Page 114 of Callan

Maybe that’s not a lie.

But it can be a signal that he doesn’t want to talk about her anymore.

“What made you place that call?” he asks in a business-like voice, all attention all of a sudden. “Did they threaten you?” he goes on, looking at me with concerned eyes.

“They weren’t nice. And that woman…Carmen…”

I stop, not knowing how important that woman is and how much I can bash her.

“She’s not my friend.”

“Obviously.”

He flashes a smile, amused by my keen perception.

“Obviously,” he says.

“She said you’d stolen something from her.”

His expression shifts, his eyes darkening, his lips carved out of steel.

“She said that?”

I nod, struggling to read his expression.

“Yeah.”

“Did she say what exactly I had stolen from her?”

“No. But she was pissed. Like really pissed. And she went on and on about you being Charlie. Someone had seen us kissing, and she knew that.”

“Of course she did.”

“Yeah. Well, I had to make up a story about you being someone other than Charlie.”

He searches my eyes before he laughs quietly, his chest vibrating with his deep voice.

“You fucked with them,” he says, and I must be glowing like a lamp, feeding on his genuine admiration for my skill and courage.

“It was impossible not to.”

Tilting his head to the side, he cocks an eyebrow and stares at me with renewed interest.

“Care to go on?”

“I kissed Manny.”

He straightens in his seat, his lip rolled under his teeth as he stifles another chuckle.

“Manny?”

“From Emmanuel. The lady was really picky about the details. Anyway, you were some bum I met at the deli.”

This time, he has a good laugh, and I can tell he hasn’t had so much fun in a while. His features relax as he chuckles a little longer.

“You’re fucking nuts.”

“I don’t know about that. She didn’t like my story. I guess she knew it was a fabricated one. Even so, she huffed and puffed since she had nothing against me. But she had her men following me…”

---