“Are we accomplishing the desired effects?” the caller asked.
Shifting her phone to her left hand, Amanda touched the gold coin resting on her desk. She slid it between her fingers and rolled it over her knuckles with practiced dexterity.
It was a good question. But was it one her caller had only begun to contemplate? Had she recognized the ramifications and accompanying depth of their arrangement?
Her impatience spiked, her anger with it.
Stupid bitch. How did you ever get elected as a Councilwoman?
The end-game aspirations, for both of them, had always been the same, regardless of the means. She’d made that clear when the two of them had met in Vegas those months ago.
Play the game just a little longer. Just a little.
She answered Calista Forest’s question. “Yes. I believe so. I believe we are walking down the path we’ve discussed.”
The ensuing silence gave away her caller’s next question. One she herself would have asked sitting in the other woman’s chair.
She answered it before the uneven breathing at the end drove her crazy.
“Yes. It was necessary. Killing is not always pleasant, but nothing worthwhile is without sacrifice. Without loss. You know that. It’s impossible to get where you’re at without certain situations moving into place.”
More silence. She waited for Calista to answer. She would speak first, losers always did.
She did.
“I know. And I know he had problems. It’s just that. What if we. . .”
Her sentence trailed off as if the words had been mysteriously stolen from her throat.
“If our plans are discovered? Is that your question? With everything at stake, for both of us, do you believe I’d allow such an event to occur?”
“No,” she answered quietly. “And I realize, at least in my mind, there is so much more at stake here. But my sister’s kid? My nephew? I knew what was going to happen and I. . . .”
Was that a sob? Was she crying? Shit. Weak didn’t describe her. She was upset at the death of a nephew she hadn’t seen in years, knew was a junky, and had cost the family thousands of dollars?
The coin danced across the back of her hand again. Calista Forest cared nothing for family, only about being caught. So, which one of them was colder?
“You can’t change anything now. Tighten up.”
“I-I will. It’s just that I’ll have to go to the funeral and show my support. I’m not sure if I can pull that off.”
She rolled her eyes again wondering again how someone so pathetic had gotten to such a position of power.
“You can and you will. Deep water is hard to swim away from.”
“What does that mean?” asked Calista, a new edge in her voice.
She reached for the coin, squeezing it white-knuckle tight, fighting the urge to reach through the phone to do what had to be done.
“Nothing. It means we’re committed, that’s all. We have to finish what we started. Come now, Calista, have faith in yourself. You know how to handle those situations. And have faith in me and what we’re doing together. It’s time to change how things have always been.”
For a few moments, she heard only breathing.
Maybe she’d been wrong about this one. Maybe getting her out of the picture was better sooner than later. There was always another like her or would be. Her patience with life had taught her that much.
Her reluctant partner still was not speaking. But she would. Oh, she would.
“Okay. You’re right. No war was ever fought without casualties, as they say. I can do this. Okay, I should go. The quarterly gathering is tonight and I have to get ready.”
“That’s the spirit. I’ll be in touch a few days after the funeral. Just do what you do and I’ll handle what comes next.”
After the woman hung up, she stood and moved back to her window with the view of sparkling Lake Michigan, coin in hand. Slowly, as if it weighed ten times more than it did, she put it in her pocket.
Timing was important in everything and everywhere in life. She understood that better than most. But even she was prone to a sense of urgency. Especially after the call she’d just received. The clock stopped for no one. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
Just as important was recognizing a problem when it was disguised as something else.
Turning from the window, she reached for her phone, found the number she wanted, then typed a brief text. She read it over, then sent it, her fingers nervous with anticipation. She set the phone back down on the desk. Her excitement spiking.
She’d waited a long time to send that message. A lifetime, it seemed. Now she had and it was time to go forward. She loved forward.