THEY CRUISEDHarrelson’s place in separate cars. Cox would be the driver that night and she wouldn’t go with Deese. Cole and Deese were snarling at each other because Deese insisted that Cox was sleeping with both Beauchamps and Cole. So Deese and Beauchamps went together, Cox and Cole went in the Cadillac.
On the way to Harrelson’s, Deese said, “When we’re done with this, we get rid of Geenie. You know goddamn well she’s fuckin’ Cole. And she’s also the weak link. I’ll do it. Take her up north of here, dump her in the desert.”
“I don’t want to think about it. And so what if she’s the weak link? We could drop her off at a shoe store and not pick her up. Don’t tell her where we’re going. The cops know our names anyway, so what’s she gonna tell them?”
“You’re not pissed because she’s fuckin’ Cole?”
“I’m not sure that she is. I don’t like the idea of killing her. I’m not a killer. And she’s a nice girl.”
“She’s a whore, Marion.”
“No she’s not. If she was a whore, she’d be fuckin’ you if you’d offered her a reasonable amount of money, which you didn’t. And if she was a whore, she’d have given you a price, which she didn’t. Now shut up and drive.”
—
“WHAT I’Mmost worried about is,” Cole told Cox, “that the brothers will decide they don’t need us. That fuckin’ Deese likes killing people, it’s what he does. You read the stories.”
“He stinks,” Cox said. “You ever smell his breath? It’s like it got bad from eating all those dead people. Smells like he’s got a dead mouse in his mouth.”
“I don’t care about his breath,” Cole said. “I care about what happens next... Say this Harrelson story turns out to be true. He’s got five million dollars in his house and we get it. If we split it four ways, we’ll each get a million two fifty. But they get rid of us, they’d both get twice as much, two and a half mil each.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m not down for a share,” Cox said. “Or, at best, not a full share.”
“Okay. Say they give you nothin’—”
“That ain’t fair!”
“You’re right. But say they give you nothin’. We cut it three ways and we’d each get”—he had to do the numbers in his head—“something like a million six five. That’s still a lot less for the brothers than if they only split it two ways.”
“You think they’re planning that? To get rid of us?” Cox asked.
“I don’t know. Finding out that they are, when Deese is standing there with a gun in his hand, then it’d be too late.”
They drove on for a while, Cox finally saying, “I really want this money. If I don’t get some money, I got nothing.”
“Well, I want the money, too,” Cole said.
Another minute, then Cox said, “Joan... the woman who fixed us up with the houses...”
“Yeah?”
“She makes all these real estate calls. She goes out to these houses with strange men. Alone. She carries a gun. I saw it, it’s small, but she said it’s powerful. She went to a concealed carry school and she liked it. She told me she’s got four guns now and she goes out to a shooting range. She’s even got two color-coordinated ones, blue and red. I’m wondering... maybe I could borrow one?”
“You know how to shoot?” Cole asked.
“Sure. I’ve gone shooting with Marion. It’s not rocket science.”
“It’s not how to work the gun that’s the problem. It’s killing somebody that’s the problem. We had rifles and shotguns on the farms, but the only pistol was this old rusty revolver, a .22. I take a 9mm into the houses with me, but I never have a round in the chamber because I don’t want to have an accident,” Cole said. “Maybe... Maybe when you start talking about guns, it’s time to leave. Without the guns. Get in the car and drive away. We couldtake this car, go together. We could figure out another way to get some money.”
“Like what?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. This robbery thing, this house thing, is the best gig I’ve ever had.”
—
COX THOUGHTabout that for a moment, then said, “I want enough that I can go back to LA and live like a star for a few years. That’s all.”
“The cops got your prints.”
