Chapters (68)
- Dedication
- Title Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Copyright
She’d helped him with Pierce, and she’d helped him with the other guy—only problem there was that it was the wrong guy. Dolly’d been idly going through Gaffney’s wallet, and had pulled out his driver’s license. Said: “Uh oh.”
Cory’d never forget that Uh oh.
Well, he felt bad about it, too. The poor bastard didn’t deserve what had happened to him. But it had happened in good faith. Cory honestly believed it was Jeremy Pilford they were marking up. His intentions were honorable. Sometimes there was collateral damage. Get over it. Move on.
Maybe that was the turning point for Dolly. Although, he had to admit, there were warning signs even before that.
Like that time Dolly asked whether they were just as bad as those they targeted. “Maybe someone else,” she once said, “will come after us the way we went after the first guy.”
She could never say a target’s name out loud. Not Pierce’s, not Gaffney’s. Pilford, she could say his name, because they hadn’t done him yet. But if they’d gotten him, she’d have had amnesia when it came to the guy’s name. It was her way of distancing herself, tricking her mind into believing she wasn’t involved. Cory, on the other hand, couldn’t say Pierce’s name enough, at least so long as no one other than Dolly was listening.
One time, she started talking about what the police would do to them if they got caught. What was it she’d said?
“You’re the one they’re really going to go after, once they know it was all your idea.”
Yeah, that was it. What the fuck did that mean? Cory had a pretty good idea. Dolly was already thinking ahead. If they got picked up, she’d sell him out. Say she was coerced. Say she was scared to do anything but go along with what he wanted.
He loved her so much. Funny how one’s feelings for someone could turn on a dime.
He’d started watching her more closely since the Gaffney fuckup. Tried to read between the lines of everything she said and did. There was definitely something wrong.
And then Carol Beakman showed up. At the door, for Christ’s sake.
Maybe if she’d phoned Dolly on her cell, everything would have turned out differently. But Carol didn’t have Dolly’s cell phone number, and when she tried to call her on the landline at her parents’ house, she’d found it disconnected.
So she drove to the house, came to the door, and that was really when everything started to go to shit.