The Killer’s New Obsession by B.B. Hamel
Cam
It took her longer to leave than I expected. I thought as soon as I walked out that door, she’d be gone.
Instead, she was smart. Took her time. Almost waited me out.
But when I was finally about to head out to buy her clothes and toiletries, there she was, stepping down my stoop. I sighed and shook my head as she walked to the corner and flagged a cab.
I followed in my truck. It wasn’t hard, since the cabbie didn’t care if I kept right behind him, and Irene wasn’t looking for tails.
Her story was like a knife in my throat. I never wanted any of that for her, never wanted her to end up on the street fighting for her life every day, never wanted her struggling to survive. I saw that hard edge in her now, the sharpness that came from spending too much time on the run.
She assessed her surroundings for danger constantly, because in her world everything was deadly.
God damn, it broke my heart.
I wanted her to stay, but back then, I had to make a choice. I didn’t think she’d really disappear—I figured maybe we wouldn’t talk for a while, or she’d be angry, but I never once thought she’d go live on the streets.
I knew her life at home was tough. That was part of why I wanted to join the Valentinos. If I could make enough money to get my own place, she could come live with me and never have to see her parents again.
Instead, she vanished before I ever had the chance to try and help her.
God damn Irene. The cab drove her north and east, toward Old City. I didn’t know what she had to do there—street people stayed the hell away from the nicer areas. More cops, more ways to get picked up and thrown in jail for the night, though sometimes that was a good thing. Better to be in jail than frozen in the gutter.
The cab dropped her off near some little park. Kids swarmed the swings. I parked and followed on foot, though I lost her in the crowds of young couples and screaming brats. I never wanted kids, not really, always figured kids would get in the way of things. But maybe it would be nice to have a family.
Stability, a good foundation. All that shit.
Though it probably wasn’t in the cards for me. Not for a killer from the Valentino family.
As I moved around the perimeter, ready to give up, I spotted her moving toward the street through a bunch of big fluffy bushes. I hurried after her, and barely saw her slip down a small side alley.
I crept up close and stared as she knelt down next to some big drainpipe. It was huge and iron, probably an original feature. She shoved her arm in there, reaching in deep, and my mouth fell open as she pulled out a bunch of cash—
And a handful of something else.
I didn’t know what the hell they were. A bunch of small, square things. She looked around then and I had to duck away, but when I looked back, she was shifting a brick in the wall opposite and shoving her stash inside.
I waited around long enough to make sure she got in a cab again and hoped she’d be smart enough to head back to my place. When she was down the block and out of sight, I walked to her hiding spot and pulled the brick away.
Inside was a wad of cash and a bunch of USB sticks.
“What the fuck?” I said softly, but put the brick back and walked away.
I didn’t know what the hell that stuff was, but I had a feeling they were somehow related to Ronan. Whatever she stole must’ve been pretty bad if he was willing to take her to a private safe house and threaten to kill her. I thought about taking the USB sticks back to my place, but decided against it.
I couldn’t scare her off, not when I only just got her back into my life.
Instead, I called up Linc and had him meet me in the park. It was a nice afternoon so I found a bench in the shade and hung around watching old people walk their dogs and a bunch of guys throw a frisbee around in a small grassy patch.
Linc showed up ten minutes later. Typical Linc, punctual to a fault. He sat down next to me and stretched out his legs.
“Now your typical spot, boss,” he said, smirking slightly. I spotted a few young girls pushing strollers give him a strange look and was tempted to tell them to fuck off. Linc had some interesting scars on his face, and the skin was pink around his jaw and cheeks.
He told me how he got all that shit once when he was too drunk to stand. His mother was a junkie, and one night he flushed her pills down the toilet when he was six years old, thinking she’d be better if she didn’t have any. She’d been coking pasta when she realized the pills were gone, and decided to throw the boiling water in little Linc’s face.
Fucked him up for life.
“I like parks,” I said. “Full of life. And anyway, it’s a nice day.”
“But what the hell are you doing out in this part of the city?”
I laughed and crossed my legs. “I’m trying to see how the other half live.”
“If this is it, I’m not interested.” He made a face at the kids on the playground. “Look at all those devil spawn.”
“You don’t want kids?”
“No way in hell,” he said, shaking his head. “Though I’d have to find someone to put up with my pretty face first.”
“Fortunately, you’ve developed such a fun and sparkling personality to compensate,” I said.
He laughed and cracked his knuckles. “You want an update, or did you call me out here to shoot the shit?”
“Update me,” I said.
“We swept the neighborhood again this morning,” he said. “Still no sign of Ronan. I’ve got the boys out knocking on doors and asking all their sources, but there’s not a single peep. It’s like the fucker disappeared.”
“It took us weeks to set up that last hit,” I said with a sigh. “And he still managed to slip away.”
“Got lucky,” Linc said.
I wasn’t so sure. We got a tip from one of our sources in the Healy family, a very discontent soldier that was willing to sell out his bosses for some petty cash. We greased that soldier fucker with money for days before he finally spilled Ronan’s location. It should’ve been an easy hit, but there was more Healy muscle than we expected, and Ronan himself was able to escape in the fighting.
Coward little bastard. I wished he had the balls to stay. Smarter that he ran, but still.
“Push harder,” I said. “Don Valentino stopped by this morning.”
“What did the friendly Don want?” Linc asked.
“It’s officially our mission to take down Ronan,” I said. “Don wants his head. I think he’s making a move to end the war.”
“About time,” Linc said, frowning. “Business has been down for months.”
“War’s never good for the city,” I said, nodding slightly. “But if we can take out Ronan, things will get easier for him.”
“Hope you’re right.”
I laughed and knocked Linc on the arm. “You excited to stop fighting? That doesn’t sound like you.”
“I’m excited to get back to making money,” he said, grinning.
“Get back on the street and do your job then,” I said.
He stood up slowly and stretched with a yawn. “All right, boss,” he said. “How’s that girl doing, by the way?”
“She’s all right,” I said. “Might need eyes on her though.”
“You just pulled her from certain death,” Linc said, frowning at me. “You think she’s gonna run again?”
“I think she’s gonna run,” I said. “No doubt in my mind. But don’t worry about that yet. Focus on Ronan.”
He gave me a mock salute and walked off. I smiled at his back and sighed, leaning my head back, and looked up at the light through the trees.
This damn neighborhood. I’d never fit in here. Too clean, too nice. People here don’t know struggle. They smile and wave and nod to each other like they’d never met someone they didn’t like—except for guys like me and Linc. Guys like us, they stared and whispered comments like they knew we didn’t belong.
Not that I wanted to, but there were days when I dreamed about having stability. No more violence, no more family. Only me and—
Me and someone. A wife, maybe kids, who knew.
I got up slowly and walked back to my truck then headed out to get Irene something new to wear.
