Hard Candy

154

IT WASN'T OVER.

Just Wesley's killing was.

Candy let me in. Wearing a man's button-down dress shirt over toreador pants. Like a hundred years ago. "You want to play?" she asked.

"Not today, outrider."

The cat's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"It was always you and Train. From the beginning. Elvira didn't run from you- you dumped her. Into Train's net. You knew Train was on Wesley's list. You thought I killed this Mortay freak. Thought I was a killer too. You knew Wesley was coming, so you put me on the same track. Facing him."

"I had to find out. I just watch- I don't risk. I didn't know how to find Wesley, so I sent you after Elvira. I knew there was a contract on Train- I knew Wesley was holding it. I know how he works. He watches. He waits. And then he does his work. It was all a play, and I wrote the lines. Wesley sees you hanging around, he figures you're with Train. Then he comes. You get in his way, somebody goes down. Not me. Never me."

"And you fuck the winner," I said. Remembering the subway tunnel, the kitten in the basement.

"Sure. That's the way it works. But I never thought you'd win. And you didn't."

"How long have you been with Train?"

"Since I was nineteen. I was one of his first. His very first. But I'm no outrider. That's a game. For the kids. Nobody leaves. I'm a partner, not a soldier. I made him…all that mumbo-jumbo bullshit. He tell you the one about truth?"

"No."

Her voice changed the way her face could. Train's voice: "If there is no truth, saying it is the truth. So there is always truth."

She watched my face, smiling. "Pretty good, huh? I gave him that one. He works the place in Brooklyn, I work here."

"Your partner's gone. So's Elvira."

"I'm still here. I know how to do it. There's plenty of kids. I'll always have me. I don't need anybody else."

"You're garbage."

"Am I? You think I loved you? Even when we were kids? It was Wesley I loved. He had the power. You…you're a weak, soft man. You were never hard. Me, I made you hard. I can do it again. I'm the one that's hard. Like Wesley. You should see your eyes…you want to beat me to death right here. But you can't do it. You can't hurt me. I know you. We can go in the back room right now. Tie me up so I can't move. And I'll still be in control."

I didn't say anything, watching her. The love Wesley never knew he had. He was better off where he was.

"You won't go to the cops either. That's not your way. The secret is to know. Like I know you. You could never hurt me. Wesley won. He's out there someplace. And I'll find him. I know you. If you were really a killer, you'd kill me."

She turned her back on me, walked out of the room, leaving me alone. Giving me a choice.

I closed the door behind me.