“Ivan made me promise not to, but…sometimes doing the right thing is thicker than blood, right?”
“What’s going on?”
“Does the name Joseph Chisholm ring a bell?”
“What?” Uma’s vision blurred, and her legs went liquid. She stumbled back onto the sofa. “Oh no.”
“I thought so. Ive’s gone after him.”
“How’d he—?”
“He came over to use my computer. Actin’ real strange. He asked me to keep Squeak for him and left a shit ton of dog food, talked about feedin’ the other animals if I didn’t see him come back tonight or in the mornin’. So, I went and looked at his history after he took off. Ive’s a dumb-ass with computers. Doesn’t know how to cover his tracks. Anyway. His Internet search?Commonwealth Attorney Joseph Northern Virginia.”
“Please God, no.” Uma’s whispered words overlapped Jessie’s. She didn’t need to hear the end. Didn’t want to know any more.
“Turns out there are only two up there. So he cyberstalked the one named Chisholm before taking off. I remembered what you’d said about your ex being a prosecutor and—”
“Oh, no, no, no.Fuck!” A buzzing started in Uma’s ears, louder than her words. Her head was shaking back and forth, side to side. It wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop it. Any of it. Anything.
“All right. So, Ive’s gone up there to find him. You know he’ll do somethin’ stupid, right?” Jessie was louder, the frantic edge right there in the forefront.
“He promised,” whispered Uma.
“What?”
“Oh God. When did he go?”
“Couple hours, at least. Didn’t think to check the computer until a little while ago. He’s not answering his phone.”
“Then it’s already too late.”
“Look, I called Steve and—”
“The cop? No! Oh please, no.”
“Look. He’s our friend. I had to tell him. He”—she lowered her voice—“said you were aperson of interestin some case?” When Uma didn’t respond, Jessie moved closer to squat at her feet. “What is goin’ on? I want to help, but you’ve got to tell me. Let me help.”
“You can’t help if the cops are involved.” The words came from deep in Uma’s chest. A dead place. “They’re on his side and…nobody can help.” Something occurred to Uma. “I don’t get it. How’d Ivan find out about Joey being a prosecutor?”
“I told him,” came Ms. Lloyd’s voice from the top of the stairs. “He called when you took out the trash.”
“Wait.Nowyou decide to answer the phone?” Uma asked, disbelieving.
Ms. Lloyd shrugged. “Know about the ad now, don’t I? Figure I’d give the caller a piece of my mind instead of being scared.”
“I trusted you!” Uma shrieked, the betrayals like a knife to the chest—Ms. Lloyd’s and Ivan’s. “He’s going tokillhim, Ms. Lloyd. Don’t you get it? Ivan’ll go back to prison for this.” Uma looked between the two women, frantic. “Joey works with cops, judges. He’s beenhuntingme for six months. What do you think he’ll do when Ivan shows up there? Oh God, I’ve got to go. I’m going. I’m going. I’ll go and—”
“Hold on,” said Ms. Lloyd. “No running off half-cocked. It’ll only make things worse.”
“Whatfuckingchoice do I have?”
Jessie said, “I don’t think this is the time for—”
“Shut up, both of you, while I get a drink.” Slowly, Ms. Lloyd made her way down the rickety steps. “You’ll screw it all up. You hear?” Her voice was low enough to cut through the yelling and sharp enough to pierce the cloud of panic hanging in the air. Her eyes, when Uma’s met them, were deep, dark anchors. “Welcome to Leon’s man cave. Mr. Leon Lloyd. Myhusband.” The way she stressed the first syllable made it sound like a dirty word. She hobbled to the back wall and flipped a switch, lighting up the animal-head trophies hung high on the wall and shimmering over the dust motes floating on the air, then placed a glass on the bar with a decisivethunkand filled it with a golden liquid.
“Is he—” Uma began, briefly derailed from her panic by Ms. Lloyd’s odd behavior.
“Dead? Yes. Dead as a doornail. Dead, dead, dead.” The last was said in a singsong.
