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Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. Acknowledgments
  40. Discover More
  41. About the Author
  42. Also by Richard Lange

“This is serious business,” Beaumont says. “I’ll need to think on it. Where are you now?”

“Flagstaff,” Jesse says.

“Come here, to Las Vegas. It’s a good place to hide, and we can meet in person to discuss things.”

“I’ll call when we get there,” Jesse says. “Thanks for trying to help.”

“Thank Claudine,” Beaumont says. “I’m only doing what she would have wanted.”

Jesse hangs up and puts on the sunglasses Johona gave him. He’s feeling better. Not good, but better. Vegas is only four hours away, and at least they’re running to something now, instead of away.

18

18

J​ESSE’S CHANGED THE PLAN. WE’RE GOING TO LAS VEGAS TO see Monsieur Beaumont instead of Denver. Do you recall Monsieur Beaumont? Jesse asks me. Monsieur Beaumont’s a friend of mine. He likes to hear me sing. We visited him in New Orleans and in Las Vegas. He had a parrot that could speak French.

He’s gonna help Jesse figure out what to do about the Fiends. That’s what Jesse tells Johona when we’re eating at Denny’s. What about me? Johona says. Jesse says Monsieur Beaumont’s gonna try to help her too so she should come with us. However things turn out, he says, it’ll be a shorter bus ride to L.A. for you. Johona pretends to mull this but I can see she’s happy Jesse’s keeping her around. Every time I look up she’s touching him or he’s touching her and neither pays me any mind.

I go to aping what they say. I do it louder and louder till Jesse tells me to leave off. I ain’t your sweetheart, I say, I ain’t the bad luck. Watch your mouth, Jesse says and Johona tells us to calm down.

We leave for Las Vegas. I ride shotgun with Abby on my lap and count broke-down cars. Johona asks Jesse to turn on the radio and he does. If it was me he’d have said no. Wolfman Jack plays Duke of Earl plays Honeycomb plays Maybe Baby by Buddy Holly.

Out of the blue Johona says, Why don’t you let Edgar drive? Jesse says, I don’t know about that. Johona says, There’s hardly anybody on the road. She says, You want to drive don’t you Edgar? She might be fooling so I say, It don’t matter Jesse won’t let me. Sure he will, Johona says. You gonna be careful? Jesse says. 10-4 good buddy, I say.