Hit List

there?”
    She was on the other side of the street, walking away. He waited for someone to leap out of an alleyway and strangle her, but nobody did.
    “She must have left the building,” Dot said, “while we were watching the glowing cigarette across the street. What’s she got, a backpack? Maybe she’s going away for the weekend.”
    “That’s all we need.”
    “She’s at the corner. She’s hailing a cab. Where do you suppose she’s going?”
    “Read her lips, see what she tells the driver.”
    “Is Mr. Mustache still at the window? I don’t see the telltale glow of his cigarette. No, I take it back. There it is. He’s there, so he probably saw her leave.”
    “So did we,” he said. “So what?”
    “So he’s not going to follow her. What about the other one?”
    The man in the cap and windbreaker had been back intermittently, and Keller had spotted him that morning in the coffee shop on the corner. He’d stopped by to pick up breakfast for the two of them, and there was the guy, perched on a stool at the counter, tucking into a plate of salami and eggs.
    “Salami and eggs,” Keller said. “I haven’t seen him since breakfast.”
    “Maybe he decided to catch a movie.”
    “Or maybe he’s sitting in some other window, without a glowing cigarette to give him away. You don’t think she really left for the weekend, do you?”
    “Who knows?”
    “The guy with the mustache has to be part of the game,” he said. “How else do you explain the mustache? I mean, now you see it, now you don’t.”
    “Either he’s neurotic in a new and interesting way,” Dot said, “or he’s a player. Besides, didn’t he stop your girlfriend on the street to ask directions? And she pointed him to the building?”
    “If he was legit, he’d know where he lives.”
    “He wanted a close look at her,” she said. “Wanted a chance to size her up.”
    “Why?”
    “To lock in on the target, I guess. Don’t you do that? Confirm the subject’s identity before you close the sale?”
    “I’d just as soon do it from a distance,” he said. “You get up close, talk to them, it complicates things.”
    “You start thinking you know them.”
    “And you don’t know them,” he said, “not really. The only reason they’re in your life is because there’s a contract in your pocket with their name on it. It’s the job that brought the two of you together, and in the end you have to bite the bullet and do the job.”
    “But it’s easier if you keep your distance.”
    “I’d say so,” he said, “but maybe this guy’s wired differently. Maybe he likes the idea of talking to her, knowing all along he’s going to take her out.”
    “Sick,” Dot said.
    “Well, mental health’s not necessarily part of the job description.”
    “No.”
    “And who says he’s the one who’s going to take her out? Maybe he’s Roger, and the other guy’s going to hit her.”
    “The windbreaker.”
    “That makes him sound like he’s got gas,” he said. “One of them’s Roger and one’s our hitter. I wish we knew which was which.”
    “If only,” Dot said.
    “Simplify things, wouldn’t it? Instead of waiting around, I could just go ahead and take him out. With Roger down and out, we could call off the other guy, and everybody could go home.”
    “We couldn’t call off our guy, Keller. He’s still got a job to do, because your girlfriend’s still a loose end.”
    He was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Maybe you could stop calling her my girlfriend.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Just to keep it simple, you know?”
    “It won’t happen again.”
    “And it’d still be good if we knew which was which, because I could deal with Roger and we could clear out. And the other guy could do what he came here to do, and we wouldn’t have to sit around and watch him get ready to do it.”
    “Uh-huh. Have you got a hunch?”
    “As to which is which? I’ve got two hunches, and I’m pretty sure one of them is right.”
    “Narrows it down.”
    “On the one hand,” he said, “the guy with the mustache is Roger, and that’s why he’s at the window all the time,puffing away on a Marlboro Light. Because why else would he need an observation post? If he’s just there to fulfill a contract, all he needs to do is a little reconnaissance. But if he’s Roger, waiting to hit the hitter, he’s got to spot the other guy and know when the hit goes down.”
    “Makes sense.”
    “On the other hand,” he said, “what’s