for their mistakes?
She was edgy, rattling around in a life that was slowly emptying. But the longer this took, the less certain she was Castro would be able to get her out. She wanted to have a backup plan, a way to disappear on her own if she had to.
As the noise level in the arena rose, Eva leaned closer to Dex and lowered her voice so her recorder wouldn’t pick it up. “I’ve got an undergrad client who wants to buy a fake ID,” she said, hoping Dex wouldn’t hear the waver in her voice. “She’s nineteen. Wants to get into San Francisco clubs. Do you know anyone who can make her one?”
If Dex thought she was lying, he showed no sign of it. He leaned his elbows on his knees and angled his face so he was looking at her. “I used to know someone in Oakland who did that. But it was years ago, back when you could slide one photo out and another one in.” He shook his head. “Now? Her best bet would be to find someone who looks like her willing to give her theirs. Pay them for their real driver’s license and let them report it stolen. It happens all the time.”
She looked toward the court, pretending to be interested in the game so that he couldn’t see the defeat in her eyes. “That’s what I told her,” she said. “But you know what college kids are like. Two years seems like an eternity at nineteen.”
A whistle sounded, signaling a time out, and loud music blared over the sound system.
Her voice grew louder again. “What ended up happening to that friend of yours, the one who referred Brittany?”
Dex stared at the cheerleaders dancing on the court below them and said, “He’s been dealt with. Wasn’t my call, but I can’t say I’m sorry about it.”
“Do you know for sure he was a part of the investigation?”
Dex shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Seems kind of dangerous,” she said, “to get rid of the guy who was Brittany’s contact. Won’t that draw the attention of the police again?”
Dex gave a tight smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “They’ll never find him.”
Eva felt a hollowness directly beneath her ribs and waited for him to continue.
“Fish has a warehouse in Oakland. Some kind of import/export bullshit. There’s an incinerator in the basement.”
She swallowed hard, fighting to keep her gaze steady on his, and nodded, hoping her recorder was picking this up and not just the jumped-up music of Daft Punk. Below them, the cheerleaders twirled and spun, their hair flying out, arms and legs pumping faster and faster as the music accelerated.
Claustrophobia began to overwhelm her, the heat of the arena, the people crammed into narrow seats that spiked upward toward the roof, giving her the sense that they were all pressing in on her. Eva checked the time on the scoreboard. “Let’s get a head start,” she said. “Beat the crowds. I’m starting to get a headache, and I think I want to go home.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Dex pushed himself out of his seat and slid past the people in their row, Eva following behind him.
* * *
They were first in line at the bathroom, and the drop took less than thirty seconds. “See you next week?” Dex asked, pulling his coat tight around him.
Eva looked out the window of the clubhouse, down to the baseball diamond below them, thinking ahead a few months to spring when the players would be down there, running bases and spitting sunflower seeds into the grass. Hopefully, she’d be gone by then, one way or another.
She looked at him, taking in the profile that had become as familiar as her own. This was a hard life, and he’d done his best to teach her everything he knew. And she’d learned well. For a long time, she’d been happy enough. But those days felt far behind her, like faded snapshots of a person she used to know. “Sure,” she said. “Stay safe.”
“Always,” he said, giving her a wink.
Back on the crowded concourse, she glanced at the time. She had five more minutes to get across the arena and meet Jeremy. She wasn’t lying about the headache, which was creeping around her temples, and she knew it would be a full-blown migraine by the end of the night. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Jeremy again.
Meet me at the entrance to section two instead.
She