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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

“Frank came home all bloodied and I remember how unsympathetic my father was when Frank told him that three guys jumped him on the street. ‘They didn’t jump you for no reason,’ he said. ‘What did you do?’ ‘I didn’t do anything,’ Frank said. ‘Then call the cops,’ my father told him. He knew he wouldn’t. My father thought Frank got what he deserved and that was that.”

We sat in silence for a moment and then Casey said, “You’re supposed to ask me about the watch.”

“I know about the watch,” I said. “Frank had it.”

“You know the story.”

“I know Frank.”

Casey got up from the table again and went back to her room. When she came back she put an expensive watch on the table in front of me. “He gave it to me. He had it hidden in his underwear. He said he would have given it back if there hadn’t been a crowd around him. He said he’d only taken it to trade for drugs, so he gave it to me. I wasn’t even in high school then. I don’t think he had ever given me anything. And here it was something that he’d stolen, that I knew he’d stolen and gotten beaten up for. And I took it and kept it all this time. I shouldn’t have taken it, but I did. He gave it to me so I kept it. It was just between the two of us, you know; we were the only people in the world who knew about it. I hid it from my parents; I hid it from everyone. You’re the only person I’ve ever shown it to, after all this time.”

34

THE TROPHY

I HAD TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT BACK. I thought that every car that was behind me was following me. They had followed me to Eva’s and now they were hoping I would take them to the thing they really wanted. I could keep an eye on Mobley, but he wasn’t the one who would tail me. Mobley was at home; I spent the night looking at the stationary dot on the map on my phone, but I couldn’t get the trophy from the safe until the morning. I spent the night looking at the dot and trying to think about how to get to the safe unnoticed. I had to go to work in the morning. I couldn’t change my routine. I didn’t know what to do.

The sun was almost up when Casey came out and saw me on the couch, staring at the phone. “You didn’t sleep,” she said.

“A little.”

“I saw that blue light all night,” she said. “When are you going to get her?”

“They haven’t said yet. They’re probably moving her first.”

“Are you ready?”