The Killer’s New Obsession by B.B. Hamel
Irene
I’d seen a lot of things on the street.
That wasn’t my first taste of death.
Overdoses, heart attacks, freezing, and worse. Disease and murder.
But there was something about Omar getting killed that hurt even more than any of that.
Maybe it was because Cam saw it coming, and still couldn’t save his guy in time. Or maybe it was Luiza’s betrayal.
Either way, I could still hear the gunshots, could still see the horrified, rage-filled look on Cam’s face as he drove away. I could still hear Linc’s silent sobs as he struggled to hold himself together.
I could still feel the pavement pressing against my body as the air around me burst full of killing lead.
Cam didn’t talk much for the rest of that day. He dropped me off back home then disappeared with Linc until late. That night he came in drunk and exhausted and passed out on the couch. I stood in the hallway and stared at him, breathing deep with a look of anguish on his face even deep in sleep, his large chest rising up and down, and I wondered how much he’d given up to become what he was, a killer for the Valentino family, and how much more he’d have to lose.
In the morning, he made breakfast, poured coffee, and stared at me with his hands on his hips. “We’re going to talk to Kira,” he said.
I nodded slowly and ate my eggs. “Is that a good idea?” I asked. “After what happened with Luiza.”
“Someone’s got to pay for what happened,” Cam said.
I met his eye, and I wanted to argue. I wanted him to understand the immense pressure these women felt, how the Healy family held a knife to their throats at all time, how they knew their bodies weren’t their own. Luiza only did what she had to do, and in retrospect, she probably tried to rush us out to save our lives. If I had to guess, the plan was probably for her to keep us there long enough for the Healy family to send their little hit squad.
If she hadn’t changed her mind, we might’ve been killed in that little grimy living room.
And yet she still turned on us, and Omar was still gone, and I couldn’t deny any of it.
“When?” I asked.
“After I shower,” he said. “Finish eating.” He disappeared into the bathroom and I sat there picking at my eggs, drinking my coffee, and listened to the water running.
On the street, I had to make choices. Sometimes the choice was obvious: run, fight, scream, that sort of thing. But sometimes the choice was more ambiguous.
I could share my blanket with a stranger for more warmth, but he might end up trying to hurt me. I could sleep under a bench in the park, but a cop might pick me up. I could steal from that store, but their cameras might be working.
All of life was a series of choices, and more often than not, I made the wrong ones.
Like choosing to steal from Ronan. Like choosing to run away to begin with.
Now though, I felt like my choices had finally led me somewhere decent. Cam wasn’t the man I left two years ago, but there were pieces of him still inside begging to get back out. His innocence was gone, and that would never come back, but that didn’t make him bad.
It only made him twisted and broken.
Just like me.
He came back out in fresh jeans and a shirt with a gun slipped into his waistband. I silently followed him outside and into a black sedan. It smelled new.
“Where’d you get this?” I asked.
“Bought it,” he said. “Couldn’t keep driving that truck with all the fucking bullet holes in it.” He pulled out from his spot and rolled through the city. I watched buildings flash by and tried to remember the last time I sat in a brand-new car, or even knew someone that could afford to buy one with only a day’s notice. He probably paid cash and probably got a family discount, but still.
Being a Valentino clearly had its perks.
We parked out in front of a quiet apartment building in a shady South Philly street. He killed the engine and squinted up at a dark blue door with multiple addresses listed on the right side.
“Cute place,” I said, looking around. “Kira lives here?”
“That’s right,” Cam said and glanced at me. “You should wait in the car.”
“I don’t think so,” I said with a laugh. “You dragged me here so I’m coming.”
“I just realized it might not be safe.” He clenched his jaw and ran a hand through his hair. I saw the anxiety rippling under the surface. “My head’s not straight right now.”
“Then you need me in there even more,” I said and touched his knee.
He looked down at my hand then met my eyes again and nodded. “All right, just stay close.” Then got out.
I followed him. He stood at the top of the stoop and buzzed every apartment except for one. A chorus of voices came out of the intercom, but he said nothing, only stared at the door grimly.
Until someone just buzzed him in.
He pushed it open and held it for me.
“How’d you know that would work?” I asked.
“Sometimes doesn’t,” he said. “Guess I got lucky.”
I rolled my eyes as he led me up to the second floor then down a short hall to the back apartment. He pressed his ear against the door listening, the nodded to himself and knocked.
Silence from inside. Then footsteps. Cam pressed his hand over the peephole.
“Uh, hello?” Kira’s voice, muted by the door. “Sorry, is someone out there?”
Cam nodded at me. I felt a moment of panic. He wanted me to say something, but I didn’t know what.
“Uh,” I said.
“Hello?” Kira again, sounding anxious.
“Package,” I blurted out. “Amazon.” I made a face and shook my head, cringing at my own stupidity.
But a lock clicked open and the door cracked open enough for Cam to shove it hard.
Kira let out a shocked grunt as the door pounded into her face. She fell back into her apartment and let out a strangled scream as Cam loomed over her. I followed and shut the door as quickly as I could.
“Oh, shit,” Kira said, dabbing at her face. “I think I’m bleeding.”
“You’ll live,” Cam said and bent down to get closer to her. “Unlike Omar.”
Kira made a confused face. “Who the fuck is Omar?”
Cam looked at her silently for a second before he walked past her toward the living room. “We need to talk,” he said.
“You could’ve fucking called,” she said, slowly getting to her feet. She glared at me and I smiled sheepishly. “Did he drag you into this?”
“Sorry,” I said, feeling dumb. I didn’t know why I apologized.
She made a disgusted face and dabbed at the red line of blood on her forehead from the door. She followed Cam into the living room and I drifted after them, going slow, and stayed on the edge of the room.
Her place was cute. Light filtered in through a big back window. Plants hung on every surface and covered every shelf. Her couch was small but cozy with lots of pillows and blankets, and her coffee table was teak and glass. It looked like it belonged in a magazine, and I might’ve wanted to curl up near the TV and watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with her all day long if it weren’t for the death-stare Cam gave her.
“Sit down,” he commanded.
“You going to tell me what the fuck this is about?” she asked, but she obeyed, lowering herself heavily onto a beat-up easy chair with a colorful throw over the back.
“We saw your girl yesterday,” Cam said, pacing like a wildcat. “And on our way out, a bunch of Healy guys showed up in a van and murdered one of my guys.”
Kira’s mouth fell open. Her hand dropped into her lap and her skin paled. “You’re joking,” she said. “That’s not possible.”
“Luiza turned us in,” I said. “I saw it. I was there.”
Kira stared at me then shook her head. “Luiza hates them,” she said. “Luiza’s on the outside.”
“You’re fucking wrong about that,” Cam said. “Luiza’s dead by now. You can forget about her.”
I gaped at Cam but his face was a stony mask. I opened my mouth to say something but Kira let out a strangled groan before I could speak.
“You didn’t,” Kira said. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” Cam said. “But Linc did. There was no stopping him, and you know what? I didn’t try very hard.”
Kira let out a strangled gasp. She blinked as tears dropped down her cheeks. I felt hollow, my feet buzzing and light, like my head might drift like a balloon.
I didn’t know they killed Luiza. Cam hadn’t told me.
And I saw why. It was fucked up. Maybe she deserved it, but she tried to save us in the end, and I thought that counted for something.
Apparently not.
“Bitch turned us in to the Healy family,” Cam growled. “She made her choice. It didn’t work out for her.”
“You asshole,” Kira said. “Fuck you, Cam. I didn’t put you in touch with her to murder her, you asshole.”
“She did this.” He took a step toward Kira, his hands balled into fists.
“Cam,” I said sharply.
He looked at me while Kira sobbed. We stared at each other and I hoped he could see what I felt in my expression: rage, sorrow, confusion. I wanted Cam to be better than this, but he had a girl killed, and I didn’t know how to rectify my growing desire for him with that fact.
He didn’t pull the trigger himself. Linc went ahead and did that. But he still could’ve stopped it if he really wanted to.
Slowly, Cam began to pace again. “I want more names,” Cam said softly.
“Why?” Kira asked angrily. “So you can get more of them killed? The Healy family put them through enough already. They don’t need you fucking them up even more.”
“More names,” Cam said through his teeth. “You owe me that.”
“I don’t owe you shit.”
He turned on her. “You got Omar killed,” Cam said. “I was trying to help you, and you send us to some back-stabbing bitch.”
“Go to hell.” Her face was defiant as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Okay,” I said, stepping into the room. “Enough, okay?”
Cam glared at me again but said nothing.
“Why are you even here?” Kira asked, looking at me. “Why are you still with this guy?”
“Because he watched his friend die yesterday. You can understand why he’s angry, can’t you?”
She sucked in a breath and released it. “I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“No, you didn’t,” I said, glancing at Cam to make sure he kept his mouth shut. “But Luiza did. I was there, and I know you find it hard to believe, but she was involved. I’m positive she was.”
“Goddamn it,” Kira whispered and looked down at her hands. “I told her to leave those people alone.”
“She couldn’t, could she?” I moved closer to her. “Luiza couldn’t get away. What’d they have on her?”
Kira smiled ruefully. “Drugs probably. I don’t really know.”
“We need more names,” I said. “If you want revenge on the Healy family for making her go down this road, then we need more names.”
She looked at me and I saw the deep hurt, the cracked and broken girl beneath that tough exterior. I recognized myself in her. Hell, I recognized Cam in her.
We weren’t so different, the three of us. Cam was angry, and so was Kira.
I was angry too.
“All right,” Kira said and looked at Cam. “I’ll give you more. But that’s it.”
“When I leave here, I don’t want to see you ever again,” he said, his tone barely controlled.
“Good. Then we can agree about that.”
“You don’t understand.” He stepped closer. “I want you out of my city.”
Kira’s eyes widened. “You can’t—”
“Cam,” I said.
He ignored both of us. “You will leave Philadelphia and never come back,” he said, staring death at Kira. “If you don’t, Linc will find you, and he will kill you. I can’t stop him even if I wanted to, which I don’t. This is your only chance. Give me names, then pack up and go.”
Kira let out a strangled laugh. “I guess it can’t get any worse,” she said. “Fine. Get me something to write with, asshole.” She waved a hand at a desk in the corner of the room. “Pen and paper, top right drawer.”
I walked over and got it for her. She scribbled names and numbers and addresses down, then shoved it into my hands.
“Keep an eye on him,” she said softly. “Don’t end up like me. Get the hell away from them while you can.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking the notepad from her.
I walked to the front door, but Cam lingered. “You have until tomorrow,” he said. “I didn’t want it to go down like this.”
“Nobody did,” she said.
He followed me back out into the hall, down the stairs, and onto the street. The new car smell made me almost sick as I sat slumped back in the passenger seat.
“It wasn’t my choice, you know,” he said, staring at the steering wheel.
“You run the crew,” I said. “It’s your call.”
He shook his head. “I could’ve ordered Linc not to do it, but he would’ve killed her anyway. That would’ve been a real problem. And if he did listen, he would’ve resented me for it, and the guys would’ve thought I was going soft.” He looked at me then and his eyes were hard. “I had no choice.”
“I guess you’re in a bad line of work,” I said and turned away.
He started the car and pulled out.
