Read Online Criminal Enterprise by Owen Laukkanen - Free Book Online Page B

looked at her. “We just sold a kilo of coke to that guy. We just pulled off a drug deal. We’re drug dealers. Are
you
cool?”
    Tricia shrugged. “Yeah, I’m cool. We’re fifteen grand up.”
    “And that’s that.”
    She looked at him. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s that. We walked in there with product. We walked out with cash. It’s not such a big deal, boss. Roll with it.”
    He laughed and shook his head. “Roll with it,” he said. He counted out her take, seventy-five hundred, and handed it over. “To be honest, I thought we’d make more.”
    “Whatever,” she said, slipping the money into her purse. “It’s seven grand more than I had this morning. So what now?”
    What now?
Tomlin thought. “Now you go inside,” he told her. “I go home to my wife and forget this ever happened.”
    Tricia shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
    “What?”
    “This is exciting,” she said, a smile in her eyes. “Let’s keep going. What other secrets are you hiding?”
    He couldn’t hold her gaze. “I don’t have any secrets.”
    “The drugs,” she said. “Where’d you get them? And don’t try and bullshit me with that dumpster crap, because you know I’m not buying.”
    “It’s found money,” said Tomlin. “Who cares where it comes from?”
    “It matters because I want to know what you’re into,” she said. “I saw the cash in that drawer of yours. You can’t tell me that’s all from doing taxes for grandmothers.”
    Tomlin started the car. “Nothing’s going on. End of story.”
    Tricia leaned forward. The top of her blouse fell open, and if he’d wanted, he could have had a good look at the tops of her breasts. He had a funny feeling she knew just what she was doing. “All right.” She smiled at him. “Let’s play a game.”
    “I’d rather not,” Tomlin said.
    “Too bad,” she said. “Let’s say, hypothetically, that a man asked his secretary to help him unload some cocaine. A lot of cocaine. How about that?”
    Tomlin stared at her. “What the hell are you getting at?”
    Tricia held up her hand. “Let’s say the secretary told the hypothetical man’s wife all about what had happened. With the cocaine and everything. Maybe she even hinted about an affair. What do you think would happen?”
    “Don’t go there,” Tomlin told her. “Don’t even joke.”
    “Who’s joking, boss?”
    Tomlin pulled the pistol from his waistband. Held it to her face. “Don’t talk to my family,” he said. “Don’t go there. Understand?”
    Tricia didn’t blink. “Just tell me what you’re into. You want to do more drug deals with Javier?” She studied his face. “Or maybe you want to make even more money. I can help you.”
    Tomlin stared at her until Tricia pushed the pistol away. “Tell me where the drugs came from,” she said. “Then we can talk about what we’re going to do next.”
    Tomlin looked from her eyes to the pistol. Then he lowered the gun. “I robbed a guy,” he said finally. “I needed a weapon, and he had one. The drugs were just extra.”
    “You couldn’t just buy a gun?”
    “Not for my purposes.”
    “Your purposes.” She kept her eyes on him. “What do you mean?”
    He wanted to impress her, he realized. He wanted her to see that he was more than some shitty accountant in some shitty office, that he was someone with power. He wanted to scare her a little. “Bank robbery,” he said. “I needed a gun to rob banks.”
    Tricia sat straight up in her seat. “I fucking
knew
it,” she said. “I fucking
knew
you had secrets. How many?”
    “Banks?” Tomlin shrugged. “Five or six.”
    “Alone?”
    He nodded. “I don’t know many bank robbers.”
    “And you make decent money.”
    “The money’s okay,” he said. Then he caught himself. “It’s pretty damn good, actually. Pays your wages, doesn’t it?”
    She smiled, wide. “Badass.”
    For a moment, neither of them said anything. Tomlin stared out at her ugly apartment complex, the