men who come to see him will ever understand what happened.”
“You’re losing me, Sugar.”
I probably am, I thought. But what I said was, “You already said it. Those hard men, they’re going to come, sooner or later. They won’t find Albie. Or you. What could they do then except call Solly?
“First thing out of his mouth, he’s gonna tell them about that partners desk. If we don’t get that stuff back where Albie had it stashed, they’ll find an empty space.”
“But if—”
“You’re wasting time, Lynda. And we don’t have much. You know what Solly’s gonna say was supposed to be in that desk? Come on. What?”
“Albie’s book,” she said. She bit her lower lip to stop herself from crying.
“Yeah. And when they find that slot empty, they’ll naturally think you cleaned it out and took off. They want that book, girl. People like them, you think they won’t be able to find you just because you got some nice new ID?”
She was quiet for a second. When she opened her mouth, I could see a drop of blood on her lower lip. She must have bit down real hard.
“What if they’re already there, Sugar? At the house. Waiting.”
“You said they always come at night, right? We’ve still got plenty of daylight left.”
“Not that much. And what if—?”
“If they’re waiting, then I’m the one they grab. But so what? I’ll have what Albie left you. I’ll tell them you paid me to sneak in and put it back.
“Whether they’ll buy it, who knows? But they’ll know I didn’t write that note. The way I’ve got it worked out, no way you come into it. Ever.”
“It’d never work.”
“It’d work perfect. They’d pound on me, just to make sure they got all the juice out of the orange. When I’ve taken enough to convince them, I’ll tell them the whole truth.”
“The … what?”
“The truth. Solly sent me. To get Albie’s book. And I did that. They’ll see that for themselves. Solly told me to get that book no matter what I had to do.
“Get it? Me, I had to hurt you pretty bad to make you talk. Solly was on the phone all the time I was doing it—he could hear everything. When you finally told me where to find Albie’s book, Solly told me, make sure I don’t leave anything behind.
“So I killed you. Then I ran out and mailed Albie’s book to Solly. Only reason I went back in was to wipe the place down, make sure there wasn’t anything there that could trace back to me. That’s why I had the prayer bag on me. Only, Albie’s note, it’s going to be inside the bag, get it?”
“That is where it was.”
“It doesn’t matter. They’re never going to think a thug like me would open that bag. I’m just a guy Solly hired. Hired to get the book, see? That’s why I’d have to let them work on me for a while, because telling them who paid me, that’d be like ratting him out.”
“Why would you care? About Solly, I mean.”
“I don’t. But you don’t rat. That’s the rules.”
“The what?”
“Never mind. It’s too … complicated to explain now. But those men, they’d understand.”
“They’d kill you, Sugar.”
“They might. But they wouldn’t have to. There’s no reason for them not to believe my story. How else would I know about Solly? Or Albie? Or the book?”
“They’d still—”
“Maybe not. Maybe they wouldn’t want to make a mess, I don’t know. But that’s all downside. If I can get in there and leave Albie’s stuff without being caught, now that’s a message they’d get for sure.”
“Which is …?”
“You found the note. And you left it for them. They’d know Albie’s handwriting. They’d think you did what the note said to do. Albie made sure they’d know there’s no reason to hunt you now—they’d already have everything there was to get. Why be mad at you? You played it square all the way. You didn’t have to leave anything for them, but you did.”
“I don’t like—”
“It’s not for you to say.”
“Why? Because you’re the man.”
“Because you’ve got all your … feelings in this, and I don’t. Right or wrong, those men, they’d know Albie wouldn’t just leave his prayer stuff behind.”
“Of course he wouldn’t! I … oh!”
“So, if I don’t put it back, and if they can’t find it, they’ll know you have it. They wouldn’t care about that—what they’d want is that little blue book. With Solly telling them his story, they’d go right for