First Thrills - Lee Child [80]
She leans into me, presses her double-barreled acorns into my back. “Come on, baby. I’ll make it worth your while.” I feel her hand run along my thigh. Stroke by stroke, I’m warming up to her touch. But I need to keep my focus.
“Answer me one question.”
“What’s that, honey?”
“How does the gingerbread man baking in your oven fit into all this?”
She catches a handful of testicles. It’s all I can do not to squeal. She’s got a grip like a tin woodsman.
“Who told you that?”
I can’t answer until she eases off a little, but when she does I gasp, “You think it’s some kind of secret? In this town?”
She ponders that, her face a chart of unexplored territory. After a moment, she withdraws her claw and sighs. Looks away. I cross my legs and take a chance.
“It’s not Frank’s, is it?”
I can actually see the anxiety in her plasticine countenance, but she only shrugs. “Could be yours for all I know.”
I don’t think she really believes it’s mine. Or at least, she doesn’t believe it’s any more likely to be mine than any number of other fellas. An active young woman, our Miller’s daughter.
“Tell me,” I say. She orders another bourbon and runs it down.
She explains that Ciconi couldn’t artificially inseminate her because she was already expecting. Not for long, but hormones don’t lie. So she’s scared, because if Frank finds out, molten lead will be the least of her troubles. Unless the kid is late, Frank could get suspicious of the timing and demand a paternity test. So she wants me to cook the meth. Even wholesale, she’s thinking she can make enough money to escape with her father, who won’t survive long himself once the truth about the Sufa- Dream truck gets back to Frank.
“I suppose you’re in a hurry,” I say.
“They won’t be able to keep him in for much longer. Another week, two at most, before his conviction is vacated. I need this done.” She looks at me, and now her indigos have gone all dim and watery. “Can you help me? I’ll split the sell with you. That’s some serious bullion.”
I let my own eyes soften and give her a smile. “Okay, bring me the pills.”
“And you can work fast?”
“Don’t worry. I have a tight operation.”
I ask for a number where I can reach her. She writes it on my hand. I think we’re done, but she leans in one more time, whispers in my ear. “So, sailor, you gonna tell me your name now that we’re partners?” Hand on my thigh again.
I shake my head. “All things considered, I think I’ll stick with anonymous.”
She pulls back, lips a thin line, and I realize she knows what I’m thinking. “Frank will find you if he wants to.”
She leaves me there, balls aching and stomach on fire. I know she’s right. But in the short run, keeping my identity under wraps is the one thing I got going for me.
V
The next day I call Dahlia from a clean pre-pay cell and we meet at a pub out on the edge of the Old Forest. I expect her to bring the pseudo, but that’s not how it’s going to work. Old Man Miller doesn’t know about me, and she wants to keep it that way. He’s so skittish with Frank on his way out of the slam he’ll never let a stranger near his boost. Once upon a time he’d have had his own people to do the work, but between Frank and the Crabs, his operation is down to two twigs in the wind. Apparently he’s been angling to just sell the pills and be quit of the whole mess, flee Newcastle before Frank returns. Dahlia insists she can cook the crystal herself, make them some real bullion, but he’s unconvinced.
She tells me I’ll start with one case of Sufa-dream only. I’m to make a batch overnight and get it back to her first thing so her old man can check it out. I’m not thrilled and tell her so. “I’m taking a chance every time we meet. I’m not gonna do this piecemeal.”
“He says I have to prove I can do it before he’ll give me the rest.”
“I’m surprised he’s willing to let you near this stuff, a lady in your condition.”
The look she gives me makes it clear what she thinks of her condition.
I insist Dahlia provide the red phosphorus and iodine too, but that stuff’s easy