بخش 05 - فصل 23

23 Hodges and Jerome drive down to the little shopping center at the intersection of Harper and Hanover to buy Holly a pack of cigarettes and give her the privacy she clearly wants. Back in the gray Mercedes, Jerome tosses the Winstons

from hand to hand and says, “This car gives me the creeps.” “Me too,” Hodges admits. “But it didn’t seem to bother Holly, did it? Sensitive as she is.” “Do you think she’ll be all right? After this is over, I mean.” A week ago, maybe even two days, Hodges would have said something vague and

politically correct, but he and Jerome have been through a lot since then. “For awhile,” he says. “Then . . . no.” Jerome sighs the way people do when their own dim view of things has been confirmed. “Fuck.” “Yeah.” “So what now?” “Now we go back, give Holly her coffin nails, and let

her smoke one. Then we pack up the stuff she filched from the Hartsfield house. I drive you two back to the Birch Hill Mall. You return Holly to Sugar Heights in your Wrangler, then go home yourself.” “And just let Mom and Barb and her friends go to that show.”

Hodges blows out a breath. “If it’ll make you feel easier, tell your mother to pull the plug.” “If I do that, it all comes out.” Still tossing the cigarettes back and forth. “Everything we’ve been doing today.” Jerome is a bright boy and Hodges doesn’t need to confirm this. Or remind him

that eventually it’s all going to come out anyway. “What will you do, Bill?” “Go back to the North Side. Park the Mercedes a block or two away from the Hartsfield place, just to be safe. I’ll return Mrs. Hartsfield’s laptop and billfold, then stake out the house. In case he decides to come back.”

Jerome looks doubtful. “That basement room looked like he made a pretty clean sweep. What are the chances?” “Slim and none, but it’s all I’ve got. Until I turn this thing over to Pete.” “You really wanted to make the collar, didn’t you?” “Yes,” Hodges says, and sighs. “Yes I did.”