“Most people would tell the skank queen of stank to take a hike. Love turned her into an asset. She still hangs around, she still pawns, but the product’s a bit better, the skank showers once a week now, and she reports in. Things she’s heard. Things she’s seen.”

“That’s usually the way it works.”

“Nuh uh. I’ve known people who ran a neighborhood, expected people to tell them if there was any news, but didn’t care otherwise. My family was like that. I’ve known people who ran their blocks like a business, with rules like how you take fifty percent of what you get and reinvest it back into the business. I’ve even known ones who paid people for information. But the goal was profit. Maximizing money in their pockets at the end of the day.”

“She’s different?”

“Her goal is information, ’Joint. If you look for it, you’ll see it. But she’s willing to break even on the business side of things to buy unreliable information. She’d be willing to send us on a wild goose chase that could go nowhere, and that bothers me.”

Disjoint shook his head. “You’re off.”

“I think she would, and if she will, that means we’re lower in her eyes. There’s a class system here, like castes in India or whatever, and stank skank with the bathtub booze is bottom tier. I don’t want to be at the mothersucking stank skank level. If this is a shit job then it means she’s not all that and it means I’m not all that to her.”

“Not what I’m saying. I don’t agree about the information part.”

“Really? You’ve got to pay attention and look, D.J. See what she’s fucking organizing.”

“I’m looking. Not always at the same things you are, but I’m looking. I see the people she’s putting in place, but I don’t think the point is information. The point is emotional. She knows that information gets her what she wants.”

Sidepiece considered, then shrugged. She wasn’t sure he could see her in the gloom, but his hand was in place to feel the shrug. She smiled at the thought, and spoke through the smile. “Revenge.”

“Hate and rage. Revenge means there’s something that can be done and once it’s done then that’s the end of it. I guarantee you, ’Piece, she’s going to get what she wants and those emotions she’s feeling won’t change a bit.”

Sidepiece felt uncomfortable, hearing that and kind of agreeing with it. The playful smile dropped away, and she found herself staring out across the dark parking lot. There were only six cars in a lot that could have held a hundred, and it wasn’t because the mall was closed—the lights were on, signs lit, and store interiors illuminated.