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“We need to talk,” Erik Mason said.
“Wait—I thought that was my line the last time we were together,” Cantor said to him.
“So now it’s my turn.”
“And what exactly do we need to talkabout?”
“About how you’ve got me all wrong,” Mason said. “Me and my boss.”
“I assume you mean the boss who’s still alive.”
“When you hear what I have to say, you’ll understand why I’m calling you,” Mason said. “You’ll also know most of what you want to know.”
“I’m listening right now.”
“You know where Harris’ steak house is, right?” Mason said.
Where Jenny had walked out on him that night.
“I grew up not far from there. Russian Hill.”
“So you know there’s a lot across the street. I’ll meet you there at eleven o’clock. I’ll be driving Mr. Barr around before that. He’s got a couple of charity events he needs to attend.”
“Charity,” Cantor said, “always begins at the arms dealer’s home.”
Mason let that one go.
“Why not just meet at a bar someplace?” Cantor said.
“Because I don’t want to be seen with you, and you don’t want to be seen with me,” Mason said. “We’ll do this face-to-face, out in the open. Straight up.”
“As a practical matter, why should I trust you?”
“Because it’s like I told you that day outside the gym,” Mason said. “I didn’t kill anybody. And I’m not interested in busting your balls the way you’ve been busting mine by tailing me.”
“To be determined,” Cantor said. “On the ball-busting part, I mean.”
“Listen,” Mason said. “I’m doing us both a solid here. You find out things you want to know. And I get you off my ass in the process.”
“Not making any promises on the last part until I hear what you have to say.”
“And don’t wear a wire. I’ve got a gadget that’ll tell me if you are,” Mason said. “If you do wear one, all bets are off. All’s you’ll have done is waste my time, and yours.”
“Got it.”
“We’re doing this cop to cop,” Mason said.
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Come alone. And remember, no wire.”
“No wire,” Cantor said.
He didn’t tell him what else he planned to wear.
Everything except a badge, of course.
One Hundred Nine
