An Absence of Light

Ledet stared up at Graver. He was scared, Graver could tell that, but Graver knew, too, that men who were afraid could also be very gutsy. Ledet was the kind of man who would call a bluff like this. After all, Graver had just handed him a nothing-to-lose deal. If Ledet was wrong it was the girl who would lose her life, not him. He could always talk, after he saw how serious they were.

“I need to know how to get to Kalatis’s place,” Graver said.

Ledet didn’t say anything. He just sat there. At that moment Graver knew he had screwed up. If he hadn’t been willing to pistol-whip one of them or both of them, then he should never have pretended he wasn’t a cop. If he had been from Ledet’s world, he would have already started with Ledet, and Ledet was now realizing that He knew the girl was not going to get shot Graver was furious at himself. He had pulled a rookie’s stunt, and it had cost him the small advantage that he had had.

Ledet was almost grinning at him now. He knew he was dealing with a law enforcement officer of some kind. Graver knew some men who wouldn’t have hesitated to beat that smirk off Ledet’s face, to pound a little doubt into him, but Graver had never operated that way. It just wasn’t in him.

The girl was crying, her body shaking with sobs, her mouth stuffed with her own dress, her eyebrows contorted, anguished, tears streaming down her face. Graver felt like a heel. The girl was the only one who had suffered here, and he hated himself for standing her up in front of a bogus firing squad. It had been an unnecessary cruelty, and he should have known better than to have subjected her to it.

Ledet looked over at her, and then looked back to Graver. He definitely knew that Graver was a cop. But Alice didn’t Between sobs she was trying to talk, yelling at the level of a high hum, a strident, muffled pleading.

Graver looked at her, and nodded for Neuman to remove the gag.

“I know, I know,” she blurted, coughing, mucous mixed with tears stringing from her nose. “Don’t kill me, God, no, I know, I know. I…” she gasped for breath and coughed.

Graver nodded for Neuman to remove her handcuffs, and then he looked at Ledet who was now watching Alice with a concerned frown.

Going into the nearest bedroom, Graver returned with a box of tissues which he gave to Alice who grabbed at them like a drowning woman. She blew her nose and wiped her face, blew her nose again, trying to get the best of her hysteria so she could prove that she was useful and didn’t deserve to be killed.

“What is it?” Graver asked. “You know what?”

Alice wiped tear-logged strands of hair out of her face and coughed some more.

“I know about flying,” she said, finally finding her voice. “I used to date a pilot…” she stopped in mid idea and looked at Ledet who was eagerly waiting to see what she was up to. “You prick,” she shrieked and spat at him, a mouthful that hit him squarely in the middle of his throat and slobbered down onto his bare chest.

“Hold it,” Neuman said from behind her, reaching out and grabbing her shoulders as he forced her back down on the sofa.

Alice was glaring at Ledet so fiercely Graver believed she would have shot him if she could have gotten her hands on his gun. As far as she was concerned she had just watched Ledet demonstrate that he was willing to give her up to be shot rather than tell this man what he wanted to know. Maybe this was going to work to Graver’s advantage after all.

“What is it?” Graver asked. “You’d better tell me what you know.”

“Alice! You stupid bitch,” Ledet croaked.

“I know where his goddamned navigational maps are, by God,” she announced triumphantly. “You want to know where the son of a bitch flies, look on his maps. I found them this morning while he was sleeping.” She looked at Ledet “I’ve been around the block a few times, mister.” She was furious. “When you went to get that coke last night I followed you into that other guy’s room. You was so whiskey-whipped you didn’t know shit from Shinola. I just stood in the door naked as a jaybird and watched you. Took you forever. Saw you take out the coke, a couple of guns”-she cut her eyes at Graver then-”I saw it all. Ammo”-eyes back to Ledet-”porno tapes.”

“These guys are goddamn cops,” Ledet yelled. “Nobody was going to shoot you, dammit! Stupid bitch! Dammit!”

She frowned at Graver, then at Ledet, then back at Graver. “That right?”

“Sort of,” Graver said. He came over and stood squarely in front of her. “Let me tell you something. If what you say is true, this guy is going to prison, and he won’t be coming out again until he’s old enough to collect his social security-if ever. If you take sides with him, you’ll go down with him.”

“What do you mean, go down with him? All I did was snort some of this asshole’s coke and screw him. What do you mean ‘go down with him’?”

“If you know about ongoing criminal activities and conceal it, you’re an accessory,” Graver said, not putting too fine a point on it.