“Death wish. One of these days…his luck’s going to run out and we’re going to lose him.” Eddie slowly stroked Dog’s back. “I’ve shared a lot with that bastard over the years. Known him better than anyone, and I’m probably the only person who can really work with him. When he goes up in flames, it’s going to kill me….”

Eddie didn’t go on, but he didn’t have to.

Jim had lost a partner once, too, and that shit sucked the will to live right out of you.

“What’s he going to do with Devina tonight?”

There wasn’t even a pause on that one: “You don’t want to know.”

CHAPTER
37

Before Vin had left the duplex, he’d packed a quick semi-picnic for him and Marie-Terese, and the remnants of it were scattered across the chipped table in his family’s old kitchen: The tinfoil that had been around the sandwiches and the Cokes that were now mostly empty and the bag of Cape Cod potato chips they’d shared were going to be quick to clean up.

Dessert was the single Granny Smith apple he’d had at his place, and he’d been cutting off pieces of it and alternating one to her, one to himself. At this point, the thing was more core than apple, and as he cleaved the last viable slice from around the seeds, it was going to her.

For no apparent reason, he thought about what he’d said to Marie-Terese:

It’s not what you’ve done—it’s who you are.

He was very sure that was true about her…and also clear that it didn’t apply to him in the slightest. The way he’d been living his life had been exactly who he was—a money-hungry bastard with absolutely no conscience.

But like her, he was leaving his old life behind. He still had the drive deep in his gut—except now he saw it as a problem, not something to act on. And the trouble was, he had no idea what form the future was going to take.

“Here, have the last piece.” He took the slice from the blade of his knife and offered it across the table. “I cut it carefully.”

She reached out her lovely hand and accepted what he wanted to give her. “Thank you.”

As she ate the thing, he cleaned up, gathering the debris, stuffing it back into the Whole Foods bag he’d brought it in.

“When are they coming?” she asked.

“One hour after sunset, they said. This kind of stuff always seems to happen in the dark.”

She smiled a little and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin. Leaning to the side, she looked out of the window, her hair swinging loose off her shoulder and bouncing. “Still pretty light.”

“Yeah.”