Stranger in Paradise

“Are the two incompatible?” Jenn said.

“Sometimes, yes,” Jesse said. “Sometimes, no. People like Nina are intensely aware of the incompatible possibility.”

“You said ‘best case.’ What’s a worse case?”

“That your goal is not truth but advertising revenue,” Jesse said.

Jenn smiled.

“Oh,” she said. “That.”

39.

They were sitting on a bench by the marina five blocks from Horn Street, looking at the boats, sharing a can of Pepsi and a joint.

“You know how to get to Florida?” Esteban said.

“Florida?” Amber said.

“I’m supposed to take you to Florida,” Esteban said. “And I don’t know where it is.”

“What do you mean?” Amber said.

“Your old man’s giving me ten thousand dollars to bring you down.”

“I don’t want to go to Florida.”

“It’s ten thousand dollars, baby,” Esteban said.

“You gonna sell me to my father?” she said.

“No, no. I just bring you down, turn you over, he gives me the ten grand. I wait around a couple days. You run away and we come back up here. How long’s it take to get to Florida?”

“I won’t go,” she said.

“Yeah, baby, you will,” Esteban said. “Up front beside me, or in the trunk, either way you gonna go. Ten thousand dollars’s a lot of money.”

She looked at him in silence for a moment. Then she began to cry.

“Hey,” Esteban said. “Hey, hey. This is for us, baby. You spend a couple fucking days with the old man, and we’re outta there with the money.”

Amber stood and ran. Esteban went after her, out along Marshport Way along the water. A hundred yards up from the marina was a red light. A half-painted, half-primed pickup truck that might once have been blue was stopped at the light. The back was full of loose copper pipe. Amber reached it as the light turned green and as the car started to move Amber stepped up onto the running board and hooked her arm through the window.

A big guy in a black tank top and a do-rag sat in the passenger seat. He had a thick gold chain around his neck.

“What the fuck are you doing,” he said.

“Somebody’s after me,” she said. “Keep going.”

The driver was a wiry kid with longish blond hair, tattoos on both forearms, and the scruffy beginnings of a beard.

“Keep going, hell,” he said. “Whyn’t we stop and clean his clock?”

“No, please, keep going,” Amber said.

The driver looked in the rearview mirror.

“Hell,” he said. “He’s given up anyway. Lemme stop and you can get in.”

She rode in the front seat between them, still crying.

“What’s going on?” the big guy asked.

“I can’t tell you,” Amber said.

The big guy shrugged.

“Where you want to go?” the big guy said. “Want us to take you to the cops?”

“No,” she said. “I…I want to go to Paradise.”

“You want to take her to Paradise?” the big guy said to the driver.

“Sure,” the driver said. “Better than running copper pipe all day.”

40.

Crow came into the Paradise police station with Amber.

“Where the hell did you get her?” Molly said.

“She called me,” Crow said. “From the shopping center.”

“Paradise Mall?” Molly said.

Crow nodded.

“How’d she have your number?” Molly said.

“I gave it to her,” Crow said. “When you cut her loose.”

Molly looked at him for a moment and shook her head, and then looked at Amber.

Amber’s eye makeup was ruined again by crying. She wore lace-up black boots, and black jeans that had been cut off very short, and a tank top with some kind of heavy-metal logo that Molly didn’t recognize.

“How ya doing, Amber?”

Amber shook her head, looking down at the floor.

“He was going to make me go back to my father,” she said.

“Who was?”

“My boyfriend,” Amber said.

“And your boyfriend is?” Molly said.

Amber shook her head.

“Where is your father?” Molly said.

“Florida.”

“Why was your boyfriend going to make you go back?” Molly said.

“My father paid him,” Amber said.

“And what are you doing here?” Molly said.

“I ran away.”

“And you called Crow,” Molly said.

“He said he wouldn’t make me go back,” Amber said.

Molly looked at Crow again. Crow shrugged.

“So,” Molly said to both of them, “what do you need from me?”

Amber continued to look at the floor. She shook her head and didn’t speak.

“Stone around?” Crow said.

“He’s not here at the moment,” Molly said. “You’re welcome to wait.”

“Can I talk with you while I’m waiting?” Crow said.

“Sure.”

“What about her?” Crow said.

“We can put her in a cell,” Molly said.

“I don’t want to be in jail,” Amber said softly to the floor.

“Just a guest,” Molly said. “Cell won’t be locked. You can lie down, take a nap, if you wish.”

Amber didn’t say anything.

“You’ll be safe there,” Molly said. “Until we figure out a better arrangement.”

Amber nodded faintly.

“We’re going to keep you safe,” Molly said. “I promise you.”

“Take the cell,” Crow said to Amber.

Amber said, “Okay.”

Molly walked her back to the little cell block in the back of the station. There were four cells, all empty. The last one had a curtain made from a blanket that could be pulled across the door.

“This is where we usually put women,” Molly said. “Give you a little privacy.”

Amber went in and sat on the cot. There was a sink and a toilet.