by Maggie Thom
****
Lund picked up his phone and dialed a number he knew well. "I need you to follow her. Keep me informed of who she talks to. Where she goes. What she does." He almost said what she finds.
"All right. Fifty thousand up front."
"That's pretty steep."
"Yeah and you wouldn't be coming to me if you weren't desperate." Lund's caller laughed. "Is she a looker?"
"Touch her and you'll answer to me." He shuddered as he thought about Payme's grimy appearance - stringy, matted brown hair, grease stained clothes, runners that looked more like sandals now. At least that was how he looked the last time he'd seen him and kept his butt out of jail.
"Good one. You might be a big shot in your world. But you're nothing in mine. Remember that. The price goes up if I have to dispose of anyone." Payme, as he had been dubbed due to the graffiti he always wrote by his victims, 'pay me with your death', might have been a small, wiry man at 5'4" but also very deadly. Lund had hoped never to use Payme again, once had been more than enough. Unfortunately, fate had a different agenda and he needed someone who was loyal enough and could take her out, if the necessity came. He'd rather not get his hands dirty again, if he didn't have to.
"Hopefully we won't have to discuss that. Just keep me informed." He set down the receiver with a shaky hand, knowing that he was into something that may backfire on him. He was already going to hell for what he did. What he was. What he had done.
This, though, was something he'd thought would die with Donna. Only she'd taken that photo that had been taken of him a long time ago and hidden it. Actually she'd led him to believe she'd gotten rid of it but the photocopy that had arrived just that day, had been enough for him to know it still existed. He'd burned that little present in a pail with a liter of gas. It had been like Donna had reached out from her grave to let him know he wasn't off the hook. He'd pay for what he'd done to her.
It had been an invigorating game, letting Donna think she'd been in control. He could have taken her out at any time. He'd made so much money because of her. He'd been the one in control but she'd had no idea. She thought she'd been running him. He chuckled as he sat up straight in his chair and slowly climbed to his feet. It had been too easy. She'd been a scared rabbit, trying to act all tough. He was going to miss her hard smackin' demands. She'd fed him so much information about all those men in government. Her husband included. Really he was going to miss her. She'd given him enough to blackmail at least fifty more people. Ah? the sins of the rich and powerful.
He brushed his hand back over his hair as he made his way across the room to his scotch. As he reached for a glass, he froze.
What if someone else finds it?
Feeling light-headed for a minute, he rested his fingers on the table to steady himself. The picture should have been little more than an embarrassment. One that he could have created some elaborate story around. One that made him seem more like a victim. His in-laws didn't like him and would do anything to get rid of him. That photo might lead them to look at him more closely. Right now he was an annoyance they tolerated but it wouldn't take much to shift that image. If they knew the photo existed...to him the things he'd done to protect himself - the bribes, the blackmail, the man he'd murdered, the extortion - and the lifestyle he lived, were acceptable. People finding out about him and his real preferences in life, was not. He made a lot of money from just that kind of secret. If his were known?
He shuddered. He couldn't take the chance. His game of twenty-nine years was going to have to come to an end. He just had to make sure that not all parties were aware of what exactly he'd been playing at. It had been so damn invigorating and thrilling, especially knowing that there was a degrading picture of him that would have solved all of their problems, had they gotten their hands on it. One of them would surely like to actually put the bullet between his eyes that he'd been threatened with on many occasions.
He had started it and now must end it.
All because of a damned picture.
CHAPTER FIVE