Page 40 of Long Live the King
“Hello?”
“I’ve got a problem.”
“Why are you calling me so late, Tommy?”
“Because I’ve got a fucking problem! Did you not hear me the first time?”
“Alright, calm down, please. Geez, I thought you were more stable than this. What’s the problem this time?”
“It’s Alannah.”
“Okay, what about her?”
“She started putting things together. A lot of things. She fucking caught me up and I had to take action before it got back to Dominic.”
“Wait, what? Let me sit up, because for a second, I thought you said you had to take action in regards to Alannah, and I know that can’t be right.”
“That’s exactly what I said. She started putting pieces together, and I had to act, or else she would’ve told Dominic, and I’d be getting fucking clipped in the very near future. So, I did what I had to do.”
“What the fuck does that mean, Tommy? Oh my god, did you kill her?”
“What? Of course not. At least, not yet.”
“Okay, well then where is she?”
“She’s here with me. Tied up.”
“Are you out of your mind? That’s almost as bad as killing her! Hell, it basicallyiskilling her, Tommy. You can’t tie up Dominic’s girlfriend and then let her go later. She’s probably not gonna give you a pass on that, you know. He’s gonna find out, and when he does, you better be out of the fucking country.”
“I didn’t have a choice, alright? It’s like a switch went off in her head and she became Rain Man. She started putting pieces together about Raphy and Dan, and everybody’s alibi that night, and I just snapped. I knew she could read my face. If I would’ve taken her home and dropped her off, Dominic would’ve been on my doorstep tonight. He wouldn’t give the contract to somebody else, either. He’d do it himself, up close and personal.”
“There’s no guarantee that doesn’t still happen, Tommy. Damn it, how could you let this get so far out of hand? It was never supposed to be this dramatic”
“Well, what the fuck did you expect?”
“I expected you to have a better handle on all of this. When I came to you, I thought you’d be the best bet to help me carry this out, but you’re losing control. You lost your temper, and now you’re in a situation you can’t get out of, Tommy. You were never supposed to involve Alannah. This dramatically raises the stakes. If you thought killing Raphy was bad, you’vereallydone it now.”
“Yeah, I know that! That doesn’t help me right now.”
“Well, I don’t know what else you want me to say.”
“You gotta help me! What am I supposed to do, sit here and wait for him to figure out where we are? You think I wanna die like this? Well, I got news for you, I have no intention of dying because of this shit. You got me into this, now help me get out of it.”
“You asshole. You royally messed this whole thing up, and now you bring it to me and ask me to get you out of it.”
“I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for you! You planted this seed in my head about getting rid of Dominic, and now look where I am. So yes, I’m bringing it to you. Your bright idea got me into this shit, and now I need you to help get me out of it, because I don’t know what the fuck to do.”
“Yes you do.”
“What?”
“You know what you’ve gotta do, Tommy. You’ve got no other options right now.”
“ . . . what? You’ve gotta be kidding.”
“Yeah, because this is the perfect time to kid around, right? Stop fooling yourself, Tommy. The only way you get out of this thing alive is to kill her.”
“What!”
