Manhattan Is My Beat

I’m pretty sure there’ll be plenty of cops to look out for you.”
    Rune wandered to the bookcase, replaced some of the books she’d packed to take home. “I called the video store. They told me you quit.”
    “That Tony,” Stephanie said, “what an asshole. I couldn’t deal with him—not the way he treated you.”
    Rune grinned coyly. “So, you want a hundred thousand dollars?”
    “What?”
    Rune told her about the minister. “Little Red Hen, remember? You believed in me. If there really is any money, you’ll get some of it.”
    Stephanie laughed. “You think there is?”
    “I’m not sure. But you know me.”
    “Optimist,” Stephanie supplied.
    “You got it. I—”
    Plop
.
    Rune cocked her head. She heard the sound again. A drip. Soft.
Plop
.
    She glanced at where it was coming from—Sandra’s side of the apartment.
    “You don’t really have to give me anything, Rune.”
    “I know I don’t
have
to. But I want to.”
    Plop, plop
.
    Damn! Sandra’d spilled her nail polish. There was a big red stain on the floor.
    “Jesus, Sandra!”
    Rune turned the corner and stopped. There was her roommate in her thick white bra and black panty hose, eyes staring at the apex of the glass ceiling. She lay on her futon. The bullet hole in her chest was a tiny dark dot. The stain wasn’t nail polish. It was the blood that was trickling down her arm and onto the floor.
    Stephanie stood up and pointed the gun at Rune. She said, “Come on back over here, love. Let’s have a little talk.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
     
    “You’re Haarte’s partner,” Rune whispered.
    She nodded. “My name’s Lucy Zane,” the woman said coldly. “Haarte and I worked together for three years. He was the best partner I ever had. And he’s dead. Thanks to you.”
    “Then who’s Emily?”
    “Just backup. We use her sometimes for jobs on the East Coast.”
    Rune, sitting down on the cushions, shaking her head. Everything floating in front of her—a big soup. Richard, the money, Pretty Boy, Emily, and Haarte. Robert Kelly. She felt the slamming of her heart in her chest as the hopelessness arose again. And she lowered her face into her hands. Whispering: “Oh, no, oh, no.”
    She was too numb for tears. Not even looking up, she said, “But your job at the video store? How’d you get the job?”
    “How do you think? I fucked Tony.”
    “I hope it was disgusting,” Rune spat out.
    “Was. But it didn’t last long. A minute or two.”
    “But you were my friend…. You helped me get the clothes…. Why? Why’d you do that?”
    “I got close to you so we could set you up. Haarte and I killed two U.S. marshals in St. Louis. That put a lot of heat on us. And we fucked up the Spinello hit in the Village. So we needed a fall guy. Well, fall
girl
. You got elected. Almost worked too.”
    “Too bad the cab had good brakes,” Rune said coldly.
    “We’re lucky sometimes. Even people like me.”
    Rune shook with anger and fear.
    Stephanie continued. “I heard from Emily. The judge denied her bail request. But she said to say hello. She hopes you and I’d have a nice visit. And I think we will. Now, there’s one thing I’ve got to know. Did you tell the cops or marshals anything about me?”
    A click and a grind sounded behind them. Rune’s eyes flashed for a second.
    Richard.
    Stephanie glanced at the sound, then turned back to Rune.
    “Tell me,” she said. “And I’ll let you go.”
    “Bullshit.” Rune scrabbled away into the cushions as if they’d protect her from the black gun.
    “I’ll let you go,” the woman said. “I promise.”
    “I’m the only witness. How can you let me go? You
have
to kill me.” She looked at the clouds outside the loft, the dragons, the giants, the trolls, marching past, miles high, not caring a bit for what was going on down on earth.
    The grinding started again. The elevator was coming up.
    “You must’ve told them about me after the accident. Did the marshal I hit in the subway think I was part of them? Did you tell them my name?”
    “It’s not real.”
    “No, but I’ve used it before. I can be traced through it.”
    Chains, clinking chains. And the grind of metal on metal. Another loud click, a scrape.
    “Who’s coming to visit, Rune?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Stephanie glanced at the stairway. Then back at Rune. She said, “So, what do you have in your hand.”
    Rune couldn’t believe that the woman had seen her. Oh, she was good. She was very