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“What’s your interest here, brother?”
“It’s personal.” P.J. answered honestly.
“Yeah, well we all know how that can go.”
“I’m right there with you, man.” P.J. told him. “Can’t say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind that she might be working for the feds.”
“Always good to keep it real.” Jules said. Then he added after a slight pause, “Our ties in the bureau right now are tighter than a cat’s ass under water. If they sent someone out, I’m pretty confident we’d know about it.”
“Good to hear.” P.J. felt a small wave of relief wash over him. “My gut instinct is that she’s in trouble. I want to help her out if I can.”
“What makes you think she’s in trouble?”
“She blew into town from nowhere, man. Then she tried to buy a gun from me with false credentials.”
“What was the name on the license?” Jules asked as he took another hit off the joint that he was smoking. P.J. could hear the whir of the club’s computer system start up in the background.
“She took it back before I got a chance to see it.” P.J. was starting to feel like an idiot. He really had put in the call with nothing to go on.
“You’re getting’ rusty on me, brother.” Jules frowned over the phone lines. “See if you can get a look at that license. In the meantime, start writing down everything you know about her.”
“Like I said, I think anything I got on her is bullshit. Look man, sorry to waste your time. I realize now I got crap to go on and crap to give you.” P.J. was embarrassed. He should have known better.
“Yeah, I heard you, brother.” Jules affection for P.J. was evident in his voice. “I don’t think you heard me, though. I said write down the stuff you know about her. Observable shit like body piercings, tattoos, scars, or any defining marks. She got any friends in town? She go away weekends? Entertain any company? You’re right, brother, shit like licenses, plate numbers, even social security cards can be bought for a price. So, you got to go with what’s observable. Find that chink in her armor. Put down any small detail you can think of, and that’ll give me a start. Does this Juliet Jones chick got any ink?”
“Not that I can see.” P.J. said.
“So, you ain’t boning her yet?” Jules gave out a low whistle. “I’m impressed.”
“Yeah well…it’s not like that.” P. J. told him.
“Well, then what’s it like?” Jules persisted.
“She’s got this paranoia thing going on. I’d like to get to the bottom of it.”
“Yeah, well you know what they say about that.” Jules scoffed. “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you. No judgement here, and you know I got your back. The only time I’m gonna come down on this hard is if you think she’s a threat. I’ll put out some feelers.”
“I’d bet my left nut that the only threat she poses is to herself. But it wouldn’t hurt to check.” P.J. told him.
“Well, like I said, I’ll make inquiries.” Jules replied. “At least knowing that she isn’t working with the feds will be a start.”
“Thanks, Jules.”
“You wanna thank me?” Jules inhaled deeply. “Do us all a solid and call your damn mother. She’s threatening Reno if she doesn’t hear from you soon, it’s gonna be road trip time. And we are all too busy for that kind of shit right now.”
“What’s going on?”
“Just fucking Colombians pulling their bullshit again. Nino is up to something; we just don’t have a handle on it yet. Same old, damn same old. By the way, I might send a couple of cases of weapons for you to hold on to.” Then Jules added with meaning. “I’m gonna let Claire know that you’ll be coming home soon.”
“Tell Jet I’ll make room in storage.” P.J. said. “And yeah, tell mom I’ll make the trip.”
“Okay, good. In the meantime, I’ll find out what I can about your woman.”
“She ain’t my woman.” P.J. said. But by that time, Jules had already hung up the phone.
“I can’t believe how quickly the weather has turned in just a couple of hours.” Layla exclaimed as she stood next to Juliet. They had come out of the movie theater to find that a threatening storm had begun to intensify. Now, as they looked out from the wall of windows just above the exit door, the two friends discussed their options.
“I wonder if we should just ditch the cars and call Reggie to come pick us up?” Layla frowned.
