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Marcie aiting foron the top step, her elbows resting on her knees, a gin and tonic the size of a firelance she looked like she was just enjoying a well-deserved drink after a tough day&039;s work

As I walked closer I saw a different story Her hair was messed up The top two buttons of her blouse had been torn off Her bottom lip ollen and purple

I looked down at her, touched her lip gently with two fingers I was shaking, not with fear this tier "Who did this?"

"I don&039;t know his nain and tonic Probably not her last

"What did he look like? What did he want?" I&039;d find hiround six feet under

Marcie raised an eyebrow "You want to knohat he looked like?" She curled a finger at h the kitchen and out to the garage where she kept her giant, dead polar bear

She pointed at the dead body on the floor "That&039;s what he looks like Faht When she started talking again, she didn&039;t sound so casual "He ca for you, came to the door and- he pushed , ht, burying her face intoon the floor Vincent, one of the goons orked for Beggar He&039;d been there when I&039;d passed off Sanchez&039;s body as Rollo Kramer I didn&039;t think it would help Marcie to know his na

Abruptly, she pushed back frohed "I hate you seeing me like this" She sniffed "Damn it, I feel like such a little idiot"

"It&039;s okay"

"It&039;s not okay I&039;m too old to act like some little crybaby bitch" She squared her shoulders, took a long pull at her gin and tonic And just like that she was a rock, totally in control of herself, confident At least that&039;s the show she was putting on I&039;d seen past that to the fragile woh shell I&039;d seen it, if only for a few seconds

I put on a pot of coffee, and we sat at the kitchen table When it was ready, I poured myself a cup I offered her soin and tonic I thought about telling her to ease up, but then I figured she probably knehat she was doing

"Let&039;s hear about it," I said

"Sure" She took onearound watching television," said Marcie "I was hoping you&039;d call, actually There was a knock on the door, and I saw hih the peephole I&039;d never seen hih the door He said he was a friend of yours and he had a e I didn&039;t even stop to think it was a trick"

She slapped the palainst her forehead "Stupid I can&039;t believe I was so du it&039;s okay? It&039;s not fucking okay It was stupid I wasn&039;t born yesterday, you know I kno things work"

Right

She jurabbed her She tried to get away, but he convinced her to cooperate by getting rough That&039;s where the torn buttons and purple lip cauys froe to Rollo, so she knew she&039;d have to play along or get another knuckle job But she was still thinking, her ht out and said he was looking for a set of accounting books, and he had a pretty good idea that Marcie&039;s boyfriend had hidden theed inwardly That&039;s almost what had happened I&039;d almost left the books parked under a raccoon in Marcie&039;s freezer

The guy asked Marcie if she&039;d heard of Beggar Johnson

She&039;d said she had

Then he asked her if she knehat Beggar would have him do to her if she jerked us around

Marcie said she knew

"Okay, then," the guy had said "Now be a good girl and take et back to your life"

"But I knew it didn&039;t work that way," said Marcie "These kind of guys use you up until there&039;s nothing left you can do for theoing to get arage I figured I could get ahold of a rake or a ha, maybe hit hi really, but I had to try soht, of course Vincent alet rid of Marcie after he&039;d found the books I sipped e" Marcie finished her drink, started chewing the ice "But the guy , or rabbed o in first- except the garage is dark He felt along the wall for the light switch, and when he didn&039;t find it, I told hi to turn on the lights"

Suddenly I kne this story was going to end, and I couldn&039;t help s to myself

Marcie sawto be serious about tellingas she told me what happened

"So he takes these careful steps forward into the dark garage so he doesn&039;t walk into so his hand back and forth trying to catch the string When he finally gets it, he says &039;got it&039; like he&039;s so proud of hiled, but tears rihed hard now, had to catch her breath before she could continue "And then- and then he saw the bear, and he screa "I ht into o down in a pile But he drops the gun" Her laughter trailed off "I scras, hold un It was heavy"

No laughter now at all Her face was blank "And he lunged for er, and just like that he was dead He fell over, blood spreading on his chest" She heaved a big sigh "One , and the next he was just ht home from the zoo to stuff and mount"

"I&039;m sorry, Marcie It&039;s my fault I put you in a bad position"

"You sure as hell did" She tried to make a joke out of it, and the smile returned to her lips for a split second, but it couldn&039;t hang on, and her face was blank again

This hy guys like irlfriends We alking danger zones, and everyone around us suffered Then I had a bad thought and I told Marcie I had to use the kitchen phone

I dialed Ma, and Danny picked up after three rings "Yo"

"Danny, it&039;s Charlie"

"Jesus, Charlie, where the hell you been? So the phone off the hook for you"

"Later," I said "Right noant to knohat&039;s going on over there"

"Over here? Nothing A television, and Ma-"

"What&039;s A there?"

"You said to stick around the house and keep an eye on Ma," Danny reo to Amber&039;s place, she came here"

"Listen to me I want you to tell Ma to pack a suitcase No, make that two suitcases"

"Huh? What for? Charlie, what&039;s going on?"

"We&039;re playing it safe That&039;s all Put Ma on the phone"

I heard Danny yell at Ma to co room I waited She picked up after a few seconds

"Charlie?"

"Ma, pack up whatever you think is iet to the airport I want you to stay with Aunt Irene, okay?" Aunt Irene was Ma&039;s younger sister

"Is there trouble, Charlie?" Ma sounded suddenly sharp She walked around all day doing her old lady act, but when the heat was on she knew better than to argue Ma wasn&039;t stupid

"There an with Irene"

"I understand You one"

"Sure, Ma Put Danny back on will you?"