Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

were sent to find me, right? That’s why you were at the cottage last night.”
    “Right.”
    She cocked her head, gesture of curiosity. “But you weren’t sent by my brother.”
    “I don’t know who your brother is. I was sent by a man who was hired by your family. I don’t know who exactly in your family hired him. Maybe it was your brother.”
    She considered all this carefully, then said, “So you don’t know who I am.”
    “Just that your name is Marie Welles.”
    “That’s all you know?”
    “Yes.”
    “And you’ve never seen me before?”
    “No. Not that I can remember. Why?”
    “Have you ever heard of my family?”
    “No.”
    She thought about that, then said, “I wanted to meet you because I need to ask a favor of you.”
    I said nothing to that.
    “I know about you,” she said. “I’ve heard about you. I know you’ve helped people before.” She nodded toward the truck. Her voice was giving out but she continued nonetheless. “Our friend over there told me what happened last night, what you did. It was the act of a compassionate man. I’d like to think that a compassionate man is also a reasonable man. I thought if we met face to face that maybe I could appeal to your reason and humanity. I thought maybe between you and me we could maybe work something out.”
    “Like what?”
    “I come from a very powerful family. I don’t know if you know that. I don’t know what you know, how much you’ve been told. My family is dangerous and I no longer want anything to do with them. I’ve decided to start my life over again and I don’t want them, or anyone, to know how to find me. You can understand that, can’t you?”
    I nodded. “From what I understand, they’re worried about you and would like to know that you’re okay.”
    “They’re only worried about themselves. My well-being has never been a concern of theirs. There is nothing…compassionate about my family. I know they’ve probably told you that I’m crazy. But I’m not. They’re crazy, and they’re dangerous, and I want to be free of them once and for all. If that means living my life like a criminal on the run, then that’s what I’ll do.”
    She took a step toward me then. “Do I seem crazy to you?”
    I looked at her eyes. They were clear, steady. Something about them right then seemed familiar. But I ignored that. Finally, I shrugged and said, “No, you don’t.”
    “It’s easy to believe what you hear, isn’t it? They tell you I’m crazy and you have no reason to doubt them. I mean, people believe what they hear about you, right. They believe and they come to you for help, not knowing or caring that you just want to be left alone.”
    I felt uncomfortable suddenly. Marie was watching my face closely.
    “You still haven’t told me what it is you want, Marie.”
    “I’ll live like a criminal if I have to. I’m prepared to do that. But if I don’t have to, if I can find some place where no one knows me, where no one can find me and I can live a relatively normal life, then I’d of course rather that. I don’t deserve to live my life in fear, afraid to leave the house, hiding. No one does.”
    I thought about my life these last few months—these last few years. Hiding from people in need, hiding from Frank Gannon, the Chief, Tina. I thought about this but said nothing.
    “You know how the rich are, Mac,” she said. “You know them as well as I do. You grew up one of them.”
    “How do you know me?” I said quickly.
    “I did my homework, that’s all. People talk out here, you know that. And I know you can’t possibly have any loyalty to my family, since you’ve claimed you don’t even know who they are. They’re just another rich family to you, so you can’t want to help them. Everything I know about you tells me this.”
    She took another step toward me. If I wanted to, I could have reached out and touched her.
    “I want to offer you a deal,” she said. “Do you think you might be interested in that?”
    I watched her face closely. Her features seemed somehow unnatural, as if constructed. Now that we were so close I could see, despite the darkness, several thin, intricate scars—old ones, by the look of them. I thought then for some reason of Augie’s face.
    “What kind of deal?” I asked.
    “I want to ask you to tell whoever sent you that you looked but couldn’t find me. I want you to tell them that I moved to New Haven but that no one knows exactly where.”
    “Why New