A Walk Among the Tombstones Page #7

TJ?

TJ? What are you doing here?

Handing you this.

I told you to give it to Peter.

Not to come down here.

Matthew, that dude's all spun.

There's no way I was

gonna give it to him.

Later.

How much have we got?

Hang on a sec.

Keep it separate.

Holy f***ing sh*t.

This is TJ, my associate.

Paper's good. Ink looks right.

Nice used bills. This looks real enough.

We'll repackage them slightly.

We'll use the back wrappers,

but we'll take six bills out of each stack

and replace them with real ones.

Three on top, three on the bottom.

What's this make the count?

I got at least 210 in fake stuff

and Kenny brought another six.

Puts us right about eight.

That's good enough.

We have to meet face-to-face.

You get an opportunity

to inspect the money,

and we get to see that

the girl is all right.

And then you people come down on us.

You'll have the girl covered.

A knife at her throat.

If you want.

The edge of the blade tucked

up under her windpipe.

Whatever.

Yeah, I don't like this

face-to-face business.

We'll set up 50 yards apart.

You'll be in place first.

You'll see us arrive.

You show the girl, then I

come over with the money.

- By yourself?

- Yes.

Unarmed?

I'll have a suitcase full

of money in each hand,

a gun won't do me much good.

Keep talking.

You check the money.

When you're satisfied, you let the girl go.

Your man takes off with the cash.

You and I wait until you feel good.

Then we go home.

You could grab me.

You'll have that knife you keep

talking about, a gun, too, if you want one.

You'll see my face.

Wear a mask.

Cuts the visibility.

I already know what you look like, Ray.

What do you know?

I know you're a genetic f***-up,

who, if I'd met on the

street 10 years ago,

I'd have thrown you out

of a f***ing window.

Careful.

It's been a busy year for

you and your boyfriend.

You know, I could cut

the little c*nt's throat

and send her back to

Daddy a chunk at a time.

- Then you're dead.

- Oh?

Yeah, "oh."

You want your money or you

wanna be looking behind you

for the rest of your

worthless f***ing life?

Do this deal and I'll sit

on what I know about you.

You can take your little

Bert and Ernie act

to the other side of the country.

There's plenty of dope dealers in LA.

Where do you want to do it?

How about Green-Wood Cemetery?

Yeah, I think I know that place.

You should. That's where

you dumped Leila Andresen.

There are two entrances

on the Fifth Avenue side.

Take the 35th Street entrance

and head south about 20

yards inside the fence.

We'll enter at 25th and

approach you from there.

Say, 10:
30.

That gives you over an hour

to get there and set up.

Leila. Was that her name?

I would think you'd remember.

No, once they're in the van,

they're just body parts.

10:
30.

Oh, God, she was so scared...

Have you got a rifle?

Dani.

Is he a good shot?

During the day maybe.

Dani's a little nearsighted.

Peter was in the army.

Yeah, it was a while ago. Yeah.

Give him the rifle. Keep Dani and

the other one here with your wife.

I don't want to spook our friends.

Who would like to read the 12 steps?

Hi, I'm Sarah and I'm an alcoholic.

Hi, Sarah.

Step one.

We admitted we were

powerless over alcohol.

That our lives had become unmanageable.

What's the drill?

Stay in the car. Lock the doors.

Call 911 if anything goes down.

This is such bull...

Step two.

Came to believe that a power greater

than ourselves could

restore us to sanity.

That's far enough.

Come out where I can see you.

Show the girl.

I have a knife to her throat.

If my hand slips...

Let's hope it doesn't.

Is that our money?

Step three.

Made a decision to turn

our will and our lives

over to the care of God

as we understood him.

Now, let her go.

We ought to just shoot this cocksucker.

Don't change the rules now, Ray.

Let her go.

Sweet Lucy.

I hate to see you go.

Lucia, walk toward me.

Your father's just over here, Lucia.

Step four.

What's the matter with her hand?

Nothing. She's right as rain.

Made a searching and fearless

moral inventory of ourselves.

It was before you set the terms.

Go to your dad.

Go to your dad, baby. Atta girl.

Go on, get out of here.

I liked her. She was nice.

What the f*** is the

matter with you, man?

Why aren't you afraid?

I don't know.

Maybe I don't care if

you shoot me or not.

Or maybe there's a high-powered

rifle pointed at your head.

I could still kill you.

I'm right here.

In some ways, you'll be

doing me a big favor.

No. I think I'll just

fade into the shadows.

They f***ed us.

Shoot him.

Step five.

Admitted to God, to ourselves,

and to another human being

the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step six.

We are entirely ready to have God

remove all these defects of character.

Peter!

Step seven.

Humbly ask Him to remove

our shortcomings.

Step eight.

Made a list of all persons we had harmed

and became willing to

make amends to them all.

Don't move.

Kenny, I got to tell you...

It's okay.

You gotta know.

I loved...

Step nine.

Make direct amends to such people.

I loved...

I love you, too, man.

...except when to do so

would injure them or others.

Which way did they go?

He shot me!

TJ?

Oh, Christ.

He must have panicked when

he heard the shooting.

He can't be out in this rain.

We have to find him.

Well, he's got a phone, right?

Help!

Albert!

Sh*t!

Hello?

Oh, f***.

TJ.

Scudder. I got in the van.

They don't know I'm here.

Listen to me. Get out of there. Now.

It's cool. I'm in the garage

and they in the house.

Which is where?

Sit down.

I've never been shot before.

There's a first aid kit in the bathroom.

Hey, I don't see any numbers.

Try next door.

697. Wait, no. 692.

Okay, now walk away from the house.

Go to the corner.

- Is any of it real?

- Some.

51 st Street and Church Avenue.

Borough Park.

That's not even a mile from here.

Stay put. You hear me?

Pigs.

Hey, who's...

Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t.

You can have your money back.

It's downstairs.

Don't even think about it.

You're the husband.

So?

I was just wondering.

Were you just going to

leave Ray down there?

No.

I was going to get something to eat.

I was going to clean up before I left.

What were you going to do with him?

Chop him up.

Wrap him. There are plenty

of bags in the cupboard.

And then what? Deliver him to

somebody in the trunk of a car?

No.

That was just for you.

You have a choice to make, Kenny.

There's a lot of hard evidence

against this a**hole.

He's got his dead buddy in the basement.

Not to mention the van in the garage.

It's gonna be full of fibers and blood

traces and God knows what else.

He ought to be looking

at three life sentences,

plus an extra 20 or 30 years

tacked on as a bonus.

What about the other choice?

You with me?

No.

I could turn him in and sleep just fine.

I don't think I could.

That's why it has to be your decision.

Well, I guess I just made it.

Take it easy, Matt.

Come on.

You know I could help

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