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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

“Do you have a problem with me?” I asked Mobley directly one day.

“I don’t have a problem,” he said.

“So what is it then?”

“I don’t like you,” he said, very matter-of-fact. And that was that.

—

It was around then that I started to go over and give some money for the kid. I’d count out enough for Frank and me and put a little bit back in the envelope and drive over to Denise’s. She was clean again, or so I’d heard, and back on her own, so maybe she could be trusted. I was still going to meetings at that time, so maybe it was part of making amends, or maybe because I was more sympathetic to what she’d gone through, was going through, or maybe I was trying to take more responsibility. Maybe I didn’t want the past weighing on me (“You can’t change the past; you can only change the present,” is one of those clichés they tell you in recovery). Maybe it was all of that. “However you got here, it’s good,” Frank said. He supported me giving Denise and Eva money, but he never went with me.

Denise would look past me standing on her stoop and look at the car. “Frank still around?”

“Frank’s still around.”

“I thought maybe Froehmer would have run him off by now.”

I let it pass. “Is Eva around?”

“No,” Denise said.

“She doing all right?”

“We’re okay.” She didn’t want to talk; she wanted the envelope and that was it.

“I was thinking we could set up an account for Eva, so I wouldn’t have to come by all the time. I could just put everything in her account.”

“If that’s what you want. I thought you wanted to see her once in a while.”

“I could still do that,” I said. “I thought she’d be here today.”

“No. Not today.”

“I could come back.”

“If you want,” she said. “If you’re not too busy doing errands for Froehmer.”

“It’s what I do,” I said, not taking her hook.

“As long as you know what you’re doing, and who for.”

“I know.”

“I don’t think you do,” she said. “Fair warning.”

“Okay.” I handed her the envelope.

“I’ll put it in the bank myself,” she said. “I’ll show you the statements if you want.”

“That’s okay.”

“The fuck it is,” she said and closed the door.

That’s how it went most of the time. Sometimes it was better. Sometimes I saw Eva.

5

THE TARGET

FRANK AND I HADN’T WORKED IN ALMOST A WEEK WHEN FROEHMER TOLD ME ABOUT THE JOB OUT OF TOWN.