Not hanging out at a pizza joint. Second, I was pretty certain that a crime was going to be committed, partial y because of me, and Hank was a cop. I was thinking I should report it, though I liked Shirleen and didn’t want to be a snitch.

Stil .

I looked anywhere but him, trying to think of what to say.

When I ran out of places to look, I caught him grinning at me.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s cute,” he said.

“What?” I asked again.

“You bein’ shy. I like it. It’s better than the attitude, though that works too.”

My mouth dropped open.

I snapped it shut and focused on a Coors beer sign with the intent of memorising it.

He leaned forward and I looked at him.

“Relax, Jet, I’m not gonna bite you.”

Eek.

The dinner was hard enough, I didn’t need visions of Hank biting me in my head.

“I have a problem,” I blurted out, deciding to be a snitch rather than spending any more time thinking of Hank’s straight, white teeth sinking into my flesh.

“You got a lot of problems,” he told me.

I gave him a glare. I wasn’t ful y committed to it because I didn’t know him very well but it was a glare al the same.

“Yeah,” he muttered, his eyes going a funny kind of flirty-lazy while he looked at me, “that works too.” Sweet Jesus.

I focused on my goal.

“I need to talk about my problem.”

He sat back again. “Fire away.”

“You’re a cop,” I told him.

His lips twitched and he nodded.

“Wel , say someone, I’m not saying who but someone kinda knows something bad is going to happen. Something real y bad. Then, say that bad thing happens. Wil that someone be in trouble if she… or he… didn’t report it to the cops, like, right away?”

His eyes changed again, he wasn’t playing at flirting anymore, he was watching me closely.

“How bad is this something?”

“Bad,” I said.

“Steal a candy bar bad or worse?”

“Worse, a lot worse.”

Then I leaned across the table and motioned to him to do the same. He did and when he was a couple inches away I whispered, “Murder.”

Then I sat back.

There, I did it.

Whew. That was a load off my mind.

Hank stayed where he was, stony-faced and serious and he crooked a finger at me.

Uh-oh.

The load settled right back on my mind.

I didn’t want to but I leaned forward again.

“Talk to me,” he demanded.

I sighed.

Then I told him about Darius and Shirleen, keeping names out of it, but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure it out.

When I was done, he sat back and his arm went along the seat again. He looked away and muttered, “Fucking hel .”

The waitress served our food, snatched up our drinks and shot off to get us refil s even though we’d both only taken a few sips. I knew from experience what it could do to your tips if you weren’t super careful with refil s.

“That why you want to talk to Eddie?” Hank asked.

I nodded.

“Lee know about this?”

“Matt was there.”

“Lee knows about it,” he said to himself. He dug into his jeans and pul ed out his phone. He was ignoring his food and so was I, even though I’d missed lunch due to iced tea and Days of Our Lives so I was real y hungry.

He hit a button and put the cel to his ear, his eyes flashed on me and he said, “Eat. I have a few cal s to make.”

I ate.

The waitress brought back our drinks.

Hank made a few cal s.

Then he ate.

“I don’t want them to be mad at me,” I said after we finished.

“Who?” he asked.

“The people who… well , I think they’re kinda my friends and in a way doing this for me. I think they’re good people doing bad things.”

“It’s simple. A bad thing is a bad thing, no matter who does it or why, and homicide is the worst thing there is.” He was right. Though I figured forcing a girl to live in fear of being raped was pretty high up there.

“Jet,” Hank cal ed and I looked at him, “Fratel i has one true friend right now and that’s you. Marcus isn’t happy because not only is Daisy pissed at him, Vince is making him look bad. Eddie and Lee are gonna spend the meeting trying to talk Marcus out of giving the same order you heard today. Marcus is gonna pretend to play the game, because if he doesn’t, Eddie’l be al over him, he’s just looking for an excuse. But Marcus is gonna make the order anyway.

It’s the only way to send the message. Vince is in a load of hurt, with both Darius and Marcus ordering the kil . You keep Eddie, or me, informed of this shit when you hear it, maybe we can stop it before it happens.”

I nodded.

He watched me.

“You don’t look happy.”

“I think I betrayed a friend,” I whispered.

Hank caught my hand on the table and tugged at it. I came forward and so did he, but he didn’t let go of my hand.

“Eddie tel you about Darius?” he asked.

I nodded.

“I’ve known both Darius and Shirleen what seems my whole life. Darius came from a good family, but Shirleen married badly. Her husband, Leon, was a sonovabitch, mean as hel and dirty as they come. He’s the one that turned Darius. Shirleen was a different Shirleen back then, beaten down and powerless. She couldn’t control what happened to Darius and Leon had long since tied her up in that shit as well . Leon was whacked two years ago and Shirleen and Darius assumed their positions when the king was dead. They did it because it’s al they know and the only place they feel safe. They got a different set of rules, but it’s the wrong set.”

I swal owed and his hand squeezed mine.

“Jet, it’s the wrong set. You did the right thing. I like both of them and I’d hate to see either of them go down but if they did, they’d deserve it.”

I moved forward a bit more and asked, “How do you live this life al the time? They’re your friends. How do you do it?

I couldn’t stand it.”

His eyes changed and his hand tightened even more on mine, “I can do it because their shit doesn’t stay in their circle, it filters down to kids in schools and old people wanting quiet lives forced to live next to crack houses and pretty girls who work in bookstores who have shitheel fathers. Someone has to protect those people.”

“That’s you,” I said.