Excerpt
Vince paced Candy’s apartment back and forth just
like he did in his cell for all of those years. He thought,
I should call Damon at Crossroads sober living in San
Clemente. I’ll call after I call Candy again. Candy still
didn’t answer and Vince found himself remembering
the hundreds of cell searches he lived through in the
many different cells he’d lived in with Damon. Instead
of calling Damon he found himself going through
Candy’s closet. He searched every inch of every hand
bag and purse, checked every pocket in jeans, jackets,
and sweaters, went through the seams of every hat and
then remembered something. Candy was wearing one
of her favorite dresses three days ago when she first
started acting wired. A Gucci dress, a Valentino dress
and there it was, the Oscar De Larenta. It was a black
sexy dress that had tassels that could be tied around the
dress or left to hang. Inside one of the tassels there was
an opening and a small bag of crystal speed wedged
inside.

Vince pulled it out and dumped it on a table. He
remembered Candy saying, “I want to have a family life
with you honey.”

Vince thought, “I’ll find you and make that family
life happen” as he snorted every granule like a vacuum.
He felt the pain burn a trail up the nasal membranes
that triggered all of the insane memories just under
the surface. He thought of those six years in prison
with Damon, the hundreds of cell searches, bus rides,
court trips, politics and survival strategies, and realized
something. I can’t call Damon, I’m high, and I’d be a
bad influence.

Pacing around in circles Vince found himself
stopping at Candy’s nightstand drawer, opened it and
found her cell phone bill. There were two numbers
she called with the most frequency, and the times
developed the first part of a mental map. He brought
every trash can in the apartment and filtered through
everything and found notes containing more pieces
to an investigative puzzle. Vladimir’s name, phone
number and address were there. The search intensified
into a meticulous dissection of Candy’s apartment; and,
Vince thought, her own personality. There was a drawer
full of legal briefs from the lawyer’s office where she
worked. Upon closer inspection, Vince realized, Candy
is filtering through his most high profile clients. Good
girl. Vince pulled the drawer all the way out and off the
hinges and found a flash drive hidden on the frame of
the drawer with a piece of tape. Really good girl, let’s
see what’s on it.