Chapter 46

Next to me, Jake's body froze. "What?" he said.

This time, I made myself push away. "Someone named Debbie," I said. "Who is she?"

When Jake said nothing, I continued. "It's just that Bishop mentioned her, so…" I let the sentence trail off, hoping Jake would pick up the thread.

He didn't. "So?" he said.

"So I was just wondering. That's all."

In front of me, Jake's posture remained rigid.

I tried to keep my tone light, teasing even. "So, did she really fall naked into your bed? That had to be exciting, huh?"

He looked toward the door. "Ready to go?"

"Where?"

"To replace your stuff."

I stared up at him. Okay, maybe the Debbie thing was none of my business, but the way he was reacting, it was only fueling my curiosity. Worse, it was confirming my darkest fears. "So you're not going to answer the question?" I said.

He gave me a hard look. "Like you've answered mine?"

"What question?

"Questions," he said. "As in more than one." He spoke slowly and clearly. "What happened?" His jaw tightened. "To your clothes. To your stuff. To your apartment."

"As far as my clothes," I said, "You tell me. You're the one who lost those."

"I'm not talking about the crap in your suitcase."

"It wasn't crap," I said.

"Right." He crossed his arms and waited.

"Fine," I said. "You wanna know? Okay. It was stolen, just flat-out disappeared. And the stuff that wasn't stolen? It was ruined. Ripped to pieces, trashed. Almost nothing was salvageable." I took a ragged breath. "Not even my furniture, as crappy as it was."

"This was in your old place?" he said.

"Yeah. And before you ask, I reported it too. Not that it did any good."

"Why not?"

I threw up my hands. "Because there was no way to tell who did it. Or why. And I didn't have any renter's insurance, so…" I looked away. "You know what? Forget it."

"No," he said. "So? What'd you do?"

"I moved," I said. "The same day actually."

"In with Maddie?"

"Yeah, I mean, I saw her ad on the internet. The place was cheap. And already furnished, sort of, so, I figured I'd stay there a while and save up some money."

"Any idea who was behind it?" Jake said.

"Well, at first, I was sure it was Rango, so…" I looked away.

"So…?" Jake prompted.

"So," I continued, "as you seem to know already, I started giving him a taste of his own medicine."

"Meaning?"

"Well, I had that book with his passwords. So I started posting things."

"Like what?"

"Funny things mostly, under Rango's name." I almost smiled. "It made him so crazy."

"I wouldn’t look too happy about that if I were you."

"Hey, he had it coming."

"Maybe. But that's a good way to get the wrong kind of attention."

I gave him a snotty smile. "Says the guy beats up people for money."

His expression froze. "Not just 'people.' He said. Assholes. There's nobody I picked a fight with who didn't have it coming."

"Yeah. Sure."

"And I never swing first."

"Well aren't you the noble one," I said.

"No," he said. "And I never claimed to be."

"Whatever," I said. "I answered your questions. Now what about mine. Who's Debbie?"

"First, I've got one more."

"No way," I said. "It's my turn."

He continued as if I hadn't spoken. "When you heard Bishop talking about her, what exactly were you doing?"

"What?"

His voice hardened. "Okay, where were you?"

Oh. Yeah. I'd been skulking in his closet, eavesdropping on a private conversation. My mouth opened, but somehow, my lips couldn't seem to form an answer.

"I thought so," he said.

"Sorry," I said. "I guess I overheard it."

"Yeah. I guess you did." He glanced toward the door. "So are you ready to go? Or not?"

I so didn't feel like arguing. But somehow, I couldn't see us waltzing off to some shopping mall either.

"No, I'm not ready to go," I said. "And I don't think you are, either."

"Is that right?"

I threw up my hands. "Okay, you caught me. I was listening in. But trust me, it's not the kind of thing I normally do."

"Uh-huh."

"It's true," I insisted.

"Is it?"

"Okay," I said. "I get it. I know it was crappy. And I'm sorry. If you don't want to talk about the Debbie thing, well, I guess that's your business." I crossed my arms. "And I won't bother you about it anymore." I hesitated. "If that's what you really want."

"Good," he said. "You ready to go?"

I gave an exasperated sigh. "In case you're not aware of this fact, when someone apologizes to you, you're supposed to say something like 'that's okay', or 'hey, don't worry about it."

"That's okay. Don't worry about it. Now, you ready?"

"No," I said. "Not when you're still mad about it." And not when I'm still dying to know.

"Since we're still asking questions," he said, "I've got another one."

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me about Vince?"

I shook my head. "Tell you what, exactly?"

"That he was here last night."

"I don't know," I said. "I guess I should have. I meant to."

Jake's voice was flat. "You meant to."

"Oh for crying out loud," I said. "In case you forgot? You and me? We got a little distracted last night. Remember?"

"If you're trying to change the subject," he said, "forget it."

"There's a subject?" I said.

"Yeah. Vince."

"What's wrong?" I said. "Are you worried he stole something? Because you'll be glad to know I didn't let the guy out of my sight."

"Glad?" he said. "I'm supposed to be fuckin' glad?"

"Jeez, what are you worried about?" My voice grew sarcastic. "That he stole the good silver?"

"You think I give two shits about…?" Jake's eyebrows furrowed. "What the hell is good silver?"

"I don't know," I said. "It's just an expression. I think it means nice silverware."

"Okay, I don't give two shits about silverware."

"Then what is it?" I said. "Cash? Coins? Something else?"

"Not some thing," he said. "Some one."

"Who?"

Jake's voice grew deadly serious. "You."