Page 45 of Protecting Christina

She looked quite thin and wore only an ill-fitting black tank top and shorts. Her hair was knotted, and though it was difficult to see from the camera lighting, I thought I spotted markings on her arms. Were they track lines from drugs or rope burns? It was impossible to tell from this image.

“I want to speak to my sister,” she said.

“No.”

“If you don’t let me talk to her, she’ll come back here. She’ll keep coming back until I speak to her alone.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Do you think I’m that fucking stupid?”

“No.”

“Then get back inside and shut the door.”

“I need to eat something.”

“Then go make it.”

“There’s no food in the fridge, and the cupboards are empty. We’re starving.”

Simon didn’t look like he was starving. He looked fine physically, and I’d seen him eating a foot-long sandwich on that porch not even an hour ago. Was she referring to someone else? Were there other people living inside the house?

I’d seen Simon’s brother, Gerry, come and go, but he never stayed overnight. Several people came and went, but the only person who never left was Donna. But that was only because we knew she was inside. Until now, I’d never even heard her voice in the last two days. Was it possible there were others we didn’t know about?

The situation was turning into something larger than I’d anticipated.

“I’ll order a pizza or something. Now get inside and leave me alone.”

I waited for Simon to make the call. When I heard him place the order, I ran out of my apartment, hopped into my car, and raced over to his place.

By some miracle or act of the traffic gods, I made it to his place in less than thirty minutes. And waited.

The delivery car pulled up a few minutes later. Stepping out of my car, I grabbed my sunglasses and put them on.

“Hey, kid,” I shouted when he opened his door.

Startled, he looked at me and then over his shoulder, checking if I’d been calling out to someone else. With a thumb pointing to his chest, he asked, “Me?”

“Yeah. How would you like to make an easy two hundred cash on the spot?”

“Uh…” He looked around. “Is this like a drug sting or something?”

I crossed my arms when I reached him. “No. I will pay you two hundred bucks if you let me put something in that box.”

“Uh…” He shifted and scratched his head. “I don’t know about that.”

“It’s nothing illegal, and it’s not going to hurt anyone. I’m just going to put a phone inside the box. It’s a secret gift for someone and I want to make it special. Here you can check out the phone for yourself.”

I handed him the phone, but he stepped back.

“Maybe you should just show me.”

I smiled.

I loved New Yorkers and their skepticism.

“No problem.”

I turned on the phone and showed him that it worked, and no bombs were inside. “Listen. Nothing is ticking.”

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