“There’s no girl,” he said. “You weren’t supposed to be here. Not until tomorrow.”

“Where’s the girl?”

“There’s no girl, dipshit. You were set up. Mobley and Denise, they set this up.”

“What’s she got to do with this?”

“Jesus. What you don’t know. They’re together, the two of them.”

“And you.”

“I’m not part of it,” he said. “I was just helping out Mo.”

It had been there right in front of me all this time. You look, but you don’t see.

“And Froehmer?”

He shook his head. “Mobley.” He tried to sit up but thought better of it. He put his head on the floor and still looked at me. I think I was still pointing the gun at him. “It’s been going on a long time.”

“Too long,” I said. “He killed my partner over it.”

“Froehmer did that,” he said.

“No he didn’t.”

“Well, you know. Froehmer didn’t put the needle in, but he got what he wanted. The way he always does. You know that much, right?”

Frank did right by him.

“Frank didn’t listen. And you listened to Frank. And neither of you knew the way it worked.” I showed him something in my face I didn’t want him to see. “You don’t have a clue.”

“You can’t figure them all,” I said. “All I know is that I have something everyone else wants.”

“And look where it’s got you,” he said.

“I don’t want it,” I said. “I never wanted it.”

“But you still have it.”

“It’s right outside,” I said. “Should I give it to you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “You know it doesn’t. You can kill me right here, but that won’t end it. You’ll have to answer for it. You’ll have to deal with Froehmer.”

He was done talking. He closed his eyes and I shot him again. Then the floor hit me in the face.

—

I saw the shadow charging at me just as I pulled the trigger, then Mobley crashed into me, tackling me to the floor. I dropped the gun somewhere and Mobley was on top of me, his weight pinning me deep into the concrete floor. He pressed his forearm into my windpipe and I tried to kick him off me. It was like trying to kick a pile of bricks. He had his weight on his left forearm, pushing it deep under my chin, while his right fist banged against my left ear. I tried to twist and kick and desperately tried to get an arm free, but he had me. I was still fighting, but it was getting hard to breathe, impossible to do anything. Mobley had me. My lungs were emptying out, my strength was leaving me. There was a dark pool floating just behind my eyes and I knew I was going to dive into it.