“Right. That was Paul Simon.”

“All right then. Don’t you think you better talk with that woman of yours in there about all this stuff? About the kid? About what she really wants you to do? You’d better take control of this operation right now. But first, I’d find out where her heart is. What side she’s on, if she’s on anybody’s but her own. If she’s willing to put you in danger then something’s not right.

I just looked at him.

“Well,” he said. “That’s it.”

“Okay,” I said. I didn’t realize that I had been holding my breath and so I let it out. “Maybe I’ll do just that,” I said.

By the time I got back inside the house the look on Hank’s face probably meant that he was aware that I had something on my mind, but that he wasn’t hell-bent on questioning me about it.

In the kitchen I caught Julie wiping wet dish hands on her pretty backside. She turned to look at me.

“We need to talk,” I said.

We sat on a couple of rusted-out and upended barbecue barrels in the back yard. There were bees around us, gathering nectar from the wild flowers that grew there in profusion.

“I had a dream about you last night,” I said.

“Not good?”

“Yeah. Very not good. Do you know what today is?” I asked her.

“No.”

“I didn’t think so. It’s Thursday. I had to ask Lawrence what day it was. I don’t like all this on-the-run, dodging bullets business, Jules. So we have to switch tactics about right now.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Do you still have Carpin’s little black book?”

“Uh. Yeah. I’ve got it in my purse. Who are you gonna call?”

I thought about not telling her, or lying. There was probably too much of that going on in our relationship already. So, I told her.

“Your friend, Archie Carpin, for starters.”

“Bill, no.”

“Oh, I’m going to talk to him, alright. Also to that other fellow… What’s his name? The one who helped you.”

She gasped.

“No. You can’t!”

“Oh. I can, alright. You’d be surprised what I can do. The next time you want to go setting somebody up and cleaning them out, come talk to me first. I know people with money. Money is the one thing you’d never have to worry about with me.”

“Okay,” she said.

“I’m not through. Also, we’re going to need some equipment. For-”

“Getting the money,” she finished for me. Her eyes were downcast. I’ve been dressed down a few times in my life and know how it feels. Julie was looking like I had shot her favorite cat. I didn’t feel so good about being the jerk, but somebody had to do it. Things had gotten way too far out of hand and she’d been shot at and a nice old fellow had been killed in an explosion meant for her. Some people will resist any effort to help them, even while they’re practically screaming for help. Julie was a walking disaster. But, then again, she had warned me about her middle name.

“I’m only hoping Carpin will negotiate,” I said.

“Oh Bill,” she began. Her eyes were red. “He won’t. He’ll kill you. And me. He’s…”

I held up my hand, cutting her off.

“Nobody’s going to kill you,” I said. “Nor me. And certainly not Hank Sterling.”

“You don’t have to do any of this,” she said. “I could- I could disappear.”

My stomach did a little flip-flop. My throat tightened and suddenly felt twice its size.

Dark clouds were coming in over the trees away to the east of us. Rain clouds.

“I told you I’d help you,” I said. “That’s what I do. That’s what I’m doing now. Just stick by me. There may come a time when I’ll want you to cut and run. Go into hiding. But that time’s not now.”

I turned and looked at her face in profile, her beautiful tresses, the warm, natural glow of her skin.

“Okay,” she said.

“Julie.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll get you through this.”

“I know.”

Silence again. I could feel the electric current between the two of us, an effect of the affinity versus the distance. Like two huge celestial objects attracted together by gravity or magnetism but held apart by some greater force.

But there were more important matters at the moment.

“You and Hank and I are about to leave,” I told her. “But Keesha stays here with Lawrence and his mother.”

She frowned. “She’s a wonderful kid, Bill. But I know we can’t take her with us. She’s why you came here. To Lawrence and his mom. It’s okay.”

“Good,” I said. I slipped one arm around her narrow, perfect waist. “Go get it,” I told her.

“Get what?”

“That little black book.”

Our goodbye was short. Underneath the shade tree in the front yard where the grass had given up the ghost many years before beneath the incessant comings and goings of barbecue customers and family, Ms. Coleeta and Keesha managed to get hugs in on all three of us. Hank and I shook hands with Lawrence.

As I started up the Suburban, Keesha popped around the car to my window. I flicked the button and rolled it down.

“My man Bill,” she said. “You be careful.”

“I will, darlin’.”

“My girl Julie, my man Henry. Y’all bothbe careful.”

“We will, honey,” Julie said.

She stood back and waved as I backed us out into the street. I patted Julie on the leg. She was actually smiling.

It was the best goodbye I’d ever had.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Within five minutes after we left the sky overhead had become overcast with immense, dark clouds. Lightning played across the sky to the east. We all knew we were in for it.

We crossed Austin from east to west, then got back on the Loop going south. Our destination? My house.

It was sort of interesting being home without my own car. Mine was back at Dock’s house in Killeen.

Then it hit me. Anyone trying to figure out who Dock was or how he’d gotten where we left him would begin by checking into his home on the outskirts of Killeen. Which meant they’d find my car.

It was time to make a couple of phone calls and then get a move on. Well past time.

Before going inside we looked the place over as best we could. Nothing appeared to be tampered with. Hank got Dingo out of the Suburban and let her sniff around, first the front door, then the back. Nothing. I didn’t know whether or not Dingo was specially trained, but Hank seemed to act as if she had given the place her seal of approval.

Just in case, we went in through the back door.

About the time we got inside, the rain began, coming down in sheets. It had been awhile since I’d seen such a hard rain.

It didn’t appear that anything in the house had been tampered with. My fish were about half starved, so I gave them an extra dose of food.

While Julie, Hank and Dingo raided my refrigerator, I picked up the phone.

“Yallo?” The voice sounded like it was talking through a couple of jawfuls of gravel.

“Is this Mr. Neil, or Mr. Mortensson?”

“Who wants to know?”

“Bill.”

“Bill who?”

“Just Bill. This is with regard to Julie Simmons and Archie Carpin.”

Silence.

“Hello?” I said again.

“I’m here,” gravel-voice said.

“Just making sure.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s safe, for now. A couple of jokers named Jake and Freddie, whom I’ve been dying to meet, keep trying to kill her. Know anything about that?”

Silence.

“Is this Mr. Neil?” I asked.

“Neil’s dead.”

“Really? My condolences. When did he die?”

“Last week.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“So I guess he can’t talk to me then.”

“Not unless you’ve got a crystal ball or something-connections on the other side. Son, you don’t want to get involved in this shit. It’s not exactly safe.”

“You know what’s not safe? Going around sniping at folks with deer rifles and setting dynamite charges inside of duplexes. That’s not safe at all.”