“If you like,” Eric told him, pleased for the easy segue. “I, uhm, found myself throwing in far too many sweets.”
Ace chuckled, and so did Ernie, from behind the Plexiglas of the stand.
“You were using shopping for cover so you could pretend you weren’t the one who took out the guy with the gun,” Acechortled, removing two of the fudge-covered coconut cookies with careful, albeit grease-stained, fingers.
“Well, yes,” Eric said, pleased that somebody got that. Usually he found himself sleeping with other people in the trade so he didn’t have to explain things like that to them. It was nice to have people who followed his way of thinking andwouldn’tkill him before they thought about why not.
“We appreciate the thought,” Ernie said, taking a cookie through the cashier’s slot. “We also really appreciate you didn’t kill anybody your first day out.”
Eric shot him a wounded look. “Even during my most productive times, I still spaced out my business by at least two months.”
“Research or rest?” Ace asked curiously.
“Both,” Eric told him with a sigh. “I… I was very picky about my clientele. I almost took out a perfectly nice softball coach because somebody had it out for him because he didn’t draft her to the team. Took three weeks of observation and detective work to figure out that it was somebody holding a grudge andnota sleazy raping fuckhead. After that I made sure to put in at leastfourweeks of background work, in case somebody tried that shit again.”
“Hunh,” Ace said, sounding surprised. “What’d you do to the girl?”
“Well, it wasn’t really her fault,” Eric admitted. “Hermotherwas the one who hired me. I, uhm, reported her to the police for buying grades.”
Ace cocked his head. “You mean for college?”
Eric nodded. “When I realized what was up, I cornered the girl, and she told meeverything—including the buying-the-test thing. So I reported her mom for that. She spent a couple of years in jail, her daughter got to figure out her own shit for a half a second, and both of them kept me out of it.”
“And you learned a valuable lesson about research,” Ace said, nodding. “Before it was too late.”
Eric sobered, and because he knew who he was talking to, because he’dseenwhat Ace would do to keep his family safe when killing didn’t come easy, he felt compelled to tell the truth.
“I-I never took lives lightly,” he said haltingly. “It was never a game. It was something I… accidentally discovered I was good at.” He swallowed. “And as you know, some people—men especially—very much need killing. I felt as though I was doing a service.”
“And then?” Ace asked.
“You know,” Eric said softly, “a real act of service shouldn’t gouge such a hunk out of your soul. I realized that soon I’d have no soul left.”
Ace nodded. “Well, I think today you earned a little corner of it back,” he said. “And we’re grateful you didn’t leave a trail that could lead back here.”
Eric ate another cookie glumly, wondering if he was going to have to be sick at some point, given all the egregious things he’d eaten that day.
“I did, though,” he said unhappily. “I led that policeman right to you.”
Ace nodded. “You did. But he also gave us your vehicle, so maybe we got some hope in that direction. Don’t fret until Ernie sees trouble. You see trouble, Ernie?”
And then Ernie stared at Ace, his eyes big, fathomless, as deep as infinity pools, and Ace gasped. For a moment the two of them stared at each other, locked in some sort of electric, sexless, touchless embrace, and then Ernie fell backward in his cubicle, and Ace swore.
“Jai!” he shouted. “Come get Ernie! He saw something big, and it’s best I don’t touch him none!”
The large man appeared, summoned like a genie, and he charged into the small booth to pick Ernie up like a damsel in distress.
“I take him to the house, da?”
“Yeah,” Ace agreed. “Me and Sonny’ll take care of that minivan.”
“Who will tend the window?” Jai asked.
Ace looked at Eric. “How much shit you got melting in Jai’s car?”
“Some ice cream and some frozen food,” he said.
“Give Jai your keys—once he gets Ernie settled, he’ll stash it in our freezer. We need someone at the window, and guess what, buddy?”
