“I could,” Dice said, smiling, “but I won’t.” She paused. “Maybe.”
“Look who’s playing games now,” Maureen said. “What does that even mean?” She reached for her wallet. “You know what.” She pulled out a ten, handed it to Dice. “This is why you followed me. Because you need fucking money. The rest of this is playing games to make yourself feel better about begging from me.”
Dice shook her head. She didn’t take the money. Her face had darkened. The games were over. “You should stop looking for her.”
“And why is that?”
“People are starting to talk about you.”
“Like I give a fuck about that,” Maureen said.
Dice picked at a thread on her glove, considering, Maureen could tell, what to say next, how much of a chance to take. Dice said, “You’re not the only one looking for her, either. Someone else has been coming around asking questions.”
“Who?”
“It’s not important,” Dice said, “and I don’t know who he is or who he’s with, I haven’t talked to anyone in person about her myself, I’m only telling you what I’m hearing. Now, the other street kids, they’re starting to talk. They want to know who this Madison Leary person is that the cops are looking for, that other people are looking for. None of this attention is doing anybody any good. There’s a mess about to be made.”
“Tell me who this guy is,” Maureen said. “Tell me what he looks like. I can help back him off. Trust me on that. Is he with the militia, too?”
She waited. Dice said nothing.
“Can you tell me if he’s law enforcement, then?” Maureen asked. “Can you tell me that much?”
“No,” Dice said. “I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Dice sighed. “This conversation is having the opposite effect I wanted it to.”
“Is it the Watchmen again?” Maureen asked. “Is that who’s looking for her? She stole from them. She knows things about them law enforcement can use against them. They’re going to keep coming after her. These guys, Dice, you laugh at them, but they’re fanatics and they’re armed to the teeth. Completely psycho. They shot my house to shit in broad daylight. I have bullet holes in my headboard.”
“You’re bragging,” Dice said, giving Maureen a wry smile.
“These guys think of themselves as an invading army,” Maureen said. “They’re moving crates of guns into the city.”
“Tell me more about your headboard.”
“Spare me the flirty bullshit,” Maureen said. “They’ll kill you without a second thought.”
“You should leave her be,” Dice said. “Leave Madison alone.”
“So she’s in town,” Maureen said. “If she wasn’t here you wouldn’t tell me to leave her alone.”
“She only did what any woman would’ve done,” Dice said. “What you would’ve done, what I would’ve done. She was just defending herself. As is her right as an American. She was standing her ground.”
“If you’ve got nothing useful to tell me,” Maureen said, “why’d you even come find me tonight?”
“Word’s around that you’re looking,” Dice said. “It’s in the streets. I heard people talking and I knew it was you. I don’t think they’ve figured you out for a cop, but that’s coming. And if they don’t figure you for a cop, they might figure there’s something valuable in protecting her in a more emphatic way than just saying they don’t know her, since she’s so interesting. So what I came to tell you is that you should stop looking.”
“Is that a threat?” Maureen asked, laughter in her voice. “Who are you delivering messages for? Who’s got you making threats for them? How well do the Watchmen pay?”
Dice sighed. Good, Maureen thought. Her turn to have her patience tested. “You’re such a fucking cop. Everybody always with an ulterior motive, even me.”
“Especially you,” Maureen said. “Are you kidding me?”
“You tried to do good by me before. I’m only trying to do you a favor, one woman to another.”
“How do you know,” Maureen said, “that you’re not next on Madison’s list?”
“I just do,” Dice said. She snatched the ten-dollar bill from Maureen’s hand, stuffed it into the deep pocket of her big coat. “Besides, I know how Madison operates.” She started backing away down the street. “Leave her be, Officer. Like there’s no other crime in this town? From what you tell me, you cops are about to have your hands full, more than ever. Get on with your life, Officer Coughlin. Do that, and you and me, we can stay friends.”
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