Billy Summers

‘I do. She can have the spare room while you stay here. A bunch of my stuff’s in it now, but I’ll clear it out. The bed’s stripped and I don’t know if there’s sheets, but I saw a couple of blankets on the shelf in the closet. That’ll do for three or four nights. Since you’re not sleeping with her, you get the attic. Most times of year you’d freeze or boil up there, but right now it should be just about perfect. I’ve got a sleeping bag somewhere. Maybe still in the back of the Cherokee.’

‘Sounds good. Thanks.’

‘Least I can do for a guy who’s promising me a million dollars. Unless you’ve changed your mind about that.’

‘I haven’t.’ Billy gives Bucky a sideways look. ‘You don’t think I’ll get it.’

‘You might.’ Bucky pulls a pack of Pall Mall straights out of his shirt pocket – Billy didn’t know they still made those – and offers it to Billy, who shakes his head. Bucky lights his smoke with an old Zippo, the Marine emblem and Semper Fi embossed on the side. ‘I learned a long time ago not to sell you short, William.’

They sit for awhile without talking, two men in porch rockers. Billy thought Pearson Street was quiet, but this place makes Pearson Street sound like downtown. Somewhere far off someone is using a chainsaw, or maybe it’s a wood-chipper. That and a light breeze sighing through the pines and aspens is the whole soundtrack. Billy watches a bird go stiff-wing gliding across the blue sky.

‘You should take her with you.’

Billy turns to him, startled. Bucky has an old tin ashtray loaded with filterless butts sitting on his lap. ‘What? Are you crazy? I thought she could stay here with you while I track Nick down in Vegas.’

‘She could, but you really should take her along.’ He stubs out his cigarette, sets the ashtray aside, and leans forward. ‘Hear me now, because I’m not sure you did before. Guys are looking for you. Hard guys like this Dana Edison you mentioned. They know the cops didn’t catch you, they know Nick stiffed you, and they know there’s a damn good chance that you’ll be on your way to get what’s owing. That you’ll take it out of his hide if you can’t get it any other way.’

‘Like Shylock,’ Billy murmurs.

‘I don’t know about that, never saw the movie, but if you think that will fool them—’ He flicks the blond wig, which really has become bedraggled and needs to be replaced. ‘—you’re taking dumb pills. They know you’ve changed your appearance, you never would have gotten out of Red Bluff otherwise. And if you’re driving, there are only so many ways into Vegas. They’ll be watching all of them.’

He’s making sense, but Billy doesn’t like the idea of bringing Alice into danger. The idea was to get her out of it.

‘The first thing you might want to think about is the license plates on that ride of yours.’ He points down at the deck and the vehicles beneath. ‘There are cars with Dixieland plates in this part of the country, but not that many.’

Billy doesn’t reply. He’s struck dumb by his own stupidity. He set up the jammer to block the Fusion’s onboard computer, but he’s been flashing those blue-diamond plates all the way across the Midwest. Like a sign saying HERE I AM.

Bucky doesn’t have to read his mind because everything Billy’s thinking is on his face. ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it. You did most stuff right, especially for someone moving fast.’

‘It only takes one thing wrong to put your head in the noose.’

Bucky doesn’t disagree, just lights another cigarette and says he doubts if they’re looking for Billy in places like Oklahoma and Kansas. ‘They’ll want to concentrate out west. Keep it tight. Idaho, Utah, maybe Arizona, but most of all in Nevada. Until you get to Vegas, things stand out there.’

Billy nods.

‘Besides, if they’d seen you and tracked you, they’d be here already.’ Bucky gestures with his hand, leaving a trail of smoke in the air. ‘Isolated spot. Fine place for a shooting party. I think you’re okay, the odds in your favor. Which is good in another way, because the paperwork on that leased car is in the Dalton Smith name, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you have ID in any other name?’

Billy still has his David Lockridge DL and Mastercard, for all the good it will do him. ‘None that’s not burned.’

‘I can make you some, enough to get by. I’ll use Name Generator. Just, if I make you a credit card, don’t try using it. It’ll only be for show. And never mind switching the plates, you need to switch vehicles. That lease car can stay here for the time being, it’s butt-ugly anyway.’

‘Comfy, though,’ Billy says, and drinks some beer.

‘You’ve got money? You wired me my ten per cent of your advance, so I’m thinking you do.’

‘Forty thousand or so, but not in cash. Money Manager accounts back in Red Bluff.’

‘But in Dalton Smith’s name, yeah?’

‘Yes.’