039;t going to like that, but he said, "Sure, Charlie, whatever you say"

"Thanks"

I hung up the phone and went downstairs to o back to O&039;Malley&039;s I wasn&039;t ready to explain to Stan about Blade, and if I stayed around the apartht call

It only took o

I found Marcie on her front porch She sat on the wooden bench sipping a gin and tonic

I stopped in front of her, just off the porch "I shot your bear"