Ghosts by Matt Rogers (ap literature book list txt) 📕

be damn sure of that.’

‘I want him alive,’ Ray said. ‘I want him to hurt.’

He reached a hand to the back of his waistband, and Alexis braced herself for her own execution. Somehow she’d accepted it. The last hour of her life had been so surreal that it verged on dream-like. Maybe it’d stay that way, even when the gun came out, even when the barrel settled between her eyes, even when Ray pulled the trigger and blew the top of her head off.

She hoped it didn’t hurt.

She hoped it was a quick departure.

But instead he came out with a small baggie filled with fine white powder. He flicked it to settle the contents, took out his keys, heaped a mountain of the cocaine onto the flat side of a car key, and sent it straight up his right nostril.

He came alive.

Didn’t shout or whoop or holler like in the movies, just lit up from the inside. His eyes flared and he started talking at warp speed.

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘How many went after Ward? Six?’

‘Five,’ the helper said.

‘I want constant updates on their progress. How many we got left here?’ He did a head count in less than a second. ‘Six. Okay, great. What’s the latest on Gates?’

‘He’s gone to ground, boss. The conflict’s settled for now. It won’t stay that way for long.’

‘Not if five of my men are on a wild goose chase out there,’ Ray said, and his face darkened. ‘Fucking Ward. Has to make everything so complicated, doesn’t he? Couldn’t have just rolled over and died like a good little boy.’

‘We’re winning. It might be the right move. It might flush the rest of Gates’ forces out in the open.’

Ray scoffed. ‘What forces? He’s a common criminal.’

The helper said, ‘You have to admit he’s done well with what he’s got.’

Alexis almost expected Ray to execute the man for his disobedience, but then she remembered that real life isn’t made up of caricatures. Ray took the criticism on board and nodded. ‘He’s a tough cookie. Are you still trying Gloria?’

The helper nodded. ‘No answer. She always answers. I don’t like this.’

Alexis hid a smile.

Ray said, ‘You think Gates has gone after her?’

‘I don’t see any timeline where that makes sense.’

‘It’d fit his recent behaviour,’ Ray said. ‘What the fuck is Armando doing? I thought we had a good thing going … then he turns around and launches an all-out assault on me. Christ. Do you think it’s the drugs?’

‘The drugs?’

‘You know he’s a coke fiend.’

The helper looked at the baggie between Ray’s fingers.

Ray rolled his eyes. ‘This helps me. I see clearer. With Gates … it just makes him angry.’

‘He’s sure angry now.’

For the first time the two men seemed to notice Alexis sitting next to them, another henchman training a gun at her face.

Ray leered down at her. ‘Well, that’s unfortunate, isn’t it?’

She said, ‘What?’

‘So much just happened … I forgot you were there. I might have let you run away after Alan betrayed me like that. You don’t seem to have much to offer me now. But … well, you know how it goes. Now you know who I used to be in bed with. And you know about the DA.’

‘What DA?’

‘Gloria Kerr.’

She said, ‘I have no idea who that is. I don’t want anything to do with this.’

‘Too bad,’ Ray said. ‘And there’s also the little fact that you dropped my name to a junior officer. You really shouldn’t have done that, Alexis.’

She stiffened.

He said, ‘And you’re just so beautiful, aren’t you?’

She wanted to shrivel up and die.

He patted his helper on the shoulder. ‘Lock her up for an hour or so while we figure this out. Then I’ll get to her and sort out what she knows and what she doesn’t.’

The man nodded and hauled her to her feet.

She went willingly.

She had no choice.

Her footsteps echoed through the space.

41

The house felt staggeringly empty.

Violetta tried to concentrate on the programs flashing across her laptop screen, intelligence piling in as she narrowed search fields and focused on the geographical region of southwest Vegas.

But every sound echoed, and every tap of her finger on the keyboard reminded her it was just her and Kerr, alone in the house.

She tried.

She really did.

But she couldn’t resist.

She had to know.

She called Slater, only minutes after they’d left the house, and said, ‘You good?’

He said, ‘King’s on the phone with Gates. We’re getting a running commentary on Ward’s movements. It won’t take us long.’

‘Do you need me?’

‘Not for now.’

‘Okay.’

She hung up. Put the phone down, closed the laptop, got to her feet.

Took a deep breath.

Then went to the spare room.

Kerr was stretched out where Slater had left her on the carpet. Completely motionless, her limbs wrapped in thick electrical tape, her face covered by the suit jacket. For a horrifying moment Violetta thought she’d suffocated. Not because of the death itself, but the secrets that might have died with her.

She walked over, knelt down, and ripped the jacket away.

Kerr was very much alive.

Very much conscious.

Staring at Violetta.

Kerr said, ‘Where are the others?’

‘Out.’

‘So it’s just you and me?’

‘Sure is.’

‘I—’

‘Where’s Melanie?’

Kerr went silent.

Violetta said, ‘Where is she?’

Kerr actually smiled. ‘If you want me to talk, then make me talk. You’re not touching my family unless you muscle that information out of me. I’d be impressed if you managed.’

‘Oh, because you want to protect them, right? You want to keep your daughter from harm?’

‘Don’t patronise me,’ Kerr said. ‘You don’t know the first thing about me or my daughter.’

‘I know what a mother is supposed to do.’

‘She wanted the life,’ Kerr said. ‘Wanted it more than anything. I don’t know why. That’s not my field of expertise. I let her do what she wants.’

Violetta digested the words.

It was tough, but she did it.

Then she said, ‘Thanks for that. I get it now.’

‘Is that right?’

‘That’s right. You’re a Grade A sociopath. You don’t understand human emotion. You’re damn good at mirroring it and replicating it, but inside you’re a cold shell.’

Silence.

Violetta said, ‘Kids