Chapter 3

“Well…” Carl hesitated and I knew he wanted me up in his apartment where he could consoleme.

“Please,” I said plaintively—and he bought it.

This wasn’t the best part of town. Not a slum yet, but slowly turning into one, with some nicer streets interlaced with others housing abandoned buildings, sleazy bars, and liquor stores. Exactly the sort of area a rat would choose to live.

As we walked, I talked, venting about how Jason should have received a medal for offing Mick, not life in prison. “I finally saw the light,” I told Carl. “Thanks to you. But it still hurts. How could I have been so blind?”

Carl was buying it, hook, line, and sinker. “Sometimes it takes a friend to open someone’s eyes to what they don’t want to see,” he replied, his voice oily with pretended concern. “Thank your lucky stars you’re free of him.”

I frowned, staring sadly down the dark street. “I…I wish…Poor Jason.”

“I didn’t expect he’d go off like that,” Carl said told me, easing his arm around my waist.