Chapter Twenty-Four

Calico Back home, a few long hours later, I stood in the middle of Alex's living room. I had one hand in my pocket, fingers entwined around the black grip of a pistol, loaded and ready to fire if needed. My other hand fingered a necklace hanging about my slim throat, a lightening strike made from real diamonds. Shortly Alex returned from the kitchen, where he'd poured a glass of brandy for himself. In one hand was the glass. In the other was thirty grand for my troubles, all in one-hundred dollar bills. He looked up from it to meet eyes with me, the assassin. "Nice necklace Calico.did you steal it?" Of course there was sarcasm in his voice. "Money-now." The incomplete sentence was all the response he was awarded. Alex began to surrender the reward, but hesitated, then withdrew his hand. "Calico, I need you to do something for me." "What?" I spat, with little feeling, at the remark, and moved my left hand from the lightening bolt and reached out to welcome my paycheck. Alex moved from the spot where his feet were previously planted and went closer to me. Slowly he circle d me when again words were spoken by his lips. "Well, David, I'm afraid, might fuck this up more than necessary, and if he does I want to be prepared for it. You might mess up even worse.but you're all I've got right now." As the man circled her, I, the woman with a cat's name, tightened my grip steadily on the pistol. What was he doing circling me? Alex was up to something and I could feel it in my gut. Within a second, I whipped out the gun as a precaution and was ready to fire, as always. Alex watched the sudden movement of me, his.employee.and stopped walking for the time. "That was unexpected." His voice stayed cool, but perspiration mantled his furrowed brow as a slight frown curled on Alex's face. "What's with the circles?" I hissed. "And if you want me to do something, you do not imply that I might make things worse. That just makes me more likely to disincline. In other words, it really does nothing for your case." "I'll remember that." Alex glanced down the barrel of her readied pistol before adding "Cali, lose the gun." I cleared her throat, but made no movement. "Calico, now." The man insisted, and I obliged.if only because I needed the money he offered. "Now, to continue.Calico, can you be here when my man comes to 'accidentally' kill Nicole?" "Why?" "If this backfires, I want an employee who can take care of a situation in the area. All right?" I thought out the offer for a minute before the response came. "What makes you think David will kill your wife for you? He, Anya, and she left together. For all we know, he could've been serious about marrying her. I can't determine that for you since I hardly know the man, but it is possible. What I'm getting at is this: How do you know this is all gonna work?" There was a silence while Alex contemplated his answer."I know." A deep sigh relieved me. I muttered. "Holy shit." "What?" "Shit! You expect me to go with 'I know'? I need more than that Alexander! Give me what I want or I'm not doing this, I don't care how much you offer." I began to turn and walk toward the door when a tightened hand on my arm held me back. "Listen to me Calico. I am not the most intelligent person in the world. I don't know everything about David. But I do know this." When I fought against his force, he pulled back. "Listen to me a moment. Just listen! I know he has never loved a woman he's slept with and stolen from. And I know he's short on money.Think about it; add two and two together, Calico, wake up! He has no other choice. He has to do this for me or, sooner or later he's gonna find himself broke, without a home, and on the streets." He stared into my eyes, behind the darkly tinted shades. "He will do this. Maybe not 'cause he wants to, but because he has to." Glumly and fatigue-ridden, I thought. "Why don't you just let me do the job, and leave him out of it?" "He's not better than you, that's not why you're my second choice.But he's the one I want caught and charged for Nicole's murder." He stopped there for a time. Still trying to keep eye contact through my black glasses, he then randomly off topic thought of something. "What color are your eyes?" "What?" The question was so arbitrarily asked that I hardly knew what to say. "Just asking." "Is there anything else; can I leave now?" "Will you be here for the murder? A nod was all the reply needed. Alex's hand released my arm, allowing me to go. I used that advantage to clench my hand into a fist and hook it with Alex's jaw, snapping his head to one side. "What was that for?" He inquired, moving a hand to his lower jaw in pain. A simple response was shot at him with a bitter tongue. "That was for keeping me and for the change in plans." Just then, David walked in, having left his and Anya's new possessions at the hotel and caught a plane back to momentarily confront Alex. He stopped at the scene in front of his eyes. "Calico, what the hell are you doin' here now.and, not that I give a shit, but what did you do to Alex?" His question, of course, was ignored. And I grabbed the money still clenched in Alex's hand and went past him on my way out. "Okay.Nice seein' you too." He remarked with sarcasm, not knowing what else to do with his time. With a snort of laughter, I exited the apartment suite.

* * *

David I kept my eyes on Alex, who was still sore from the blow Calico had delivered. "Hey, how are things in the city? I see things haven't changed much." I gloated, moving in and approaching the man. "If it were me, I would've done the same thing." I admitted. "As Calico, you mean?" He asked, already knowing the answer. "Of course.'Cept I woulda aimed a little lower." I trailed off, looking slowly from Alex's wild eyes to his feet. Laughing at his own misery for the moment, Alex chuckled. "Yeah, I believe you would have." Then he quickly recovered. "What are you doing here?" "I just realized you never really told me how you want your lovely wife to die."