Certain Prey

know.”
    “Especially if you lose the case.”
    Carmel snorted as she went through the door. “As if that might happen,” she said. W HEN CARMEL GOT BACK to the apartment, she found Rinker’s suitcase in the front hall, and Rinker just getting out of the bathroom, freshly showered, scrubbing her hair dry.
    “So what happened?”
    “We’re clear,” Carmel said. She gave Rinker a short account of her talk with Lucas.
    Rinker was pleased with the outcome. “I’m outta here,” she said. “I’ve got to get back to my business.”
    “Do you have a reservation?”
    “Yeah, for four o’clock,” Rinker said.
    “I’ll drive you out to the airport,” Carmel said. “Listen, what do you do in the winter?”
    “Mostly work,” Rinker said, fluffing her hair. “Where I live, there’s not a hell of a lot to do outside.”
    “Same here . . . You ever go to Cancún? Or Cozumel?”
    “Cozumel. Acapulco. A couple of times. Practice my Spanish.”
    “I try to get out of here for at least three weeks after it gets cold—a week in November, a week in January and a week in March,” Carmel said. “We ought to go together. I’ve got connections, in the hotels and so on. It’s a good time.”
    “Jeez,” Rinker said. She seemed oddly pleased, and Carmel got the impression she wasn’t often invited places. “That sounds nice.”
    “So call me in October, and if you can get away, I’ll set up the hotels and everything, and you can set up your own plane reservations, and we’ll meet down there.”
    “I’d like that,” Rinker said. “What do you do? Lay on the beach? Shop? I kinda like to boogie . . .”
    “Listen, I know some guys there, and there are always guys around . . . we’d be going around.”
    Rinker held up a finger: “Hold that thought, but this just popped into my mind, before I forget. The guns are in the closet. You gotta take them down and throw them in the river, or bury them somewhere. Also the box of shells— the shells are with the gun. They’re the only things left that can hang us.”
    “I sorta like them,” Carmel said.
    “Fine. Spend a few hundred bucks and get a nice clean gun of your own. I can make a call, and have one sent to you: brand-new, cold, no registration to worry about. If you want a silencer, I can handle that, too. But the guns in the closet have gotta go. I’m nervous having them here, even hidden. You gotta do it; I’ll call you every ten minutes until it’s done.”
    “We can dump them in the river by the airport,” Carmel said. “I know a place—then you won’t have to worry.”
    “Excellent,” Rinker said. She cocked her head. “Listen, if we go to Cancún, what about my hair? I’ve always had the feeling that it’s a pretty small-town cut, you know, like I’m already middle-aged or something. I thought . . .”
    Carmel did a cartoon breath-intake, and held her fingers to her breast: “There’s this woman down there. I’ve had my hair done every time I’ve gone down, she’s a genius . . .” T ALKING ABOUT M EXICO, they almost forgot the guns. With the door open and Rinker’s suitcase in the hall, Carmel snapped her finger and whispered, “The guns.”
    She went back to get them, and fumbled the box of shells. There were still thirty-odd shells in the box, and they flew everywhere. Carmel hastily scooped them up, pushed them back in the box and hurried to the door.
    Before going to the airport, Carmel took Rinker to the flats below Fort Snelling on the Minnesota River. “The fort’s just a relic,” Carmel said as they looked up the bluff at the revetments. “The first thing ever built here, that’s still around, anyway. The Army had a death camp for Indians right where we’re standing. This was after the big revolt . . . they hanged thirty-eight Indians in a single drop, down in Mankato. This area, this is where they kept the survivors, especially the women. Half of them died during the winter; most of the women were raped by soldiers.”
    “Happy story,” Rinker said.
    “I don’t know what I’d do if I got raped, but it’d be something unpleasant if I got my hands on the guy,” Carmel said.
    “I bet,” Rinker said. She didn’t mention the guy named Dale-Something. They found a quiet path along the river, checked to make sure there was nobody watching and pitched the guns into a deep spot.
    “That’s it,” Rinker said. “We’re all done.” O N THE WAY BACK from the airport, Carmel called Hale Allen.
    Allen said,