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Back Just Thieves Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. 1
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 2
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 3
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. ACCOMPLICES AND EASY MARKS

“Never saw him. I never saw anybody. The guy I know set it up for me. I talked to a guy on the phone. He told me there was a car under the Caldwell name and my guy set it up so I could go and pick it up. They tipped me off that you had the thing, and I tried to get it. Then I had to call my guy and tell him what had happened. He wasn’t happy.” He leaned forward and took another drink of his soda.

“And that’s it? Do you think you were talking to Caldwell on the phone?”

“I don’t know.”

I ran through a bunch of other names Frank had created for Froehmer. I threw Froehmer’s name at him, and Mobley’s. He’d heard none of them. It didn’t mean anything. “I don’t remember the name,” Dupont said. “But it wasn’t any of those. I don’t think it was your guy. I think it was someone else.”

“Why’s that?”

“My guy said that three or four people were after the same thing. That I wouldn’t have much time to get it. That’s why I did what I did. He said someone was going to wind up with it, and it better be me.”

“You’re working off a debt for that, I bet.”

“I’m working it off. What happened to the thing?”

“Someone’s got it,” I said, “But it’s not you, and it’s not me.”

I wasn’t sure I’d gotten anywhere, just further around the circle I’d been going round in my head over and over. I wasn’t sure if Dupont was telling me the whole truth, but he seemed harmless enough and I didn’t have any more use for him. I was wrong on both counts.

29

THE MOVE

SOMEONE WAS FUCKING WITH ME.

I came home from work one night and there was a bowl and a spoon on the kitchen counter I know wasn’t there when I left. They had been in the dish drainer. I know this.

The third time, there were drugs left on the counter. I didn’t know if Mobley (or Froehmer or Dupont or whoever) wanted me to take the drugs, or if it was a warning that they could plant something on me, put the cops on me whenever they wanted. It was a test; it was a message; it was a small amount of meth. I would like to say that I got rid of it immediately. I did not. I hid it in the car. I kept saying it was a last resort. If I couldn’t stay awake, if all else failed.