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More silence. Her pulse raced. “Les?” She clenched the receiver, fighting to keep the fear from her voice. “Are you there?”
“Sorry about your place.”
She smiled. He sounded like the darling brother she knew. “The firemen got to it before the whole building came down. That’s why I only got your message a minute ago.”
“Can you lend me some money?”
Money. Darn, she should have expected this.
“I hate to hit on you, but my friends have helped me out all they can and I need funds.”
She propped her chin in her hand. He thought bounty hunters were still after him, but maybe she had this wrong. “Why do you want money?”
“I need to leave town, Sis.”
He needed to turn himself in and get his life back on track. If she told Les this, he’d probably hang up. Then where would they be? Mitch paced back and forth behind the desk. “I’ll see what I can do. We’ll need to meet. Where are you?”
“You can’t come here. I’m not getting anyone else in trouble.”
“Then how am I going to give you the money?” She rolled her eyes.
“We have to be real careful. Some guys are looking for me.”
She stuck the pen in the pencil cup. “Are you talking about the bounty hunters? The police? Your drug dealer?”
“No, it’s somebody else.” His voice rose, tight and panicky.
Don’t hang up. Cath wiped the sweat dripping down her face with a tissue from the box.
Maybe Les did know about DiMartino and his cronies. They were looking for her, but one or two of them could be on her brother’s tail too. “I saw one of them”—he lowered his voice—“when I made that buy before I was arrested.”
Mitch scribbled another note and slid the pad in front of her. Get the meet spot.
Today? She wrote underneath and raised her eyebrows.
He nodded.
“Okay,” she said into the phone. “What about your apartment? You want to meet there?”
“I can’t go back there. Somebody broke in and left a message saying I’d better keep my mouth shut or else. I think they’re still watching my place, and I gotta get out of here before they figure out where I am now.”
“I’ll meet you in an hour. Say four o’clock. Tell me where.”
“No!” Les yelled. “Not today.” Whoever he hid from sure had him terrified, but she could definitely relate.
“I don’t understand.” She glanced at Mitch again. “The sooner you get the money, the sooner you can leave town.”
“Today’s too risky. Tomorrow at noon.” Her brother gave her the location.
Great. An uptown grocery close to the parade routes of Zulu and Rex. Getting there would be a nightmare from Mitch’s house. “Meet me today, Les. It’s Mardi Gras tomorrow.”
“That’s why it’s perfect. Everyone’ll be on the streets.”
“What if I get delayed?” Cath squeezed the receiver. “I have to have a way to contact you.”
Les sighed. “I’ll set up the prepaid number.”
“Do that, and text my cell to make sure it works.” Cath gave him her cell number. “Got it?”