The girl in the picture seemed to
stare at Sadie accusingly with her vacant gaze. The girl in the photo, Alia
Gibson, had her name scrawled in messy handwriting to the right of the
photograph, along with a brief description of her appearance and where she
frequented. Green eyes, brown hair, average height, seventeen years old, high
priority.
Sadie swallowed hard and looked at
the next page in the folder. A middle-aged man with harsh blue eyes glared up
at her, his thatch of gray streaked red hair a knotted mess atop his head. Erick
Nicholson: 6’3”, forty-nine years old, low priority. She turned the page. Shane
Ashford: 5’7”, twenty-seven years old, medium priority. Johnny Carlson: high
priority. Heather Paine: low priority. Caleb Fredwall: low priority.
Sadie snapped the folder shut and
let out a shaky breath, fingering the front of the folder as she looked down at
the battered material. A prickly feeling ran down her spine as she considered
who all these people were; what they could’ve done to get their names and
pictures in a folder like this. She didn’t want to think about what this folder
meant.
Keys jingled as someone slid them
in the lock to her apartment. Sadie quickly slid the folder between the
dictionary and thesaurus where she’d found it, then closed the roll-top of her
husband’s desk as quietly as possible. A moment later she dove onto the couch
and propped her feet up on the coffee table, flipping the television on.
“Hey, Sades,” Meyer’s gruff voice
came from behind her as he walked in and shut the door.
She looked up as casually as she
could, forcing a smile onto her face. “Hey, Babe.”
“What’d you do today?”
“Not much,” she said. She shrugged,
being careful to keep her breathing steady. Meyer sat down in the old, fading
recliner to her left. She observed him as he twisted the top off of a beer and
took a long drink.
Suddenly his clear blue eyes were
piercing as they looked at her, and the set of his sharp jaw became threatening.
He lifted a dark eyebrow. “Yes?”
“Nothing,” she murmured, shaking
herself.
“Mm,” he grunted. A moment later he
patted his leg. “C’mere.”
Sadie instantly stood up. It seemed
like a bad idea to go against a man who very well might make his living—make
their living—by killing people. She strode over to his chair and obediently sat
down in his lap, tensing slightly when he wrapped his strong arm around her.
She swallowed hard. “So what did you do today?”
“Same as always,” he answered with
a shrug, taking a long draught of his beer. “Sold some crops; did a bit of
science.”
“Yeah,” she smiled weakly. She’d
heard of his so-called science. He claimed to be a chemist when she first met
him, before she knew his “chemistry” involved chemicals that got people
arrested. She’d forbidden him bringing it into their home even before they were
married. He seemed happy to comply.
“Yep.” Meyer nodded. There was a
brief silence between them. It would’ve been comfortable if Sadie’s mind hadn’t
kept wandering back to the people in the folder. As it was she kept stealing
glances at her suddenly threatening husband. He no longer was the man
protecting people with his gun; he was the one who brandished guns against
others.
“Are you hungry? I can fix
something,” Said offered, desperate for an escape.
“Oh, yeah,” Meyer said. “Boss wants
to have dinner with us today.”
“Oh,” she answered. That was fine.
It would give her more time to think; more time to gather information before
she rushed to hasty conclusions. “Do you know when you’ll be back?”
“Us,” he repeated. “Me and you. Boss sent me home to get you.”
“…Why?” Sadie asked slowly. Meyer’s
boss had always frightened her. He was a man who gave the impression of having
a lot of secrets. Now that she knew about the folder, Sadie didn’t care to
learn about any of his other secrets.
“I don’t know,” Meyer said. “I
guess he likes you. He said he’s been meaning to get to know you better—that
it’s been so long since our last meal that he can hardly remember what you look
like.
Sadie tensed again as Meyer
laughed. She remembered all of the photos in the folder and wondered when they
were taken. Did the boss, Mr. Resnick, lure each of them to a social event so
he could permanently remember how they look as he put them in the folder?
“What’s wrong, Babe?” Meyer asked,
realizing his wife wasn’t laughing with him.
“Nothing,” she said quickly. “I
guess I’m just tired.”
“Well… then I guess it’s good you
don’t have to cook tonight… I think he’s planning on taking us to a nice place,
too. You’d best get dressed up.”
“Sure,” Sadie said as she stood.
“Why don’t you wear that dress I
like? The black one with the sparkly stones near the neck,” Meyer suggested,
slapping her butt as she walked away.
“Sure, Babe,” Sadie murmured,
walking into their bedroom and shutting the door behind her. She took several
deep breaths, trying to stay calm. As long as she could pretend that she didn’t
know much about their operations, and could keep from making Mr. Resnick angry
with her, she was safe. She hoped.
Meyer looked at the closed door
with a frown. Sadie almost never closed the bedroom door after her, unless he’d
done something to make her angry. But she didn’t seem angry today; if anything
she seemed a bit scared. He wondered if one of Reneve’s men had come to
threaten her. Reneve had been making threats on Meyer for a while. If he was
coming around Meyer’s house to make threats on his woman, he was a dead man.
Meyer took another drink of his beer and stood.
He walked over to the bedroom and
pushed the door open. Sadie hesitated a moment, glancing up at him before
quickly averting her eyes. She struggled with the zipper on the back of her
dress. Meyer walked toward her and set his beer on the nearby dresser.
Sadie flinched as he rested his
hand on the bare patch of skin on her side that the dress revealed. Meyer
grabbed the zipper and swiftly moved it to the top of its tract, then gently
brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay, love?”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. He met
her gaze in the mirror in front of them, and watched as she gave an
unconvincing smile. “Really.”
Meyer took the necklace his wife
was fumbling with and gently worked the clasp. He smoothed her hair down, then
planted a kiss on the back of her head. “You know you can talk to me about
anything.”
“I know,” she murmured, avoiding
his eyes in the mirror.
“Mm,” he said. Meyer grabbed his
beer and walked over to his closet. He kicked off his black sneakers—the one
casual part of his wardrobe—and picked up his dress shoes. He always wore a
black suit and tie – today his wife’s favorite, a light blue one with dark blue
stripes—but wore comfortable shoes when he was working. It was hard to say when
he’d need to move quickly.
Meyer sat on the edge of his bed
and took another drink of the beer, carefully not looking at his wife. He
needed information from her, and she seemed scared to have his eyes on her.
They could work that issue out later, after he had the information he wanted. “So
did anything exciting happen today?”
“Not really,” she answered. “I
picked up your dry cleaning, got groceries, and cleaned a bit.”
“Yeah, I noticed the fridge smells
and looks a lot better.”
Meyer glanced up and saw his wife
smile at the praise. He was glad he noticed the right thing. Sadie got annoyed
when it took him a few days to notice something she’d put a lot of work into
cleaning.
“Did anyone come over?” he asked
casually as he bent to put his shoes on.
“No… were you expecting someone?”
“Nope,” Meyer said. He stood and
glanced at himself in the mirror. He rubbed his prickly jaw, making a mental
note that he should shave soon. His wife liked when he let his beard grow out,
but Boss didn’t like it—and since his wife hadn’t taken to brandishing guns, he
usually tried to please his boss.
“Alright.”
“Alright,” he repeated.
“I’m ready,” Sadie announced as she
finished putting her heels on and stood. She reluctantly walked over to where
her husband stood by the mirror. She was naturally tall, standing about three
inches shy of six feet, but usually only came up to Meyer’s mid-chest. In her
heels she could actually see over his shoulders. Meyer preferred when she wore
her sneakers, so she could still bury her face in his chest.
“You look stunning,” Meyer said as
he wrapped his arm around her abdomen. She didn’t flinch this time, but she
didn’t step nearer to him like she usually did.
“Thanks, Babe,” she said with a
smile. She picked up his fedora and planted it on his head, purposefully
cocking it to the side. Meyer smirked at her in the mirror, then pulled her
around so that they were standing even closer together, and bend down for a
long kiss.
When he finally pulled away they
were both panting for air. Sadie grabbed the front of his suit and jerked it as
straight as she could, considering how close she was standing. Meyer kept his
arms wrapped tightly around Sadie, pulling her even closer. “If we had more
time…”
“We’re going to be late,” she
answered breathlessly.
“Come on,” he bent down and kissed
her once more, before grabbing her hand and starting through the apartment.
“The sooner we get there, the sooner we can come home.”
If I get to come home, Sadie
thought. She bit her lip, but allowed Meyer to pull her through the apartment
and down the stairs. He opened her car door, then ran around the front of their
small back Camry like an eager little boy.
They rode to the restaurant in
silence. Sadie stared out the window at the passing neighborhood then watched
as the small homes grew into large business complexes. It wasn’t a far drive,
but it gave Sadie ample opportunity to imagine every way this night could take
a turn for the worse.
She took a deep breath as they
stood outside on the sidewalk, watching the valet drive their car into the
parking lot, then sliding comfortably into the crook of Meyer’s arm to walk
inside. His arms didn’t feel as safe as they once had, but they still were her
best bet of protection in this gathering.
As they approached the table where
Mr. Resnick sat he stood and came to greet them. He was a short man, about as tall as Sadie was without her heels. He was in his mid-fifties with graying black hair
and a receding hairline.
“There she is!” Mr. Resnick said
brightly, smiling and holding his arms out for a hug as he approached. Meyer
turned loose of his wife and stepped away to give them space. Some protection
you are, Sadie thought. She tensed as Mr. Resnick threw his arms around her and
pulled her into an uncomfortable bear hug. He finally stepped back and slapped
her shoulder. “How are you, dear?”
“Good.” She offered a weak smile.
“And you?”
“Good, good,” he answered with a
broad smile. “Come, sit.”
Mr. Resnick put his arm around
Sadie’s shoulders and guided her toward the table. She looked down at the
expensive rings adoring his hand as she shuffled along beside him, wondering
where he’d gotten them. She’d always assumed the cash came from his
less-than-legal enterprise where he employed Meyer. Now she wondered if the
rings had ever had previous owners.
Meyer watched as his wife silently
took the seat Boss pulled out for her, offering compliments as he did. If Boss
were any other man Meyer would’ve gotten jealous and intervened. As it was he
knew Boss only flirted with the wives of his men to test where their true
loyalties lay—with their families or with their work. He wasn’t actually going
to do anything. At least he hadn’t yet.
Points: 13831
Reviews: 1007
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