Diamond White

by Stephanie Andrews

  We were in one room that was both kitchen and dining room, divided by a countertop that jutted out from the wall. The light was dim, which probably was a godsend, as the general vibe coming off the place was “Divorced, Living Alone.” Ruby set the window glass carefully on the kitchen counter, then motioned down the hall where light was spilling from underneath a closed door. We made our way silently down the hall, stopping to listen carefully at the door. I thought I heard voices, but realized it was the low blathering volume of a television. I eased the door open silently, and we tiptoed in, Ruby gripping her cane tightly.

  The room was empty. It was a sad little bedroom with a double bed, a dresser, and men’s clothes strewn all over the floor. It didn’t smell that great either. I checked the closet while Ruby looked under the bed. I examined the television and realized that both it and the beside lamp were connected to a timer at the outlet, one of those that you set to turn things on and off periodically when you are out of town.

  I gave Ruby a dirty look over my shoulder, but then realized I was wearing a ski mask, so she probably didn’t pick up on it. It would have been nice if she had made sure he was home before we dropped by. Oh well.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I suggested, and we headed out of the room and back down the hall toward the kitchen.

  When we passed the bathroom off to the right, I caught a movement in the shadow out of the corner of my eye. As I turned, a hard kick caught me in the side and knocked me against the wall and to the floor. I leapt back to my feet, but a dark figure had already burst past me and vaulted down the hall, pushing Ruby from behind. Ruby tripped over her cane, and the intruder tripped over Ruby, both of them tumbling into the kitchen.

  The assailant was dressed in black, and like us was wearing a ski mask. He was quicker to get on his feet than Ruby, but Ruby’s no fool. Instead of trying to get up, she swept her leg hard, catching the guy by both ankles and taking him back down to the floor.

  I used the opportunity to jump over Ruby and come down elbow first with a move I had learned not in the dojang, but from watching World Federation Wrestling with my dad. This guy was quick, however, and was halfway up when I made contact. My momentum took both of us rolling across the ratty carpet and into the kitchen counter. The assailant gave a high-pitched yelp as we hit.

  All three of us scrambled to our feet, facing off with hands raised. Finally, in the moment we all took a breath, I managed to get a good look at the masked intruder. Masked intruder! How stupid of me, this wasn’t Haines, of course. He wouldn’t be wearing a mask in his own house, and the person was about a foot shorter than Haines. Shorter than me. And the noise they made when we crashed into the counter. I looked them up and down as they stood facing Ruby and I, favoring one ankle but still holding a strong defensive fighting stance. The form fitting clothes, on closer look, gave away a slim but decidedly female form.

  “Where’s Haines?” she rasped, ragged of breath, at the same time I demanded, “Who are you?” though I had a pretty good idea of her identity.

  “Haines isn’t here,” said Ruby in disgust, leaning heavily on her cane.

  Just then, from behind us in the shadows of the living room, came the unmistakable sound of someone cocking a shotgun, followed by a deep growling voice.

  “Who says I’m not here?”

  Four

  Haines stepped into the room and flipped on the kitchen light. It glinted off the long barrel of the shotgun that he was pointing at me. The woman I assumed was Ellery Park (who else would be breaking into Haines’ house?) looked over her shoulder, saw Haines, and said, “Fudge.”

  Honestly, that’s what she said.

  “Against the wall,” Haines barked, “all three of you.”

  We did as he said, lined up against the exterior wall; I could feel the cool night breeze coming in through the missing window pane.

  “Jesus,” he snorted. “Amateurs. Women! Park, you are going to prison for this, and your friends, well, them I might just shoot. But you, I want you to suffer through this indignity.”

  Ruby and Park both took a step forward, but stopped when Haines raised his shotgun.

  “I’m not here,” said Park, pulling off her ski mask. Long, shiny straight black hair fell down her back, almost to her waist. Her dark eyes were flashing with anger, and her face was flushed red. “I’m at an ACLU meeting in Deerfield with two close friends who will vouch for my whereabouts.”

  “These your two close friends?” Haines sneered, motioning to Ruby and me. “What if I just shoot ‘em right here? Nobody’s going to blame me, shooting intruders in my own kitchen.”

  Ellery Park’s face faltered for a minute.

  “Actually,” she admitted. “I have no idea who they are.”

  “Bull,” said Haines in disbelief.

  Ruby took a step forward and poked Haines in the chest with her cane. It was an insane move and I gasped in fear as Haines batted it away, leveling the gun straight at her head. Undeterred, Ruby poked him again.

  “Listen, Captain Assgrab,” she growled. “I don’t know who your friends are, and how they got your case thrown out, but I don’t like the way you treat women.” She gestured to me with her free hand and added, “And my friend doesn’t like you either.”

  “Yeah,” I said. I had no idea what her play was, but I winced when she once again poked Haines in the chest with her raised cane. Thankfully, he didn’t shoot her. Instinctively, he reached out and grabbed hold of the cane in annoyance.

  This, apparently, had been Ruby’s play, because as soon as he had a firm grip on the cane she dropped to one knee, pulling the blade from its sheath. Spinning as she went down, she slammed the blade into his left leg just below the knee.

  The shotgun went off, but it fired into the ceiling because Park had stepped forward as Ruby spun and brought both hands up under the barrel to force the gun up and away. When Haines screamed in pain she grabbed the gun and twisted it out of his hands, turning it on him as he hit the ground, rolling in agony.

  Through the entire exchange, I hadn’t moved a muscle. I just supervised. That’s what leaders do, right? Oversee?

  Clearly Ruby’s sword cane was not a Hattori Hanzo sword, because it did not cut Haines’s leg off. Not even close. It was a pretty good gash, though. Come to think of it, where the heck did she buy a sword cane? Not something you generally see at Marshall Field’s. Maybe that’s why they went out of business. Not a big enough sword inventory.

  I was drifting. Time to focus. We had no idea if Haines had called for backup, so we had to move quickly. I opened my pack and took out the duct tape. Haines screamed and thrashed as I wrapped it around his bleeding calf.

  “Hold still, jerkwater,” I said as I taped his legs together while Ruby sat on him. I secured his wrists behind his back, and then wrapped some tape around his head several times, enough to cover his mouth and keep him quiet.

  “We gotta go,” Ruby warned.

  “Who are you?” asked Park, and I realized we had maybe just made her life worse rather than better. That can happen when you try to help. Still, gotta try, right?

  I didn’t answer, but instead opened a drawer under Haines’s counter and pulled out a serrated steak knife. I then opened the drawer next to it, which was the drawer in every house that holds elastic bands, twist ties, menus, etc. I found a red Sharpie. It would do perfectly.

  Park was starting to shake now, coming off the adrenaline. Ruby put her arm around her shoulder and led her toward the back door.

  “We’re nobody, honey,” she said, and led her outside.

  I straddled Haines on the floor, sitting on his chest and grabbing his hair with my bad hand. I banged the back of his head on the linoleum floor, hard enough to make him see stars.

  “Hold still,” I hissed, and with my right hand I placed the point of the steak knife in his left ear. “Don’t move, or I will pop your eardrum, and if I’m not careful maybe stab you in the brain. Got me?”

  His eyes rolled in
fear, but he stayed still.

  “Good. While you can still hear, listen to me. I am a ghost. I don’t exist. But Park is real, and has a real life. Any of this blows back to her, and I promise you I will visit again. Your alarm system doesn’t matter, your shotgun doesn’t matter. I will visit you in the night while you sleep and you will never wake up to even know I was there.”

  I removed the knife and banged his head on the floor again.

  “Got it, big boy?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “Good.” I took the cap off the marker and wrote “Girls Rule” in big red letters on his forehead, then I stood, kicked him hard once in the ribs, and left.

  Outside, I could hear sirens making their way toward us. I skipped across the street and climbed into the car.

  “About time,” said Ruby, who pulled away from the curb as soon as I closed the door. She had already removed her ski mask, and her sweaty face shone in the streetlight. I pulled mine off too, glancing out the back window as we headed down the street.

  “Where’s Park?” I asked.

  “I sent her home,” she said, turning onto McCormick. “Told her not to do any more stupid stunts like that. The girl’s got a future.”

  “Did you tell her who we are?” I asked.

  “Ano,” she nodded, “I told her we were Charlie’s Angels.”

  I laughed. “She’s twenty-three years old, she probably has no idea who that is.”

  Ruby laughed as well.

  “Thank you, Kay, for coming with me.”

  “That was a total cluster, Ruby.”

  “Actually, I thought it went pretty well.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, looking out the window as suburbia slid by. “But if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll be in charge of planning the Dexter job.”

  We rode in silence for a few minutes, until I gave a low giggle.

  “What?” she said, looking over at me.

  “Sword cane,” I said, shaking my head.

  Five

  With tremendous effort, I reached up inch by inch, until my chalky white fingers found their grip on the little outcropping. I used my newfound leverage to pull myself even higher, my toes searching for purchase. I looked up. I was going to make it! I was only about five feet from the ceiling!

  I completed the climb, touching the ceiling with my left pointer and middle finger before leaning back and letting the automatic belay lower me to the ground. Halfway there I passed Marty, who had been stuck in the same spot for about fifteen minutes. When he saw me go by, he gave up with a groan and followed me down.

  Ten minutes later we were sitting side-by-side on a bench, legs sprawled out in front of us, drinking Gatorade and watching the other climbers. The place was packed, and ranged from families with kids to a few hardcore bearded guys with topknots. I’d had a few classes, then done a lot of extra work on my own. I had explained to my instructor, a chipper woman named Akilah, that climbing had been recommend as physical therapy for my hand, after a car accident.

  Akilah was tall, with ropey muscles in her long arms. She made everything look easy, when it was damn hard, but even so I was coming along pretty well.

  “Don’t worry,” Akilah had told me, “we’ll have you playing the piano again in no time.”

  “Wow,” said Martin, between slurps of his drink. “That is really hard. Thanks for inviting me out, Kay. I’ve done nothing for the past three months but work. I’ve gained at least fifteen pounds.”

  “Riley,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Call me Riley, especially in public.”

  “Right. Right,” he said. Catching on. “Call me CEO Martynek.”

  “Oh please,” I sneered. “How’s it going, anyway? Money was supposed to make your life easier, not harder.”

  “I know, right?” However, his eyes lit up with excitement when he began to describe his business. “We have the whole top floor of the building. You should see the view. Plus, I’ve rented a warehouse out on West Diversey for the R&D guys. You should see it, it’s awesome. I was out there yesterday just flying a new drone around—inside!”

  “That’s great,” I said, slightly distracted watching one of the instructors giving a lesson. The guy was in great shape, with long sandy-blond hair and sunglasses pushed up on the top of his head. He was great looking, but not really my type. I tried to picture Nick in tight Lycra shorts and climbing shoes, and laughed.

  It was so strange. I was drawn to Nick, and his intellectualism and creativity. Despite having been a cop, I had always eschewed the precinct gym rats who spent all their time preening. Now, I was finding myself in the gym or working out seven days a week and it made me look at the people there differently. Sure, there were prima donnas, but there were also people getting in shape, people rehabbing from terrible accidents, and people for whom staying fit was just part of their lives.

  I tore my eyes away.

  “That alarm killer thingy. Totally worked, by the way.”

  Marty jumped right off the bench and pumped his fist in the air.

  “Fantastic! I’m so happy!” He plopped back down, exhausted again. “Tell me all about it.”

  By the time I finished the tale, he was frowning, a deep crease between his dark eyebrows.

  “Kay. Um... Riley, I don’t like you involving my aunt in these capers. It’s dangerous.”

  I sat up and looked at him incredulously.

  “Were you not listening? It was all Ruby’s idea.”

  “I know, but when you go along with it, you just aid and abet her.”

  “You try stopping her!”

  He sighed. “I know what you mean, I do, but look at you,” he said, gesturing his hand up and down at my body.

  I looked down at myself.

  “What?”

  “You’re killing it, Riley. You must have lost twenty pounds since April, and you scaled that wall like you’ve been doing it for years.”

  I straightened up and sucked my stomach in a little. I liked the sound of this. “Go on.”

  “You’re not a kid, but you’re not fifty-three years old, either. You’re transforming yourself into an athlete, and a fighter, but Ruby is never going to be that. And that’s dangerous.”

  I deflated, slumping my shoulders and looking away from him. He was right.

  “Don’t take her on jobs with you, Kay. Help her out. She’s got these Robin Hood ideas and she wants to exact some justice, that’s great. Help her with that, but keep her out of the line of fire. Please.”

  I stood and stretched my arms high over my head, then centered my feet and bent at the waist, putting my palms on the floor. I let the tension flow down my arms and into the mat, breathing out the tension before straightening back up again.

  “You’re not wrong, Marty. I’m not sure how to stop Ruby when she has her mind set on something, but you’re not wrong. I’ll think about it. I also think maybe we should get some cameras for the perimeter out at the cabin.”

  “Why,” he asked in alarm. “Has anything happened?”

  “No, no. Nothing like that. I’ve got to start planning a job and it’s going to be the real deal. It made me realize that this whole crazy idea—doing jobs that punish the bad guys—is really starting to happen. I was worried that Elgort was just humoring me, but if this job goes wrong, we would be in big trouble with some very dangerous people. It would be prudent to be safe, and that starts with the cabin, and with your properties as well.”

  Rather than frightened, he looked eager. Kids.

  “It’s really a big job, huh?”

  “It is. I’m going to need your help on the technical side.”

  “I live to serve,” he said, bowing.

  I tilted my head at the wall.

  “Want to go up again?”

  “Not a chance in hell.”

  Six

  An hour later, after one more trip up the wall, followed by a shower and a change of clothes, I was whipping down the Edens Expressway on my
new friend, Gromet.

  Gromet was a bright-red Honda Grom, a small motorcycle, which fit me fine. No Harley for me, just something light and fast. Very, very fast. I zipped through traffic like a leaf on the wind.

  I’d learned from the surveillance work I’d been doing that a car can be a liability when you must move quickly, or stop quickly. You can’t be circling the block looking for a parking place while your target saunters off along the sidewalk.

  The only problem with Gromet was that, in spite of my intentions, he attracted a lot of attention. The little bike was so damn sexy that everyone looked twice whenever I sped by. I was thinking about asking Nick to paint it a more muted color and rough it up a bit, so that no one would look twice. But that didn’t seem fair to my little baby Gromet, I thought, and patted its gas tank with my gloved hand. It’s possible I was becoming attached.

  Then I was thinking about Nick, which was a mistake because suddenly there was a siren behind me. Just a blast to get my attention, but it startled me so badly that I nearly lost control and launched over the guard rail.

  I looked down at the speedometer. Crap. That’s what I get for daydreaming. I shifted down and slowed the bike until I came to a complete stop in the breakdown lane. I shut the bike off, rocked it up onto its stand, and then took off my helmet as the police officer stepped out of his cruiser.

  As I turned to face him, my heart leapt into my mouth, and sweat flooded my armpits. It was Dale Murphy. We had been in the same precinct as rookies, ten years ago. A lot had changed since then.

  Dale, for instance, was a good thirty pounds heavier, and it wasn’t his hair that was adding to his weight. His scalp gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, the dark hair on the sides and back of his head shaved close.

  Wow, did I have a crush on him that first year, but he hardly even noticed me. Or did he? We were about to find out. This was going to be a test of my new look, and my new credentials.