Better off Dead

Chapter 27

Sonia took the chair. She perched at the front of it. Her whole body was rigid. She was wound up tight. I could tell she was a hairsbreadth away from fight-or-flight. I sat on the edge of the bed and faced her. I kept one foot on the floor near her purse. Her gun was still inside it. There’s a reason the expression don’t shoot the messenger is a thing.

I said, “I want to start with good news. There was nothing between Michael and Renée. That’s for certain.”

“Was nothing?”

“I’m getting to that. First we need to back the truck up a little.”

I talked her through the whole story. All the way from Fenton receiving Michael’s message to her botched attempt at snatching Dendoncker. Including the part where Dendoncker’s guy told Fenton Michael was dead. Sonia was silent for a moment when I got to the end. Her eyes flickered from side to side as she joined the dots. Then she said, “Michael got caught with the note from his sister? That’s how everything turned to shit?”

“That’s the way I see it.”

“So Dendoncker had Michael killed?”

I nodded.

“No. I don’t believe it.”

I said nothing.

“And Renée?”

“I think she saw it coming. I think she got away.”

“But not Michael? Are you sure?” Sonia’s voice was on the edge of cracking up. “Like, totally beyond any doubt? No matter how tiny?”

“I didn’t see his body. But I heard one of Dendoncker’s goons swear that Dendoncker had killed Michael. And he had nothing to gain by lying.”

Sonia got up and crossed to the window. She turned her back and pulled the curtain around her. “I don’t know what to do with this. I can’t believe he’s gone. This must be a mistake.”

I didn’t know what else I could say.

Sonia disentangled herself from the curtain and spun around to face me. “If you knew Michael was dead, why didn’t you tell me right away?” Her eyes were damp and red. “Why string me along? Why all that bullshit about wanting help finding him?”

“I didn’t know what your deal was then.” I held up my hands. “I might not be able to help Michael. But I can still help his sister. Maybe. If I can find her.”

“You still bullshitted me.” Sonia shuffled back to the chair and slumped down. “I just can’t deal with this. What should I do now?”

“Leave town would be my advice. Now I have to get going. But first I need to ask you a question. It’s going to sound insensitive. The timing’s awful. But it could be important.”

“What is it?”

“In the message Michael sent his sister, along with the card from the Red Roan there was something else. A condom. That seems weird to me. Does it mean anything to you?”

“No. Michael wouldn’t have a condom. We didn’t use them. And he would never send one to his sister. That’s gross.”

“It got in there somehow.”

“Someone else must have put it in.”

“I don’t think so.”

Sonia shrugged. “Maybe Michael was trying to tell her something. Like, to be careful. To take precautions. He did love cryptic messages. He was always leaving them for me. I generally didn’t understand them, to be honest. I had to ask him to explain.”

A condom as a warning to take precautions? It was possible. In the sense that it couldn’t be positively ruled out. But it didn’t seem likely. And as an explanation it didn’t feel right. The voice at the back of my brain still wasn’t satisfied.