Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

happened, that something had changed. But I had no way of knowing just what. Maybe it was simply that business was concluded, the meeting over. Or maybe it was something more. Neither Jean-Marc nor Long looked at each other for a moment, as though any exchange between them might give something away.
    Jean-Marc returned his glass to the table and stood. Long zipped shut the pack as he also stood. I was the last of us to rise. I watched them both. Vigilance was, as ever, all I had.
    “Long’ll take you back now,” Jean-Marc said. “I’m sorry to rush you off, but with my father ill, I have a lot of things I must take care of.”
    “I didn’t know he was ill.”
    “The last few years have been rough on him. His condition has gotten worse since Marie ran away. The doctors have warned me that he could go anytime now.”
    I remembered the man. I remembered him making me feel at home when I visited. I remembered the money he gave me on my eleventh birthday. I remembered wanting to use it to run away from the family that had adopted me.
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” I said.
    “I want him to die at peace. He deserves that, don’t you think?”
    I nodded.
    “I don’t want him to pass thinking his only daughter had abandoned him. Who knows, maybe he’ll even start to get better once he knows she’s safe. A missing loved one is a terrible thing, Mac. But a loved one who just leaves you behind, that’s unbearable.”
    I said nothing.
    “I’ll tell him I saw you. I’ll tell him you were loyal to him to the end. That should lift his spirits some.”
    Jean-Marc led us across the patio and stopped at the back door. He extended his hand. His eyes were steady and cold. I took his hand and we shook.
    “I can count on your silence?” he said to me.
    I said that he could. Long and I left then. He drove us back toward the village, to my car waiting in the lot behind the cinema. I could see more and more sunlight breaking out around us, looking like long stilts in the sky. The brightness of it was hard on my eyes, but I didn’t dare close them against it.
    Long got out and opened the door for me. I stood face to face with him.
    “So now what?” I said.
    “Your part is done. Tonight we set a trap for Searls. You’re welcome to come along with me if you want, see for yourself.”
    “No, thanks.”
    “You know, I could use you, MacManus. You could help flush out the Chief, help me get rid of him once and for all. You’ve got him frustrated by now coming out in the open. Frustrated men do foolish things, right? You’d be doing me and a lot of people in this town a favor. A favor like that wouldn’t be easily forgotten. What do you say?”
    “Not interested.”
    “I’d think you’d be the first to jump at a chance to get him out.”
    I said nothing.
    Long studied me for a moment, then said, “The Chief’s kid got what he deserved, in my opinion. His father kept cutting him slack, burying his ‘mistakes.’ We knew everything that boy did, and we couldn’t do a damn thing to stop him. We were told to look the other way. There’d be retribution if we didn’t. Not every cop in this town is behind the Chief, MacManus. With people like Bishop jumping out of his pocket, he can’t last. You might want to pick a side for once. You might want to do it sooner rather than later.”
    Long waited for my response, and when he got none, he said, “You know where to find me, if you change your mind. With you as bait, we could draw the Chief out and nail his ass good, once and for all.”
    “Just find Searls,” I said. “Get him off the streets. That’s all I care about right now.”
    Long nodded. “All right. Take care of yourself, MacManus.”
    He got back into his car and drove off, leaving me there holding that leather bag. Back in my apartment I stashed the gun under a loose floor board in my living room. Then I nailed the board back in place and went to my window and looked down on Elm Street. There was a part of me that wanted to believe this was nearly over. Once Searls was taken, there would be nothing left for Augie and me to worry about.
    I called Augie. He needed to know this. His phone rang twice and then he answered it.
    “They’re supposed to bring Searls in tonight,” I told him.
    “So we just sit tight till then.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did you find out how he got out?”
    “It looks like the Chief sprang him.”
    Augie was silent for a moment. “Any idea why?”
    “To work for a family named