Color Photographs, Chapter Eight

Meyer took Ronny’s phone and typed Reneve’s number into the keypad. He listened to the phone ring as he walked back towards where Sadie stood. Reneve answered the phone quickly. “Ronny! Hey! How’s it going?”

“Are you interested in talking to me now?”

A short pause. “What did you do with my nephew?”

“We’ll talk about that when we talk about the other things I want to talk about.”

“You son-of-a—”

“Relax. He’s fine… for now,” Meyer interrupted. He glanced at the couch, where Ronny was sitting in a brooding silence. The boy was doing his best to fix Meyer in an icy glare.

“…What is it, exactly, that you want?”

“Your attention,” Meyer answered. “Sounds like I’ve got it now.”

“Indeed,” Reneve said coldly. “I’m listening.”

“I want a meeting, so we can discuss a possible business arrangement.”

“Not a chance—”

“It would be mutually beneficial,” Meyer interrupted once again. Sadie took a step forward to listen as Meyer continued. She put her hand on his chest and stood on her tiptoes, leaning close to the phone. “I don’t want to go into business with you. I want to complete a single job that would make your life easier in the end.”

“Why should I work with you?”

“Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the old maxim goes.” Meyer wasn’t sure what Reneve was going to say next, and he didn’t know if it was something Sadie should hear. He stepped away from his wife and began to pace, wondering if Reneve would consent to a meeting.

“And just how does Ronny fit into all of this?” Reneve demanded. “I don’t see why you dragged my nephew into your stupid plans.”

“He doesn’t. I just needed something to make you listen and not kill me the instant we meet up. I’m gonna leave him in our safe house until after we talk—and provided all goes well, I’ll send word to release him. Promise.”

“And where is he now?”

Meyer stopped pacing to look at the couch where Ronny was still sitting and glaring at him. The kid was sweating and his hair was disheveled. As much as he tried to look intimidating, he just looked like a grumpy little kid. “He’s with me.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Of course you don’t,” Meyer answered, slowly striding toward the couch. Ronny tensed as Meyer neared. “But we’re businessmen. We don’t need trust— we just want money, right?”

“I want to speak to my nephew,” Reneve answered stiffly.

“Sure.” Meyer selected the “speakerphone” setting and held the phone closer to Ronny. “Here you are.”

“Ronny?”

“Hi, Uncle Karl,” Ronny said miserably. “It’s not my fault.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I can handle it,” Reneve said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ronny answered.

Meyer took the phone off of speaker to resume his pacing. “There, you talked to him. Now meet me in an hour, by the pier. Come alone if you want to see your nephew again.” Meyer clicked the phone off, feeling strangely gratified for having hung up on Reneve. It wasn’t something many people got to do. He looked at Sadie and took a shaky breath. “I guess we’re doing this.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Logan Resnick couldn’t sleep. He lay stretched across his bed with a naked blond lying in his arms, his hand freely wandering where Sadie had hit him for touching on her. Money made girls more agreeable, he’d found. He stared up the ceiling, wondering what the Lovetts were doing now.

It wasn’t very late yet. Meyer and Sadie would probably still be up, doing whatever it was that young couples did before retiring to their bedroom. But, then, it was hard to say. If Meyer’s boasts were true it would’ve been easy to guess what they normally did this time of night; but he didn’t know if Sadie still let Meyer have his pleasures now. She seemed upset the last time Resnick saw her.

Why did I do that to her? Resnick thought. There were many women that freely gave themselves to him, and that selection only got larger when he offered cash in exchange. He had a large group of women that he could sleep with who would never think of it again. Yet he chose to rape his best hitman’s wife. It was stupid. He really did like Sadie—he liked her sass, and the spark in her eye, and the way she looked at Meyer. The way Meyer looked at her.

Resnick slowly stood up, being careful not to wake Janie. Or Jadyn. Or whatever her name was. He walked into the bathroom and washed his face. Water still dripping off of his chin he looked in the mirror, at the dark bags under his eyes. He looked old and tired. He wished he could sleep again. Wished Sadie’s tears hadn’t burned such a patch of guilt into his conscience.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

A black suburban pulled into the dock area. Meyer took a deep breath and checked his gun one last time before sliding it into the front of his pants. He got out of his car and took a few steps toward Reneve’s.

The lake was still, the large moon and stars reflecting off its glassy surface. The dock they were on was ancient—much older than Meyer was – with planks missing here and there, and nails coming out of their holes. The railing was basically gone, a few boards still bitterly clinging to the posts meant to hold them up. Meyer’s eyes travelled back to the suburban as Reneve got out and walked around the front bumper.

Reneve looked old these days. His once dark hair was now liberally streaked with gray and slicked straight back, curling slightly at the base of his neck. Lines were etched deep into the skin around his eyes, which still held all their malice from years before. “Where’s Ronny?”

“I’m not stupid,” Meyer said, squaring his shoulders.

Reneve glared down at him. “I don’t appreciate you dragging my nephew into our business.”

“I didn’t figure you would,” Meyer answered. “But I was hearing about a fairly generous price on my head. The kid’s the only thing I could think of that would keep you from offing me the instant you pulled up.”

“He’d better be okay.”

“He’s fine.”

“What do you want from me, boy?”

Meyer felt a spark of indignation at the contempt in Reneve’s voice. He wondered if his own voice sounded so snide when he called Ronny “boy”. He wasn’t sure he cared. “Your man power.”

Reneve looked at him suspiciously. “Go on.”

“You’ve been trying to get at Resnick for a while now, I know.” Meyer wet his lips nervously, aware that this was his only chance. If he blew this, it was over. “Well, I have the info you need to bring him down—I just can’t do it alone. I propose we team up.”

“I smell a rat. You’re trying to set me up.”

“No,” Meyer said. “I’m not.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“I want Resnick dead as much as you do.”

“I don’t believe you.” Reneve stepped forward threateningly. Meyer held his ground, lifting his chin slightly. Reneve didn’t stop moving forward, slamming his chest into Meyer’s, making him take a step backwards. Meyer stiffened as he stepped between the planks and began to fall, until he caught his balance.

Meyer’s cheek twitched and he clenched his jaw, hands balling into fists. He forced himself to stay calm as he freed his foot from the pier. For Sadie. “I don’t care. I’m tellin’ the truth.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“’Cause I’m taking a risk just coming out here to talk to you. If Resnick found out I’d be dead.”

“Unless he sent you.”

“Look, he wants Ronny dead as much as you want me dead,” Meyer said. “When he jacked that shipment of Resnick’s coke last month, he went right to the top of the hit list.”

“That was payback for the patch that you—” Reneve jabbed his finger into Meyer’s chest. “Burned last year, asshole.”

“That don’t matter to Resnick. He blames Ronny for that just as much as you blame me for burning your pot, even though I was under orders to do it.”

Reneve hesitated, looking at Meyer suspiciously for a long moment. He crossed his arms before he spoke again, not seeming quite convinced but not glaring quite so hard, either. “So what did he do to make you turn on him?”

“He attacked my woman,” Meyer said coldly.

“Sadie, ain’t it?”

“Yeah,” Meyer answered gruffly. He hated how many people knew her name; how many people could use her as a weapon against him.

“I didn’t know he was a beater,” Reneve said, then decided to prod a bit. “Why’d you let him?”

“She was out alone,” Meyer answered. He took a step back to relieve the tension between them, even though he didn’t appreciate Reneve’s accusing tone. “She does that from time to time. She’s my wife, not my pet.”

“And he just…?” Reneve prompted.

Meyer sighed. He didn’t want to talk about it, yet he knew he wasn’t going to be able to convince Reneve if he didn’t. “He pulled a gun on her, forced her to get into his car, then beat and raped her.”

Reneve’s smug air suddenly dissipated. “He did, eh?”

Meyer pulled his phone out and pulled up the photo he’d taken of Sadie’s bruised face. He held it out to Reneve. “She’s bruised all over, not just her face.”

Reneve looked at the picture for a long moment, his lip slowly curling up in disgust. “I told you Resnick’s no good.”

“Yeah, well.” Meyer shrugged. “There’s a difference between being an ass and raping my woman.”

Reneve nodded. “I’d be pissed if he tried that with my wife.”

“I am,” Meyer said coldly.

“I guess you’ve got a good reason for turning on him.” Reneve stared at the ground, frowning for several agonizingly long moments. He finally looked up. “Let’s get this straight. If we team up, I’m helping you. That means I’m in charge. You do what I say.”

“…Sure,” Meyer answered.

“And once we destroy Resnick, you’re back at the top of my list,” Reneve said, glaring.

“I can live with that.”

“No you can’t,” Reneve said. “Your price is heading ever higher with every stupid thing you do.”

Meyer looked at him impassively. Reneve thought for a moment longer, then suddenly stepped forward and hit Meyer as hard as he could in the face. Meyer stumbled backward, starting to catch his balance before a thin plank behind him snapped, sending him through the pier.

Meyer grabbed the boards on either side of the narrow hole, catching himself before he fell to the lake a few meters below. He pulled himself up until his head and chest were above the hole. Before he could pull himself the rest of the way up, Reneve stepped on his fingers hard, pinning them.

“That was for kidnapping my nephew, asshole,” Reneve said. He leaned down to glare into Meyer’s face. Meyer stopped struggling, gritting his teeth as he glared back. “If you ever touch Ronny again, I will personally disembowel you and send the pieces back to Sadie.”

Meyer hesitated a moment, considering his best move. He desperately wanted to throw a threat back towards Reneve, but he didn’t figure that would help their relationship, and he still needed help. He grunted. “Seems fair.”

Reneve looked into Meyer’s eyes for a long moment, searching them for any trace of insincerity. “If you betray me it will be the worst mistake you ever made.”

Meyer met his gaze and took the hand Reneve held out to him as he stepped off Meyer’s fingers. He hefted Meyer out of the hole with one swift motion, but didn’t turn loose of his hand. Meyer shook his hand firmly. “Ditto.”