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"I think I'll take that beer," he said, walking to the refrigerator. "Then I'll just step out here on the balcony and have a cigarette."
He slid open the glass doors that gave onto a small balcony with a barbecue grill on it, then closed them behind him and looked out over a lighted, weed-filled lake that was dented with rain.
She sat on the couch with her hands in her lap and her head bowed.
"Why didn't you think I'd come?" I asked again.
"Because you know I'm a snitch."
"What else?"
Her eyes were averted. She looked small sitting on the couch. I sat down next to her. She turned her face up, then looked away again.
"What else, Kim?"
"Because you know I betrayed you. I told Lieutenant Baxter about the buy down at Cocodrie. That's why Jimmie Lee Boggs came after me. He said he figured it was either you or me who dropped the dime on him. He beat me all over the apartment. Then he twisted a towel in my mouth and filled up the sink and held my head under the water until I almost passed out. He kept saying, 'Gargle time, beautiful. Rinse out your mouth, now. Think about the canary I'm gonna stuff in it.' He would have killed me if the landlady hadn't started banging on the door for the rent."
She glanced sideways at my face.
"Why were you snitching for Nate Baxter?"
"My brother's a groom at the Fairgrounds. Lieutenant Baxter has him in jail for possession. He says he can upgrade the charge to conspiracy to distribute, and Albert—that's my brother—will get fifteen years in Angola."
"Baxter put you inside Tony's crowd?"
"I already had the job at the club. All I had to do was become available."
"Available?" I said.
"I said to Baxter, 'What do you mean, exactly?' He says, 'You've got a piece of equipment that'll get you anything you want.' He looks across his desk, then he goes. "That's big-picture clear, isn't it? Talk it over with your brother. Let me know what you decide. It doesn't matter to me, hon, one way or another.'"
"You should have reported him, Kim."
"Great. I work in a skin joint run by the Mafia, my brother's a druggie in custody, and I'm going to report a Vice lieutenant? Look, it doesn't matter what
he said. I did what he wanted. I told him everything Tony was doing, I told him about you, I'm to blame for what happened down at Cocodrie."
"You tried to warn me. Give yourself a little credit."
"Are you going to tell Tony?"
"No. But as of tonight you're out of the life, Kim. You don't go back to that job, or back to your apartment, or out to Tony's. I also advise you to stay away from Nate Baxter. He's a liar and a coward and a bully. Also, he doesn't have the power to upgrade your brother's charges. That comes out of the prosecutor's office. Believe me, your brother will be better off taking his own chances."
She took a Kleenex out of her robe and touched one nostril with it. Her face had no makeup on it, and it looked shiny and white where it wasn't bruised.
"I don't know what to do," she said. "I only have a little money. I have to have a job."
"Somebody's going to take care of you. I guarantee it."
She put the Kleenex away and played with her fingernails.
"I have to ask you something," she said.
"Yes?"
"It's not a very appropriate question, I guess, but there's no chance, is there? Not now."
"Of what?" I said, although I already knew the answer.
