“Oh, wow,” the bartender gasps. “I have to ask. Why do y’all wanna know?”
“Do you care?” I reply.
“I just don’t want to get the guy in trouble. He was good to me. I needed money to get my teeth fixed. He paid me for an hour-long job, staking out somebody’s office in the car. It wasthat easy.”
“You can’t get him in trouble; he’s already in trouble. The best you can do is keep yourself out of trouble,” Cole warns him.
Randall thinks about it for a moment. I’m sure he understands the consequences. They’re written all over our faces. And as I offer another wad of cash on top, he laughs nervously, then starts singing like a bird.
“That was the job. One hour. All I had to do was sit in the car and give him the plate number on a chick’s Prius,” he says.
Cole shows him a photo of Willow on his phone. “This chick’s Prius?”
“Yeah, he wanted the plate number. That’s it. I sat around, waiting, thinking I’d spend the whole day before she got out of the office. He knew where she worked, but he said he couldn’t be seen around the area on account of the surveillance cameras.”
“And you didn’t think that was shady?”
“Do you think I fucking cared? He paid a lot of money for that gig. I didn’t hurt anybody. All I did was get him the information he wanted,” Randall replies.
“Did he tell you what he wanted with the woman?”
He shakes his head. “No, but he came in last night. He was in a bad mood, so I poured him a double, then told him the cops were looking for him, except they thought his name was Brett whatever. He didn’t seem surprised, but he got really, really mad.”
“What did he say?”
“That he was ‘this close’ to getting this big job done. He almost had everything in place and couldn’t let the cops oranybody else ruin it for him. He gave me some money to keep quiet.”
I give him a curious look. “Yet you just told us.”
“You paid me more,” he replies with a shady grin. The man has no honor. I couldn’t care less. At least we outbid that fucker for Randall’s loyalty.
“What was the big job about?” Cole asks.
I have a feeling we already know the answer, but we let Randall give us every detail he can remember. The more he speaks, the more worried I get, however.
“He’s supposed to take out some lady,” he says, then points a finger at his head and mimics the sound of a gunshot. “You know what I mean? It’s a complex job, he said. Lots of eyes on him. He almost got her at some fancy wedding, but things got mixed up. He wouldn’t tell me much about that, but he did mention he was about to do something even wilder. He was excited about it.”
“I’m assuming he’s getting paid for this. Did he tell you who his employer was?” Cole asks, his foot nervously tapping the barstool’s weathered steel leg.
“He’s not doing it for the money,” Randall says. “That’s the thing I remember. It’s what struck me the most. He said he’s doing it out of love.”
And there we have it: means, motive, opportunity.
Willow’s instinct was on point long before she knew it. There was a reason she remembered the snake heart tattoo when Dad mentioned Sheila’s ex-boyfriend to her. It’s not some unknown dude named Brett Harvey who we’ve been dealing with, the ghost without a past or a footprint,it’s Perry Jackson, Sheila’s first love, and he’s determined to kill Willow for some unknown reason.
Toby and Cole turn to face me, and I see the dread imprinted on their faces. I see it, and I feel it burrowing deep inside me, too, because I understand what this means.
And where it will lead.
26
WILLOW
Afew hours go by between my waking up to read the thoughtful note in the kitchen and my decision to stay home and not to go into the office, so I can tell the brothers about the baby. Emboldened by last night’s intimacy, comforted by their determination to make me feel safe, to make me feel like I belong with them, I feel like it’s my turn to share a secret of my own.
According to Jamie, their father was brought back to Thornwood Manor earlier that day. I decide to surprise them and head up there myself.
“You shouldn’t be out on the road on your own,” Jamie insists.
