Part 28 (1/2)

She made it quick. I guess she knew I was running on fumes. I don't even remember going out.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a bed. Rena was next to me. She must have taken off my s.h.i.+rt and shoes and socks. She smelled fresh and sweet. I didn't.

I found the shower easy enough. Draped over the hamper, all the fresh clothes I'd need, except for my shoes.

I just kept going, like I knew what I was doing. But I didn't even know what day it was. Didn't know the time until I went back into the living room. It had those tiny little blinds, the kind you open and close by twisting a rod. I pushed one up with my finger. Daylight.

The kitchen was nothing like the one in Rena's house, but it was still all high-end. Looked new. I opened the refrigerator. Bottles of water were all I saw. But there was a whole mess of my power bars on the little round table.

I was still eating when I felt her behind me. I started to turn, but she put her hand on my face and pushed it back to where it was.

”Finish first, then we'll talk,” she said.

In the reflection from the hood over the stove, I could see she wasn't wearing anything.

When I went into the front room, she was waiting. Dressed in a set of baggy gray sweats, barefoot. Her hair was down, looked wet, like she'd just walked out of the shower.

With the blinds drawn and only a little lamp going in the corner, the room was all dark and smoky. Like an after-hours joint, except for the quiet.

”You'll have to cut this later,” she said, pulling at her hair. ”I can dye it myself. I'll pick up what we need when I buy some real suitcases.”

”You're going to, what, disappear?”

”I already have. Rena Rosenberg is gone. I'm Lynda Leigh. On this unit, on the car, on my license. Even on my birth certificate. Which you need to get a pa.s.sport. And Lynda Leigh has a credit history, too.”

”You've been ready for this to happen, huh?”

”For a long time. Albie knew it would come someday, and he never let me forget it. You know something else? I made all this ID myself. Me. Albie taught me. Perfect ID isn't just copying a photo on a license, like I did when you took the Lincoln. It takes research, equipment, and technique. That last one, I don't know if I can explain it. But Albie said I was a natural.

”I learned from the best. Albie told me that the fatal flaw in buying ID is, you're giving the person you bought it from more than just the money; you're giving him something he can sell. But when you learn to make your own, you never have to trust anyone, ever.”

”And this Jessop ...?”

She lit another cigarette. ”I lied,” she said.

”You lied about what?”

”Everything. I'm not thirty-nine; I'm thirty-five. I married Jessop in 1989. That was to keep him from going to prison. He paid my mother to sign some paper so we could get married.”

That's what the lawyer told me about Jessop, I thought. He got married to some girl who was fourteen He got married to some girl who was fourteen. She wasn't lying about that, anyway.

”I'd already been with him for almost two years then,” Rena said. ”I'd probably still be with him except he once brought me along to a meeting with Albie.”

”At that big house?”

”No,” she said, like only an idiot would even think that. ”In a restaurant. I already had the first implants by then, and Jessop, I think he wanted to show off. Show me me off, I mean. I was all s.l.u.tted up: four-inch heels, racc.o.o.n eyes, a little skirt I had to fight to fit into. off, I mean. I was all s.l.u.tted up: four-inch heels, racc.o.o.n eyes, a little skirt I had to fight to fit into.

”Albie had two men with him. The same men who are coming for his book now. Not them, necessarily, men just like them, I mean.

”They started talking about some job. Right in front of me, like I was a piece of furniture. All of sudden, Albie says to Jessop, 'This is the way you work? You bring a little girl along, let her listen to everything?'

”'She's dumb as a f.u.c.king rock,' Jessop says. 'By the time we get back home, she won't even remember she's been here. How old do you think she is-twenty-two, maybe? Well, she's fifteen, and she's been stripping for a couple of years already. You got nothing to worry about.'

”Albie just looks at Jessop. 'I drove a long way for this,' he says. 'Did I say you could bring anyone?'

”'No,' Jessop tells him. 'But what's the-?'

”That's when Albie cut him off. 'You take any risk you want. But you don't make me take them with you. So this girl, she stays with me until it's over.'

”The way Albie said it, you could see he wasn't asking. I'd never seen Jessop like that before. Scared, I mean.”

”He left you there?”

”Sure. Far as he was concerned, this was just a long trick. Like a rental. I think he even expected Albie to throw a bunch of cash at him when the job was finished.”

”But ...?”

”But Albie brought me to the house, the one you stayed at. He told me I was going to stay there until I was old enough to make intelligent decisions.”

”Weren't you scared?”

”Not for a minute. Albie told me to take a shower, scrub all that shmutz shmutz-that was the word he used; I still remember-off my face. Put all my clothes in a plastic bag. He didn't have any women's clothes, so I had to wear men's stuff for a couple of weeks, until he brought all kinds of things back. I didn't know exactly exactly what the stuff was, but I could tell it was good.” what the stuff was, but I could tell it was good.”

”He never-?”

”Don't you even think think it! I had to read all the time. Books, magazines, newspapers. And watch TV; that was okay, too. Anything I didn't understand, I'd ask Albie. Some things he'd tell me. Sometimes, he'd say I was just being lazy, go look it up. An education, Albie called it. The first time he said, 'Rena, you are a truly intelligent young woman,' I thought I would die, I was so happy. it! I had to read all the time. Books, magazines, newspapers. And watch TV; that was okay, too. Anything I didn't understand, I'd ask Albie. Some things he'd tell me. Sometimes, he'd say I was just being lazy, go look it up. An education, Albie called it. The first time he said, 'Rena, you are a truly intelligent young woman,' I thought I would die, I was so happy.

”All I know is that Albie met with Jessop again. After the job, I mean. I don't know what they said, and I know they kept doing business, but Jessop never came around the house. None of the people that Albie set up jobs for ever ever did. Just those other men; the ones I told you about. did. Just those other men; the ones I told you about.

”So, one day, I asked Albie if he'd bought me from Jessop. 'Cause I knew Albie had money, and Jessop loved money.

”You know what Albie said? He said he told Jessop he'd disposed disposed of me. I knew too much; I'd seen too much. of me. I knew too much; I'd seen too much. That's That's when Jessop wanted to get paid-he must have told Albie he had a lot of money invested in me. But I know Albie told him he wasn't getting a dime, because it was Jessop's fault in the first place, for bringing me along.” when Jessop wanted to get paid-he must have told Albie he had a lot of money invested in me. But I know Albie told him he wasn't getting a dime, because it was Jessop's fault in the first place, for bringing me along.”

”Jesus.”

”I know. I...never really believed it, not for a long time. I remember, once, Albie told me to stop being such a little brat. I knew what he wanted then. To spank me, you know what I mean? A lot of guys are into that, especially with a young girl. Only, I was wrong. You know what he wanted?”

”For you to stop being such a little brat?”

”Yes!” she said, smiling for the first time since...I didn't even remember the last one.

She lit another smoke. ”I was with Albie twenty years, that much is true. But I wasn't his wife until the millennium came. The year 2000, that's what everybody called it.

”I was Rena for ten years, but only by name. One day, I just marched into his den-that's where the partners desk was-and I told him I was old enough to make intelligent decisions. And I'd made one.”