Already Gone

– 38 –



“Gabby has a statue.” I hold my hands apart. “A ceramic dove about this big. He said it was a gift from my father before he died. He even offered to let me keep it.”

She asks me to describe the statue, every detail. After I do, she says, “That has to be them.”

“Gabby did the job.” I shake my head. “Of course he did.”

Diane is staring at the road ahead, not listening.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Does he know what’s inside?”

“I don’t think so.”

She turns to me. “If we can get the diamonds from Gabby and give them back to Briggs, he might—”

“No, he won’t.”

“We have to try.”

“You said it wouldn’t matter.”

“But what if I’m wrong? What if there’s a chance?”

“It’s too late for that. We have to leave, tonight. It’s the only way.”

Diane doesn’t say anything else. She’s still thinking about it, but for now at least, the conversation is over.

A few minutes later, Diane slows, then turns onto a dark driveway that curves toward a small brick house. There are no lights on inside, and when she shuts off the engine, the darkness covers us like a weight.

“This is where you’ve been staying?”

“Yeah, give me five minutes.”

“It looks deserted,” I say.

“That’s the point.” She opens the door and the dome light shines down, sharp and white. “I’ll be right back.”

I reach for her arm and she looks at me.

“We’re going to be okay,” I say. “You know that?”

Diane nods. “I know.”

I let her go.

She gets out and closes the door. I watch her run across the lawn toward the house. Once she’s inside, I step out of the truck and take the cell phone from my pocket.





The phone rings several times before Gabby answers.

“Jake, where—”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were the one who hijacked that truck with my father?”

Gabby hesitates. “Who told you I was?”

“Diane,” I say. “She was the one who hired him.”

“What?”

“You didn’t know?”

“He never told me,” Gabby says. “You know what he was like. He kept all that shit to himself.” He pauses. “So your wife, she’s not—”

“No,” I say. “She’s not.”

He makes a low noise, then nothing.

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“It never came up. That job was why I decided to retire. The entire thing was a bust. Your old man got picked up over a bunch of worthless statues.”

“Yeah, we need to talk about those.”

“Am I missing something?”

“You might be.”

Gabby waits, silent.

I look up at the house and see a light go on in one of the rooms.

“Jake, you there?”

I start talking, filling him in on everything that’s happened with Briggs and Diane. He listens, and he doesn’t say a word until I mention the statues.

“Inside them?”

“She said no one else knew except the guy who hired her, and he’s dead.”

“Do you believe her?”

“There’s one way to find out.”

I listen as Gabby shuffles around on the other end of the line. A moment later I hear something break.

After that, silence.

“What is it?”

There’s only the scrape of a cigarette lighter.

“Gabby?”

“I’ve got to go, kid. Make sure you’re on that plane tonight. Midnight, no later.”

“Was she telling the truth?”

“Yes she was.”

He starts to hang up, but then I remember the Pavel brothers, and stop him. “The two guys in your basement. I know who they are.”

Gabby waits.

I tell him the story Briggs told me about what happened to them in West Africa, and about what they did. “Now he thinks they’re coming after us.”

“Did he say anything else?”

“Nothing.”

Gabby breathes into the phone, says, “Okay. Get on that plane and call me from Nogales.”

“What are you going to do about them?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s under control.”

Then he’s gone.

I hang up and slide the phone into my pocket.

There’s an empty feeling in the center of my chest, and I can’t help but think I might’ve started a war.





I look at my watch, then up at the house and see Diane pass by one of the windows. She’s holding a phone to her ear, pacing back and forth.

It’s been longer than five minutes, and my patience is slipping away. I cross the lawn to the front door, then lean in close and listen. I don’t hear anything, so I turn the knob and walk inside.

The front room is empty and dark. There’s an orange light coming from the hallway, and I hear Diane’s voice in the distance. I look back at Lisa’s truck in the driveway, then close the front door and walk toward the light.

I come around the corner into a wood-paneled kitchen. There is an amber bubble lamp on the floor next to a crumple of blankets and a stack of worn paperback books. Diane is leaning against the counter. When she sees me she hangs up the phone and says, “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

She waves the phone in front of her. “My bags, the money, all of it. It’s gone.”

The kitchen is attached to a small dining room with a sliding glass door that looks out onto a wooden porch. Beyond that, darkness.

“Lisa?”

“No.” Diane shakes her head. “She couldn’t have. It was here this afternoon when I left, and we have her truck.”

“Who else knew you were staying here?”

“No one.” Diane seems to consider this for a moment, then shakes her head and says, “No, no one.”

“How much money did you have?”

“Twenty grand, plus. I know it wasn’t much, but it was a start, Jake. It was our start.”

Diane slams the phone on the counter then leans against it with her head in her hands.

I walk up and put my arms around her.

“We don’t need it. Gabby can lend us—”

“You don’t get it.” She worms out from under my arm. “Someone was here. They went through my things and took everything I had.”

“I told you, we’ll get—”

“They know I’m here, Jake.” Her voice is loud. “And if they know I’m here, then that means they’re watching the house.”