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“Okay, fine, I won’t go to the movies!”
But Todd shakes his head. “You’re still not getting it. Had an old guy who spent his entire life running drugs for some kingpin. Grew a conscience just in time for retirement and flipped for us. We had everything we needed to bust the joint. Billions of dollars in drugs we could have kept off the streets, you get it?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I get it!”
“But this guy. Oh, he just had to go take a vacation. Needed to live it up in Daiquiri Town. Do you know what happened to him? Guess what happened.”
I blink. “Oh, you’re serious. Um, another bullet to the skull?”
Todd shakes his head.
“More creative this time? Interesting. Poison in the pina colada?”
“Heart attack on a jet ski. Sunk into the ocean like a boulder and drowned.”
My mouth drops open. “What? What does that have to do with witness protection?”
Todd gets closer to me and pokes me on the shoulder, hard. “If he’d been in his home, we could’ve gotten him to a secure medical facility. Or hell, maybe without the alcohol and excitement of the beach, he wouldn’t have even had one. My point, Clarissa, is that you cannot live a normal life right now.”
I shrug my shoulders and sigh. “Todd, I’m not. I’m literally not living a normal life right now. I’m sorry you lost all those… clients?”
“Oh, no. They weren’t mine. Those are case studies they give us in orientation. But the guys who were assigned to those cases are real stand-up agents. I have a lot of respect for them.”
“Well, whatever the case is. All I want is to get some exercise and have a nice meal now and then.” Now it’s my turn to poke Todd. “And I don’t think that’s too much to ask!”
Todd shakes his head and crosses his arms. “I’ll get you a treadmill. And learn to cook for yourself. You know, you can learn anything on the internet these days? Dozens of videos, and a girl should know how to cook anyway. Look into it.”
“I know how to… look, do you really think I’m in that much danger? Even after everything? I moved here. I changed my name. They don’t know where I went, right? Is it really that dangerous for me to just jog down the street?”
“Did you talk to anyone while you were out?” Todd asks.
I gulp. My eyes shift to the floor.
“Ah, cheese and rice, kid!” Todd puts his hands on his hips and walks away from me.
“It was my neighbor! It was just my neighbor… and my neighbor’s friend… and the waitress at the diner.”
“Did you make friends with all the cooks, too? How about the local football team? Any low-lifes or gangsters hanging around we can meet?”
I throw my hands up again, this time in surrender. “Okay, I get it.”
“Do you? Because for someone who obviously cares about her health, you sure have no problem playing the hitman lottery out there! You think it would be tough for someone, anyone, to snatch a pretty girl like you?”
“Yes! I get it!” I collapse into my dining room chair, exhausted physically and mentally. “I’m sorry. I’ll take that treadmill, I guess.” I idly wonder why they moved me to such a beautiful town if they expected me to be stuck inside for who knows how long.
“Alright. Good. I’m gonna be dropping by now and then,unannounced, to make sure you’re doing your due diligence. I can’t keep someone alive if they’re running around town with a target on their back.” Todd takes his aviators back out of his pocket and puts them on. I can't help but feel sometimes like he’s just cosplaying as some big important government agent.
I nod, feeling relief when I follow him out of the door and onto the porch. But then he stops and turns to get one more lecture in. Finger wagging and all.
“Oh, and kid? Cut back on the tuna. You know that stuff is just loaded with mercury.”
My eyes go wide at the insinuation that he could smell the tuna on my breath.Could Emile? It doesn’t matter. Forget it.
Todd leaves, and I go back inside and lock the door behind him. I rest my head against the heavy wood and sigh.
He’s gotten into my head. Now I’m noticing all the different ways that someone could kill me, even tucked away in this house. The peephole in the door has become a liability. The windows are a portal to assassination town. Even the bookcase, I realize, is top-heavy enough to fall over and crush me if I’m not careful.
Great. I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then, I make a list of ways to safety-proof this place like I’m bringing home a fresh baby.
