She told me about her new fling for a half an hour. I was glad for a distraction from Fox. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t questioned a hitman showing up in Pure and Easy. No one else had because they didn’t know there was a price on my head. Why would they question it? They wouldn’t.
However, I couldn’t let myself off the hook. I kept reasoning with myself that he could’ve easily killed me before he even shook my hand. He could’ve sat on a hill with a sniper rifle, or whatever it was hitmen did in real life and not in the movies. He could’ve picked me off while I drove down the highway. Picked me off from the opposite side of the street, from a second story window while I dried my hair in my front room.
But he didn’t, so I told myself that was a good sign. But was it, really? Was it? Was it a fucking good sign that Fox had even shown up in Pure and Easy in the first place, having agreed to take out an innocent woman who was the true victim in this case?
Maybe he didn’t know that, I kept telling myself, trying to assuage my feelings of betrayal. Maybe he didn’t know you were the innocent victim. Maybe he was just following orders. Then he wanted to meet you first, to see who he was picking off. Once he met you, he decided against it. Now he’s in a dilemma about what to tell Jones.
Jones. That maniac who fucked my life for no good reason. I never did a thing to him other than idiotically date a guy who owed him money.
It went on and on like that, over and over in my mind during the interminable trip to Oklahoma City. It had occurred to me I could turn on my phone and google the allegedly real name Fox had given me. But I didn’t want to chance it that Randy Blankenship had some kind of software that could tell the second I turned on my phone and ping my location. He’d told me that was what the cartel could do, so I should turn it off if I ever thought they were on my tail. I hadn’t listened to any of the predictable irate voicemails from Randy. I’d just read the one text from Fox wondering where I’d gone.
“Hi baby,” I said into my dog’s ruff. “Hi baby, hi baby. Dabba doo. Dabba doo.” I couldn’t stop saying that. I was beyond overjoyed that the one promise that WITSEC had kept was to allow Monstro to stay with Shelda. My scruffy giant mutt was the light of my life. Shelda wasn’t making much money at the jewelry store, but they allowed her to bring Monstro to work and keep her in the back. I kept telling her, only half-jokingly, to never quit that job.
“Kiss kiss kiss,” agreed Shelda. “I kiss her every chance I get. The people at work do, too. I found a dog park to take her to on Sundays. Don’t worry. She’s in good hands. So you never answered me. Any dudes in your life?”
I frowned, my face buried in the silky fur. Maybe it was easier to answer this way, not looking into my sister’s eyes. “Yes. One tall, redheaded, handsome hitman named Fox. Or should I say Trav—”
“What? Hitman? Har-de-har, Flavia. No, really. I want to see you happy after the disaster named Russell Heston. Any promising stoners walk in the dispensary?”
I came up for air, my fingers scrunched in Monstro’s fluffy ear. “I was serious about the hitman, Shelda. Some incredibly, exquisitely sexy guy showed up in P and E, admitting he was a hitman, but saying he was there for the sights.”
Shelda’s jaw hung open. “Hitman? For reals?”
“For fucking reals. Working for a motorcycle club, that didn’t seem too unusual, you know?”
“I guess,” Shelda said skeptically.
“And I didn’t think twice. He was with another hitman named Santiago Slayer.”
“But of course.”
I had to chuckle then. It did all sound so improbable. “But of course. This new hitman, Fox, saved my ass from getting a fast riding award.”
“A what?”
“Speeding ticket. He saved me from the cop, and then he appointed himself my protector. Only, he really wasn’t.”
Shelda’s face was as still as an unmuddied lake. “He was trying to kill you.”
“That’s why I just flew from Reno and not Phoenix. We were at a biker rally in Winnemucca, Nevada when I put two and two together.”
“Flavia! You have to relocate again! Maybe they’ll finally assign you to Oklahoma City!”
“I fucking doubt it. They say it’s too dangerous, us being together.”
“But wait. If he was sent to kill you, why didn’t he try yet? Or has he?”
“Not to my knowledge. That’s the part I don’t get. He was sent by Ortelio Jones to kill me, to stop me from testifying, right? Then what stopped him?”
An idealistic gleam came into Shelda’s eyes. She was such a romantic. “He fell in love with you!”
“Pfft. I doubt it, Shelda. I doubt it very much.”
“Did he ever kiss you?”
“Well…”
My tone must’ve said it all, because Shelda cried, “He did kiss you! Then it’s true!”
I stood, holding Monstro’s head fast to my thigh. “I’ve got to go now. But you’re right. I’m going to have to relocate again now that Ortelio Jones knows where I am due to Fox reporting back to him.”