BooksBarbecue
Back Just Thieves
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

But I didn’t. Two gunshots filled the room and Mobley stopped banging on my ear, stopped crushing my windpipe. His full weight slumped on top of me and I thought about going slack too, thinking that maybe a shot had been meant for me, but then I heard Casey. “Holy shit,” she said.

I crawled out from under Mobley and had to stop and catch my breath. I was hunched over, not sure if I could stand up straight. Casey was shaking and crying and feeling the way someone should in that situation. I made my way to her and took the gun out of her hand. “I saw the car drive up,” she said. “I didn’t know what else to do. It was either him or you,” she said, not looking at me. My throat hurt so bad I wasn’t sure I could talk. “That’s the only way to think about it,” I said.

“Where’s Eva?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t do much more than that. She looked at me and saw all the blood on the front of my jacket. “Holy shit,” Casey said.

I shook my head and tried to catch my breath again. “It’s his.” I took the gun from Casey and wiped it and put it near the dead guy, Dupont. My head hurt. My throat hurt. My shoulder hurt. I think everything hurt. Mobley had tagged me good. I took the other gun and wiped it clean and put it on the floor. I wasn’t exactly sure which gun was supposed to go where. I wasn’t exactly sure of anything except the pain in my shoulder and Casey standing there next to me. I looked at the room. Let the cops figure it out. They would have the murder weapon for the kid. Maybe they could put it together as far as that and leave the rest alone. It might keep us out of it. Or at least keep Casey out of it. That’s all I needed. I could deal with the rest.

—

We turned off the light in the room and made our way in the dark to the bag I’d left by the window, then went back to the car. I explained as much of it to Casey as I could. “Let’s go home,” she said. “We can sort it out later.” I told her I wanted to see Denise. “And where would that lead?” Casey said. “Don’t. Think about it first. Think about Eva.” That’s all it took.