Page 106 of Kill For Me Kill For You
Billy talked a little, pointing out some local landmarks, or good sandwich joints across the river in New Jersey. All the while, Dolly begged Jolene not to take her man, and then made her living nine to five. Occasionally, Billy would sing along, low, just under his breath. He was out of tune, but that didn’t matter. His enjoyment was enough. Amanda found herself relaxing into the leather seat, and for a time she forgot the police were looking for her, that she had been manipulated into almost killing a man, that she was getting sued, that her husband and little girl were gone and that the man responsible would never pay for what he’d done.
It was a short period of respite. Thirty minutes, by the time they got back into midtown. And, during that time, she was content to be in a car with a good man who was willing to help her. She was not alone with her troubles, and there was still music and life, despite everything.
‘Thank you,’ said Amanda.
‘For what?’ asked Billy.
‘For being a good man.’
‘I’m not that good. I’m cooking meatloaf for dinner tonight. I think it would be wise to reserve your judgment until then – you might want to report me to the cops after that one.’
‘How bad could it be?’
‘It’s a crime against meatloaf. But I try.’
Amanda’s phone rang. The display lit up a phone number she didn’t recognize. For a second, she thought Farrow might be trying her on a number she didn’t know. Just in case she was avoiding his calls. But she couldn’t take the chance of missing a call from Scott’s friend. She picked up.
‘Is this Amanda White?’ said a voice. It was male. And it wasn’t Farrow.
‘Yes, this is Amanda. Is this Jack?’
‘I don’t talk on cell phones, lady. Get to a payphone. Call me on this number in the next ten minutes.’
Billy had heard the conversation, and he was already pulling over into a parking space. They got out of the car, looked up and down the street.
‘There,’ said Billy, pointing to a bank of payphones on the corner. They were a lot scarcer these days. Amanda made for the payphone, and Billy started fishing in his pockets for change. He brought a newspaper with him from the back seat in case she needed to take notes. He set a small stack of quarters on top of the phone hood. Amanda inserted the change, dialed the number.
‘Hello, Jack?’
‘Look, lady, I don’t know who you are so I’d prefer if you didn’t use names, okay?’
‘All right, sure. I’m sorry.’
‘Look, if the cops ever ask you about me, don’t tell them anything. I was helping out my buddy’s wife when she came to me, looking for IDs. She had been through hell. So had her husband. Anything I could do to give her a fresh start? Well, I was gonna damn well do that. I didn’t charge her any money – it was a favor for a friend. So there’s no need to mention my name if any of this gets to the cops, agreed?’
‘Agreed.’
‘I’m making this call for the same friend. I’m doing this for him, not you. Look, I made some calls, got a list of IDs to give you. I’m gonna read them out. The names and dates of birth. Got a pen?’
Amanda made a sign to Billy that she needed to write something down. Billy reached into his shirt pocket for a pen and gave it to Amanda along with the folded newspaper.
She listened carefully, wrote down the names and dates of birth, checking the spelling of a few of the names. She wrote down ten.
‘That’s all I got. Those are the most recent. Don’t call this number again.’
The line went dead.
‘What do we do now?’ asked Amanda.
‘I’ll get this to the private investigator. He has access to credit-check facilities, databases and all kinds of online records I don’t know about.’
‘Is that legal?’
‘That’s a question I’ve never asked, and I don’t want to know the answer to. It’s hard enough to sleep as it is.’
‘That’s fair,’ said Amanda.
Billy made the call from his cell, read out the names and dates of birth and spelled out some of the surnames.
