Aces and Knaves

have business here, and your business is our business."
    The second: "You a lost tourist from Grant. You got no business here."
    The Three Stooges, but they weren't funny. I should just walk away, except that they had shifted positions and were blocking the sidewalk.
    "A guy was shot near Grant," I tried, "a couple of weeks ago. Name of Ned Mackay. Word is, someone paid to have it done. I just want a name. Who paid for it?"
    "We don't know nothin' about no fuckin' shooting."
    "We're good little boys, don't play with guns."
    I tried again. "I don't care who did it. I just want to know who paid for it."
    "How much money you got on you?" It was the first boy, possibly the leader.
    "About a hundred dollars," I said, cautiously. I had at least that.
    He spat. "A hundred dollars. Not even pocket money."
    The third one said, "Rabbit, you'd sell your sister for 50.”
    They chuckled. I chuckled. A very small chuckle.
    Rabbit said, "Let's see the money."
    Should I? What choice did I have? I pulled out my wallet and counted out five twenties. When he saw there was more he said, "Give me all of it."
    Trying to appear cool, trying to hide my shaking hands, I pulled out all my bills and handed them to Rabbit. I put the wallet back in my pocket.
    "If I give you a name," Rabbit said, "it didn't come from me. You come back here with the cops, I don't know nothing, you understand?"
    I nodded. I had no plans to return under any circumstances.
    "The name is Stan."
    "Stan?"
    "You heard me. I saw a credit card in there. Give me the credit card."
    It was brand new. I had just received it in the mail. "It won't do you any good. You won't be able to use it." Reason with him. He's not such a bad guy.
    "Give me the fuckin' credit card!"
    He pulled something halfway out of his pocket. A gun. I took out my wallet again and gave him the credit card. I turned to walk away. One of the others blocked my path.
    "Okay, I'm outta here," I said. Talk lightly. Breezily. I stepped to the side to walk around him. He stepped with me. Like a macabre dance.
    "Let him go," Rabbit said, irritably.
    "He might bring back the cops."
    "He won't bring back the cops. He's a fuckin' tourist."
    "I have to catch a plane," I said.
    I stepped carefully around the guy and walked away, expecting to hear gunshots, expecting to feel bullets tearing into me with each jerky step I took.
    Behind me I heard Rabbit say, "C'mon. I know where we can get cash for the card."
    ***
    What next? I looked out the window of the plane, not seeing anything. I had called the credit card company. I had replenished my cash. Fortunately, they hadn't taken my ATM card. I had cut my financial losses, but what about my psychic losses?
    The gangbangers I would get over, but being a Judas was not me. What if I did nothing? If Elma voted with James, I was in the clear. But what if she didn't? Chances are she wouldn't. According to my father, Arrow had convinced her to vote with him.
    What would happen to me? What happened to Ned? Stan. Stan was the front man for James. He contracted with the killers. He knew where I lived.
    Okay, go to the police. Tell them James paid to have Ned murdered. Right. James, one of the most influential men in San Francisco. And me without a shred of evidence.
    Why did James have Ned killed? Because Ned owed him. Probably lost The Game and promised to deliver Dionysus to him. Then reneged. That's what happens to people who don't keep their promises to James.
    I wanted to scream. Right there on the airplane. Make a disturbance, get myself arrested. If I'm in jail I can't be working on Elma. Hey, sorry, James, something came up. Did a little time so I couldn't help you. Heh, heh. Catch me again, later.
    But James is a good businessman. We've got to separate that fact from his moral failings—meaning an occasional murder. If everything goes his way there won't be a problem. Everybody wins. Including my father. Everybody is happy. My father forgives me when he sees I was right.
    The sun rises in the west.

Chapter 27 ELMA--2
    "I'm going back to work next week."
    Arrow and I looked at each other, but the news was not unexpected. My father looked better each day. His color had returned and he had started walking with Jacie, although more slowly and not as far as before.
    I had asked to join them during Arrow's daily briefing because...to be honest, because I was afraid to speak to my father alone. I couldn't remember that I had ever convinced him of anything by myself or changed