“An El Camino should be easy enough to find,” Joey said as he and Glenn headed back to Glenn’s car.
“Have you seen any while you’ve been on patrol?”
“Well… no.”
“Have Chief Leades ask everyone else, but I’m betting they give the same answer. If the guy we’re looking for is a pro he’s either found a good place to stash it or this was a one-time use while he was checking out sites for a hit.”
“Harv. He’d be the one to ask.”
“True.” Glenn waited for Joey to get in then took off, heading for Harv’s house.
“You really think the guy’s a hitman?”
“Yeah, Joey, I do. At least from the evidence on the roof, plus the fact Nate’s come up missing at the same time.”
“So Nate’s probably dead by now,” Joey said quietly.
“That all depends. If it were me and Nate didn’t see my face I’d just have him hidden somewhere until after the job was done. We get paid for taking out the target without making a spectacle of ourselves in the process. This guy’s already fucked up royally, if what we’re thinking is what’s really going on.”
“It wouldn’t be a fuck up if you hadn’t figured things out.”
“Yeah it is because there’s no reason for Nate to have taken off. Just the fact he’s missing has everyone on high alert which will make this guy’s job twice as hard. He had to be new or stupid, or both.”
“And looking for you.”
Glenn turned to glance at Joey, seeing the worry on his face, and squeezed his thigh. “We don’t know that. People hire hitmen to take out someone for a lot of reasons, a business rival, a lover who spurned them, inheritances. You name it someone will think eliminating such and such a person will solve all their problems. A paid pro doesn’t ask why, they just do it, take the money and move on.”
“That’s how you lived your life, how you were living it when we met.” Joey knew but he still couldn’t help asking, or more just stating the fact.
Glenn pulled the car off to the side of the road before answering. He gripped Joey’s shoulders so the young man would listen. “You know it was. Unlike now I never questioned why my target needed to die. If the money was right and it was a safe bet I’d succeed without getting caught I did it.” He loosened his grip and dropped his hands. “I wasn’t a… a good person back then and I’ve told you that. Yeah, there were times when I thought about leaving the business but I never went beyond thinking until I met you.”
Again that was something Glenn had said before, but Joey still couldn’t help the leap his heart took knowing that in some small way he’d been responsible for helping Glenn become the man he was now. “You were a good person. You just let it get buried somewhere inside you.”
“Joey…” Glenn cautioned.
“I can’t help it, it’s what I believe and you’re never going to change my mind.”
With a shake of his head, Glenn leaned in to kiss him. “I know, you poor deluded young man.”
“I am not!”
“Are too but I’m not arguing the point now.” Glenn started the car again. “Let’s see if Harv’s seen the El Camino.”
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