the car.” He motioned with his gun and I climbed in. Gary got in the passenger side and I could see beads of sweat running from the top of his naked scalp. “You ain’t too smart are you kid?” he asked rhetorically. “You don’t even go home when you’re supposed to.”
I started the car and backed out of the stall. “Where to?”
“Just drive.” He kept the gun down low, but pointed at me at all times. At the gate, he handed me a twenty. I paid the attendant and gave the old guy a wide-eyed look, wiggling my eyebrows to signal trouble. The old man paused for a second as he handed me the change, and then sneered, muttering about dope fiends and perverts as we drove away.
He ordered me to get on the ten west. He sat quietly, running his hand over his head, smoothing out the sweat lines. I could tell he was thinking of what to do next. I figured I could lobby for myself before he committed to a plan.
“What do you want with me? Why don’t you just let me go?” I asked, surprised by how freely I was talking. But why not talk? What did I have to lose at this point?
“You know too much.”
That was probably true, but I protested anyway. “I don’t know a damned thing. I don’t know where the money came from. I don’t know who the hell you are. I don’t know shit.”
“You know my name. You’ve seen me.”
“I have a bad memory.”
Gary laughed. “You’re a funny kid, too bad it’s gotta end like this for you.”
“How’s it gonna end?”
“I’m still working it out. But no matter what, it won’t be good for you. I can assure you of that.”
“Thanks for the assurance. I feel better now.” I turned onto the onramp of the one-ten and headed south, staying to the right. “So what’s the money for?”
“What?” Gary sneered at me, incensed. “What the fuck do you care?”
“Well, shit, if you’re gonna kill me anyway, you might as well tell me. I’m curious. I think I’ve figured some of it out. I just don’t understand where the money came from and why you met Steele in the Fairbanks Hotel twelve years ago.”
His eyebrows lifted with surprise. But he brushed it off. “Shit, kid,” he muttered, shaking his head. “You don’t know a damned thing, do you?”
“People keep telling me that lately. But it doesn’t bother me much. I’m getting used to it.” I merged onto the ten freeway and headed for Santa Monica. “But really, did Steele kill his wife for the money? Is that it?”
Gary laughed again, louder this time. “Shit kid, Steele’s old lady never even knew about the money. That’s the fucking problem. Steele hid the money in the chest and then she moved it out of there the next day. He didn’t know it was gone until after he was arrested and I went into the house to get it. Shit, man, I didn’t even know she was planning to divorce him until I cut your little buddy’s head off and read his file.”
The casual way he admitted decapitating Snyder sent chills through me. I drove on, unable to maintain the ease of the conversation. It was only at that moment that I let myself realize that I might actually die. But Gary went on, entertaining himself with the story.
“But the money? The money was a bribe. You don’t think you get an environmental activist like Steele to suddenly start promoting drilling for oil in a national park for free do ya? Nope. That kind of shit’s expensive. Andersen was the guy who arranged it and I made the payoff. Brought him a big ol’ suitcase full of cash. You should have seen the slob, I thought he was gonna nut all over himself and me. Apparently, that wife of his held the purse strings pretty damned tight. He was all for drillin’ wherever Andersen’s clients wanted once he realized how much money he could make.”
Gary glanced into the backseat and then reached over with his free hand to pat the chest. “Shit kid, you got no idea how hard I’ve looked for this thing.” He laughed and shook his head, almost nostalgic. He talked loud, a near shout over the road noise in the car.
“I mean, you don’t think five million dollars in cash just disappears do you?” He slugged me lightly on the shoulder, as though we were old drinking buddies remembering better