That night, the Vet walked up to me with that same jittery eagerness he’d had all week.
“Our arrangement is over,” I said, point-blank.
“Oh yeah? I wonder what Mr. Kingpin will say about that.”
The Vet had no idea that blackmailing me was putting his life at risk too. That was about to change.
“I’m going to make you a deal, Vet.”
He made a face. “Dinner and a movie? Me and you?”
“I’m only going to say this once, so listen up. If you bother me again, I’ll tell Tony you gave me these.” I pulled two fake tens out of my pocket and held them up. I’d gotten conned with them a few summers ago when I’d sold a kid a video game. I was glad I’d hung on to them. “Any guess what he’ll do when he finds out you paid with counterfeits?”
The Vet looked startled.
“You can sing about me all you want, Vet. When I show these bills to Tony, you’ll have a bullet in your head so fast that nothing you say will matter. That’s if you’re lucky. If you’re not, it’ll be a baseball bat instead of a bullet.”
He shrugged. “If I’m dead, you’re dead. Now, where’s my hit?”
“Not unless you’ve got money for me.”
He went up to Cam. “I want my hit!”
Cam glanced at me. I shook my head and held up the fake bills. “He tried to pay with counterfeits.”
“He’s lying!” the Vet shouted. “I didn’t give him nothing. I get my hits for free.”
Cam crossed his arms. “I never knew Darren was so generous.”
“It’s because I know his secret.”
“Good for you,” Cam said. “Now get out of here.”
The Vet didn’t move. “Darren is a snitch! A snitch!”
“Shut the fuck up,” I said, taking a step closer to him.
The Vet turned to Cam. “I bet you’re in on it too! Did you snitch to that cop—the one who got killed?”
“I told you, get out of here.” Cam moved beside me.
The Vet lunged at Cam, grabbing at his coat pocket. Cam tried to dodge him but stumbled backward. With surprising speed, the Vet pounced, knocking him to the ground. I tried to pull the Vet off Cam, but he was thrashing like crazy.
Cam screamed. Then I saw the knife.
I slammed my foot into the Vet’s side, partially dislodging him. The Vet bucked, slashing wildly. Cam grabbed the Vet’s arm, and they fought for control of the knife.
Suddenly the Vet shrieked and fell to the ground.
Cam scrambled to his feet, clutching his shoulder. He gasped for breath. “Fuck! He stabbed me!”
I could see Cam was bleeding. “We need to get you to a hospital.”
Cam nodded, mouth twisting in pain. “What about him?”
Blood gushed from the Vet’s throat. I bent over him, heard gurgling sounds. I took off my jacket, and pressed my hoodie against his neck.
“We’ll call nine-one-one,” I said. “But we can’t leave him at our corner.”
Cam pointed to a bus stop a few yards away. “We leave him over there.”
“Okay.” I took out my cell. My hand was shaking. White Chris’s words came back to me. It’s you or him. Who do you want it to be?
There was a gasp. The Vet’s arms had gone limp by his sides, and his eyes were blank. I’d seen that look before.
“He’s dead.” I got up.
Cam went pale. “W-what are we gonna do? I didn’t mean to kill him.”
I glanced down at the knife, the blood, trying to process what had just happened.
My mind switched into high gear. I scanned the area and saw no witnesses. “The alley. Hurry.”
I dragged the Vet’s body into the alley. Cam helped with his good arm. He was breathing hard, swearing over and over.
“We call Vinny,” I said. “He’ll know what to do.”
“Wait—what are we going to tell him?” Cam asked, his voice shaky. “I mean, it was self-defense. You saw it. Tony’s not gonna blame me for this, right?”
“Of course not. I’ll tell Vinny what happened and he’ll explain it to Tony.” I tried to speak as calmly as possible, tried to dissolve Cam’s panic even in the midst of my own. “The Vet started this, not us. He tried to pull one over on Tony. Here’s the proof.” I took out the fake bills.
“Then he went all crazy and started calling you a snitch and—” Cam broke off, his face sobering. “Maybe we shouldn’t mention that.”
“Yeah, there’s no point.” I studied Cam. “You know that was bullshit, right?”
Cam nodded. He believed me. I thought he did, anyway.
I said into the phone, “Vinny, we got a situation.”