Candy comes out and kicks him again.
“Fuck. Who is that?” he yells.
“Pay attention to me, jailbird. What I’d like to do with a guy like you is handle things simply, but I promised Allegra I wouldn’t kill you.”
“Suck my dick, tough guy,” he says. Then looks around for Candy. Nothing happens this time. So much for chivalry.
“Instead, what I’m going to do to you is more fun.”
“Why don’t you come over here, pussy, and we’ll settle this like men.”
“First off, I’m not a man. Second, I’m comfy right here. But you’re welcome to swim over my way if you can’t hear me.”
He stays put.
“So, I was telling you what I was going to do.”
“Talk me to death?”
“You’re on parole, aren’t you? I’m going to dismantle you so that the only way you’re ever going to see daylight again is to run as far away as fast as you can and never come back.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I thought you’d never ask. Kick him again for me, dear.”
Candy comes out and gives him an especially nice shot in the lower ribs. I toss her a set of the work gloves.
“Check him for a gun. Take it and his wallet and toss them to me.”
She fumbles through his clothes for a minute. I should have brought latex gloves with me, but I’m rusty at this and you can’t think of everything.
Finally she comes up with a 9mm Glock and a cheap wallet with a skull and crossbones on the front. I set them on the floor by the lamp. Then grab the barbed-wire cage and hold it over him.
“Set him up straight for me?”
Candy grabs Matthew by the hair and lifts him until he’s on his knees. I drop the wire spiral over his head and Candy pushes him over with her boot, so he’s lying in the soap wrapped in a cage.
“If you thought the glass was bad, try getting frisky in that,” I tell him.
He lets out a couple of little gasps but doesn’t give any back talk.
“Now I’m going out for a few minutes. I don’t want you bothering the kick fairy while I’m gone.”
I hand her the wire cutters.
“Talk too much and she has my blessing to remove your tongue.”
Candy smiles at me. She likes playing dress-up and femme fatale. I don’t think she’ll hurt him while I’m gone, but she won’t be nice either. I put Matthew’s gun and wallet in my pocket and pull up my hood.
“I’m going out for milk and eggs, honey. Be back in a couple of minutes.”
She blows me a kiss and I head out.
There’s a pharmacy a couple of blocks down Beverly from the apartment. It’s a short stroll. A light rain is starting to fall. Early for this time of year. I light a cigarette and smoke until the rain picks up and the foot traffic clears off the street.
The pharmacy isn’t marked around the back of the building, but there’s only one door covered with surveillance cameras and alarm stickers. I pull the hood tighter so only my eyes are showing and kick the door in. The alarm goes off. I have to work fast.
I hop the pharmacy counter and head for the back. Mostly I want to make a mess and grab some Vicodin or OxyContin. I find a couple of jars of vitamin V on a top shelf in the back. I grab both. Stuff one in my pocket and tear open the other, scattering pills on the floor. On my way back over the counter, I leave Matthew’s gun. I drop his wallet in the alley.