Page 60 of Ransom
I leaned forward.
"You don't look like a man who's celebrating, Joe."
"I walk out that gate tomorrow and I'm dead by noon." His eyes came to me. "Rex has eyes on the lot. Greyhound. Anywhere I'd go after that. This closet is the last safe room I'm ever going to sit in. So you tell me, Lanza. Why am I going to waste it running my mouth for free?"
"Because you came in here knowing who'd be on the other side of the table."
"Maybe."
"And because you've already decided what you want."
He let his mouth curl. "Maybe that, too."
"Say it, then."
He set his cuffed hands flat on the table.
"I want a place at Pae Saco."
The air in the closet changed.
Winston didn't move. The overhead bulb buzzed. I held Joe's eyes and let him sit in it.
"You want what?"
"A bunk. A job. Whatever Rafe gives the men, he takes in. I'll muck stalls. I'll dig holes. I don't give a shit. I want a place where Rex can't reach me, and there's exactly one of those in this state. Seems fair I get the same deal you got. You're nobody special, Lanza. You just ran faster."
"You think I'd bring you onto my ranch?"
"It ain't your ranch," Joe sneered. "No matter how much blood you spill for it, it'll never be yours."
"You're doing a piss-poor job of convincing me to intervene on your behalf," I said, crossing my arms.
"I can say whatever the fuck I want and you'll still get me whatever I ask for. You need what's in my head. I think you want Rex badly enough to put up with me to get it. And I think Rafe Lujan takes in a lot worse than me and calls it mercy."
He wasn't wrong.
"Talk," I said. "And we'll see. I need something to give him before he'll care either way."
"You want Rex. You can't have just Rex. Rex has a man. Otis Peabody."
"I've met Otis."
"Then you know."
"Tell me anyway."
"Otis is Rex's cleanup. Every ugly job, every body, every man who walked off the property and didn't come back. Rex gives the order; Otis does the work." Joe's eyes came to me. "You've got the same job on your ranch, Lanza. Different collar, same breed. Don't look at me like that. You know I'm right."
I schooled my expression.
"You take Rex without taking Otis, Otis takes the operation over by suppertime and comes for whoever put Rex down by the end of the week."
"So you kill them both."
"Same night. Same hour, if you can swing it. Otherwise, you're dead inside a week."
I waited.
