Nothing from Marcus.

‘My dorm mate reported it, and the cops were called. The only way to keep Reuben out of jail was to marry him. The minute that ring went on my finger, it was over.’ She gave that same dry laugh from before. ‘Eight years I’ve been walking toward my grave. The only thing I can control is how fast I jump in.’

Marcus said, ‘Jo-jo, let’s talk about this. We can figure it out.’

‘I need to pick up Anthony from school. Reuben makes me call as soon as he’s in the car.’

‘Don’t leave. Not like this.’

‘If I’m late—’

‘You’ll be on time,’ Marcus told her. ‘Let’s talk about what you’re going to do.’

‘I don’t know.’ Jo sounded torn. ‘I can’t show anybody that video without implicating you, and I won’t do that, no matter how bad you were.’

‘On my life, Jo, on my kids’ lives, it’s not what you think it is.’

Jo didn’t answer at first. She was obviously conflicted. Whatever tied her to Marcus Rippy ran deeper than LaDonna realized.

Jo said, ‘I want to care about that girl. I want to want justice for her, but all I see is a way out.’ She gave a sharp laugh. ‘What does that say about me? What kind of person am I that I’m willing to trade one woman’s life for my own?’

Marcus said, ‘You know me, Josephine. You know me better than anybody else. We got a history, going back to when I was a boy and you were my girl. I ain’t never been rough like that. Not with you. Not with nobody. You know me.’

‘That’s not what I thought when I saw the video.’

‘I was never like that with you.’ He added, ‘Not back then, not last month. Not right now, if you’ll have me.’

‘Marcus.’

They were kissing. Angie recognized the sounds. She felt herself shaking her head. What the hell kind of Russian roulette was her daughter playing?

‘No.’ Jo had obviously pulled away. ‘I can’t do this.’

‘Play the video again,’ he challenged. ‘Show me where I hurt that girl.’

Angie waited for her daughter to remind him that even doped up, the junkie in the video had kept saying no.

Instead, Jo told him, ‘Take my phone. Destroy it. I can’t hurt you. Not like this.’

Angie tasted blood in her mouth from biting her tongue.

He said, ‘What happens if Fig calls and you don’t pick up?’

Jo didn’t answer. Angie prayed her daughter was seeing through this. Marcus knew that Fig kept track of her through the phone. He also knew that there was a copy of the video on Fig’s laptop. Telling Jo to keep her phone built trust, and there was only one reason that Marcus needed Jo to trust him: he was going to fuck her over.

Marcus asked, ‘What are you going to do, Jo? I want to help.’

‘Nobody can help. I was just venting.’ Angie heard footsteps as Jo walked across the carpet. ‘I need to pick up Anthony.’

‘Put this problem on my shoulders,’ Marcus said. ‘I’ve always taken care of you. Stood up to that teacher who was trying to get free with you. Made sure your mama knew you were a good girl.’ He paused, and Angie hoped to God Jo wasn’t nodding.

Marcus said, ‘Let me figure out how to take care of Fig in a way that gets you what you need.’

‘There’s no way, Marcus. Not without hurting you, and I won’t do that.’

‘I appreciate that, but you deserve better.’ He paused again. ‘La D has this party on Sunday. Fig already said y’all would be there.’

‘God, I can’t take a party.’

‘You gotta show face, girl. Make him think everything is okay.’

‘And then what?’

‘Give me some time to get a plan. I’m going to figure this out, and I am going to take care of you, even if it means moving you and Anthony into one of my houses, putting a guard outside the door, to buy you some space to think about this.’

‘Oh Marcus.’ Jo sounded heartbreakingly hopeful. ‘Would you really do that? Could you?’

‘Just give me some time,’ he said. ‘I need to pray on it a bit, figure out the right thing to do.’

‘Thank you!’ Jo’s voice was almost euphoric. ‘Marcus, thank you.’

There was more kissing.

Again Jo pulled away first. ‘I need to pick up Anthony. Thank you, Marcus. Thank you.’

The door clicked open then shut as Jo left the room.

Angie heard her soft footsteps out in the hall.

‘Shhiiiit,’ Marcus whispered from the next room. The mattress squeaked. There were ten beeps as he dialed his phone.

Marcus Rippy might very well pray on the situation, but Angie knew exactly who he was going to call on to fix it.

‘Kip,’ Marcus said. ‘We got a big fucking problem.’

WEDNESDAY, 3:18 PM

Angie rode the elevator up to the twenty-seventh floor of the Tower Place office building. Not the twenty-eighth or -ninth floor, where 110 was located, but the one below that Angie had never been to. Dale had texted her to meet him there. He’d told her to come as soon as possible.

Paranoia teased up the hair on the back of her neck as she watched the lights announce the floors. Had Dale figured out that Angie was on Jo’s side? He had a weird sixth sense, especially where Angie was concerned. She didn’t like surprises. She held her purse tight to her body. She should’ve loaded her gun. This didn’t feel right. There was no reason for Dale to text her to meet him on a different floor.

No good reason, anyway.

The elevator doors slid open. Angie hesitated before stepping out. The floor was under construction. Lights dangled from their cords. Stacks of building materials and buckets of paint created a maze. Outside, the windows showed blue sky. Inside was ominous, filled with shadow.

If Angie was going to kill somebody, this would be as good a place as any.

She walked around the room, picking her way past the stacks of paint cans and rolling scaffolding. She thought about the iPad with the rabbit ears, the one that held a download of everything on Reuben Figaroa’s kitchen laptop. Angie hadn’t had time to search for the video that Jo had shown Marcus Rippy. She assumed that Marcus had told Kip about the backup and she guessed that Kip would find a way to wipe the machine clean. Whether or not that meant the iPad would wipe clean, she had no idea. Angie couldn’t call Sam Vera for help. He was Dale’s guy, like just about everybody she knew. In the end, all she could think to do was tear off the antennae, shut the thing down, and leave it in the safe at the OneTown Suites.

For five thousand dollars, she hoped like hell the manager really did know how to take a pay-off.

‘Progress,’ Dale said.

Angie almost jumped out of her skin. ‘You scared the shit out of me.’

Dale seemed to enjoy the effect. ‘Kip’s upstairs with Rippy.’

‘Then why are we down here?’

‘Because there ain’t no security cameras down here.’

Angie swallowed to clear the dust from her throat. She made herself walk toward him, open, nothing to hide. ‘Why the cloak-and-dagger?’

‘Something with Rippy. That’s all I know.’