Double Edge Bait

She again gave me that strangling look. “You are no different from other fences. In fact you’re much worse.” She gave herself away. She was not the simple woman that she wanted me to believe in her initial approach. She was a well-experienced woman of the city; a hustler in her own way. “I need five hundred. What do you suggest?” At first I thought she had other things of value that she could sell, but then I came to understand what she was trying to say. She was playing with me so I’d play along.

“I need three of that thing to give you 500,” I said. She laughed.

“Come on, don’t bullshit me. You know what I’m referring to.”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to.” Again, she laughed, this time louder than the first. I saw the sales girl stared at her un-approvingly.