Page 96 of The Woman with the Wallet

“I thought so too. But, I guess, a part of it is knowing which ones to break and when.”

“Well, that’s good then, right? Is he pissed about the money?”

“Well, since it was out of my pocket only, no. Besides, he was right. The diamonds aren’t gone. So long as we can get to this bastard before he manages to unload them, that is.”

“Should we be calling hospitals or something?” Max asked. “See if anyone came in with a gunshot wound?”

“We could, yeah. But I want to look over Lil’s security footage first. Maybe send it over to Zeno. If he stays on busy streets, Zeno might be able to follow him to wherever he ends up.”

“I was thinking of tacos,” Chuck said, coming toward us.

“I thought you said you weren’t hungry,” Max said as she flicked through the security footage before handing the tablet to me.

“You don’t have to be hungry for tacos, though,” Chuck insisted.

Just to shut him up, we ordered tacos.

“So, what happened to your face?” Chuck asked after wolfing down eight tacos that he, supposedly, hadn’t been hungry for.

“The guy who tried to kill you tried to kill me too. And my friend.”

“He’s here? In the city?” Chuck asked, looking a bit green.

“Yep. That’s why you had a babysitter today,” I told him. “And will keep having one until we find him. Though, I think it’s safe to say we might not be able to get Venezio to do it again.”

I’d probably have to rotate Venezio, Gavino, and my brother between Chuck and Lil to keep any one of them from going too crazy.

Then, of course, the problem would become getting Chuck out of my apartment again.

Because, quite frankly, I wanted to fuck Max on just about every surface of this apartment without having to worry about being seen or heard.

“Have you heard from Megs?” I asked as I reached to pull Max’s legs over mine.

“Yeah. She sent about a thousand pictures of the inn and the town and hers and Nicole’s dinners. They seem really happy. And not at all suspicious.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“What happens if this takes longer than we plan?” Max asked, and I felt a surprising fluttering sensation in my chest at her using the word ‘we.’

“What do you mean?”

“With Megs and Nicole.”

“Oh, well. If it becomes necessary, the apartment will need to be fumigated. There could be a gas leak. Refinishing the floors. We could keep them out of there for months if we need to. But I don’t see this going past the weekend,” I told her. “He’s getting desperate. And he’ll be even more motivated with a hole in his leg to deal with.”

“Do you think he will still try to… come for us all, though?” Max asked.

“Hard to tell.”

“What would you do in his shoes?”

“Depends on my plans after. If I wanted to stay in the tristate area, I would probably still clean house. But if I were thinking of heading off somewhere with the money, I would leave well enough alone.”

“If he can get someone to move the diamonds.”

“If,” I agreed.

“What would you do if you were him?”

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