WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:23.640 Voyage, meet village, feet villageet village. Lisa roared down the street, 2 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.519 putting distance between us and Brownsville. Sirens could be heard in the distance. 3 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:35.759 Reggie gazed with interest at the unconscious murderer. Every visit to Brownsville is exciting. 4 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:42.079 We took the shoot at the Lisa's house. She had a soundproofed basement 5 00:00:42.119 --> 00:00:46.679 where she'd see clients. His name was Curtis. We asked him why he 6 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:51.280 shot the dealer Blaze, who supposedly knew something about where we could find Destiny. 7 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:56.240 He wouldn't say. Reggie threatened to break his twenty four ribs one punch 8 00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:00.759 at a time and watch him choke on his blood from internal injuries. Curtis 9 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:04.359 talked, he didn't know where Destiny was, but he identified Monjerie as a 10 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:10.280 courier working for the cartel. She worked for the cartel's local distributor, Cortez, 11 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:14.359 who operated out of an auto garage. Before we could figure out what 12 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:19.599 to do with Curtis, there was a knock at Lisa's door. Our visitor 13 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:26.000 was James Robinson aka Chill. Reggie and I had previously encountered him at Betsy 14 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.760 Head Park in Brownsville. He was a swagger and drug dealer, habitually dressed 15 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:36.519 in a perfectly groomed camel's hair coat. He clearly followed us to Lisa's home. 16 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:40.560 It was the coat that told me immediately who James Robinson was. A 17 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:45.079 tall, whiplash lean young man. I could see lean cheeks, dark flashing 18 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:48.799 eyes, a firm jaw. He could have hit a movie star. He 19 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:53.599 smiled genuine as hell, and it lit the room. You were a long 20 00:01:53.680 --> 00:02:00.439 way from Betsy had what you were to speak privately with tone. Hey, 21 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.680 anything you say to me, you can say to them. What do you 22 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:08.240 want to talk about? A tray? What for? What? Curtis deal 23 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:13.159 for? Destiny Hunter? What the hell do you know about Destiny Hunter? 24 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:19.879 We reluctantly led James inside. He was outnumbered and outgunned. He wasn't going 25 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:23.080 to harm any of us if he wanted to survive the night. What are 26 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:25.960 you gonna tell me about her? Destiny? She occur her for the cartel 27 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.599 man. What she's a student at Brooklyn University. I know that, but 28 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:35.439 I also work with her. She ad go between for the distributors in street 29 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.960 Deal. How the hell did that happen? Monjerie? Where is she Now, 30 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.759 nobody's seen her for weeks. Man, Tony, she bounced, you're 31 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:53.520 telling me she worked for Cortez. Year y'all hear about that heist right two 32 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:57.280 point four million of blow three, maybe four weeks ago, right about the 33 00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:04.120 time Destiny disappeared. It is, it's being sold off in Hell's kitchen Muldoon's 34 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:10.719 territory. How's Destiny tightened? All that? Your problem? So where's raditat? 35 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:16.120 Who's that Curtis? I patted James down and we all escorted him downstairs 36 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:22.000 to Curtis. Reggie stripped the duct tape off Curtis's mouth, but before he 37 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.560 could say anything, James casually reached down and came up with a small Boar 38 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.240 twenty two handgun from a concealed mini holster on his ankle. I'd missed it. 39 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.639 He lined the rod up on Curtis's chest and pumped two shells into his 40 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.319 heart. Curtis's chest let out an audible sigh, His head slumped sideways onto 41 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:45.319 his shoulder, and he never moved again. I stared at his corpse, 42 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:50.800 shocked into motionlessness as I stood there in Lisa's basement, the now dead body 43 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:54.120 of Curtis Dell slumped on the chair in front of me. His killer chill 44 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:59.240 a KAA. James Robinson, true to his nickname, acted as if he 45 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:03.879 delivered me the wrong lunch order. It needed to be done, but I 46 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:10.479 take no pleasure in it. He still had his twenty two, but I 47 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:14.280 knew he wasn't a threat to me. I didn't have my nine millimeter Molly 48 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:17.439 ready at hand, but I wouldn't shoot this kid anyway. He just walked 49 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.920 out. We let him go. I mean, what were we gonna do 50 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:29.279 arrest him for shooting our hostage. Stevie had a friend whose boat could be 51 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:33.360 used for situations like this. The ancient skiff puttered slowly down the river, 52 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:39.879 marking Curtis Tell's forlorn funeral procession. It was a cold mid March night, 53 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:44.439 especially on the water on which it seemed spring would never come. The night 54 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:48.480 was moonless, dark, and stars glittered like distant jewels on a black satin 55 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:54.600 background. The wind whipped us like it held a personal grudge. It was 56 00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:59.519 late. We sat above decks. Curtis's cold corpse was stuffed in a trunk, 57 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.240 waited with umbells and stashed in a secret compartment of a whole reeking of 58 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:08.439 dead fish, a stencil overpowering it, confounded the best efforts of DA dogs 59 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:13.839 seeking drugs that Stevie's former associates had long smuggled. We sat, bundled in 60 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.480 down coats and knit caps. I had a metal flask of brandy. Stevie 61 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:23.160 at the con drank only sparingly Reggie, who worshiped his body like a holy 62 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:29.360 vessel, not at all more for us. I passed the flask to Stevie 63 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.480 again. You've got a thing for Lisa. It's that obvious. Let me 64 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.839 tell you something about it, because fore worn is forearmed. Okay, she 65 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:42.160 gave me a shiner once. It took me damn near ten minutes, the 66 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:46.160 subdure, the pennant of the floor, and a loft or rileder like that. 67 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:49.199 You cheat on it? Hell no, you got Lisa via girl. 68 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:54.040 Why would you look at someone else? Then? Why? An old friend 69 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:57.800 from my parents building? Swore I stiffed around a deal and Lisa wouldn't hear 70 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:00.720 different. Eventually we can in front of the chick up down a riverside, 71 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:05.480 and she confessed. I kept my arm Lisa the whole time. As soon 72 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:10.240 as she heard the truth, she swung. I grabbed her arm and let 73 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.519 the force of a blow swinger around. By the time she was straight, 74 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:18.959 the lion bitch was gone. She looked at me, those dark eyes flashing 75 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:23.560 hard. I said, let it go. We have each other. And 76 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:30.639 her eyes changed and she came into my arms. She loved you, black 77 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.240 eye and all. He laughed, running his right hand across his left eye. 78 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:40.160 It was all a shine to Tony. It was black, blue orange, 79 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:43.920 and it stunned. And she may be only five four, but she 80 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.800 can hit. Don't think she can't. The school teacher said, she got 81 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:50.519 a devil inside her teachers and lie, she make it up to you. 82 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:58.240 He nodded his head and smiling, Yeah she did. She's a wild Tony, 83 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:03.519 but loving like nobody else you'll ever know. There was silence, and 84 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:10.759 I felt its presence, this heavy internal weight. Me and Reggie and Stevie, 85 00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:14.839 the three of us on a windswept boat, on a dark mission, 86 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:21.399 on a dark night, the heist destiny Muldoon. Now many people can connect 87 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:27.639 all those dots, you know, Muldoon. His eyes couldn't have flashmore astonishment. 88 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:30.240 Yeah, Muldoon treated me almost like the family. But Lisa was the 89 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:38.040 one he really loved the daughter we never had. What do you think it 90 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:42.199 was me? The heist in the cartel? Was it you trem into the 91 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:45.279 bulls? I did it? We don't give a rat's ass about the cartel. 92 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:47.519 He stand from one of us to the other in as good an act 93 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:53.839 of incredulity if it wasn't real as I had ever seen. His eyes couldn't 94 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:58.279 have flashmore astonishment if I'd accused him of being an alien invader from the crab 95 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:01.920 Nebula. I was buy an end, desperate to retain my grasp of certainty. 96 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.480 I said, there's a huge upsurge of trafficking and Hell's Kitchen in the 97 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:11.639 Upper West Side. You have the brains and the testicles to hijack and cartel 98 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.040 shipment and traffic in Hell's Kitchen. People like you could be counted on one 99 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:20.680 hand. Stevie nodded. Then he threw back his head and he laughed. 100 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.920 His laugh filled the air with a pure sound of delight, a simple sound 101 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:33.159 of surprise, of joyousness at the twisted turns and absurd accusations that might creep 102 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.000 unexpected into one's life. It was a sound capable of being uttered only by 103 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.799 a soul that swashbuckled in the daylight and slept peacefully in the night. He 104 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:46.440 punched his chest with his right hand, trying to stifle his laughter. Dude, 105 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:52.399 due, I appreciate the respect I do, and I got no problem 106 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:56.840 with some smart boy hard rocks. Heighten these bastards the lives they wipe out. 107 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:01.480 But do you realize the kind of inside information and the degree of planning 108 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:07.480 it would take the hijack the stone call killers, the type of precision operation 109 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:13.519 they run and live to fight another day. I'm flattered, I am truly 110 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:20.759 flattered. But it wasn't me. Looked me in the eyes and swear you 111 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:26.840 didn't do it, and I'll believe you. Tony Reggie. I sweate you 112 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.039 on Lisa's life, on my own life, that I am not involved, 113 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:35.279 nor have I been, in any heist of the cartown. His eyes were 114 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:39.159 alight with deviltry. I could see him mocking us, telling us both to 115 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:43.600 go screw ourselves, then swatted up off the boat and swimming home. He 116 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:46.639 was capable of him, but he didn't do it. He looked from one 117 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:50.519 of us into the other. Tony Reggie, I swear to you, on 118 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:54.360 Lisa's life, on my own life that I am not involved, nor have 119 00:09:54.519 --> 00:10:05.519 I been in any heights of the cartown. I believe him. Shit, 120 00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:09.559 I thought, I have no clue who pulled this job. I've been on 121 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:13.440 this case for weeks and I haven't a clue. A great smart ass detective, 122 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:18.200 I am. We'd hit the cartel location we'd gotten from Blaze sometime tomorrow. 123 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.559 I was too tired to think about it. The faint glow of lights 124 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:26.799 on Long Island shimmered in the distance. Brandier No, I was benumbed, 125 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:31.320 and nothing sounded so good as a hot meal, a hot shower, and 126 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:37.840 a warm bed. The wind still blew hard in our face. We had 127 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:43.600 Curtisdell's body on deck. Reggie and Stevie hefted the weighted trunk. They dropped 128 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:48.440 his cold body in the cold sea, and he was instantly swallowed up in 129 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:52.960 its cold depths. We observed a moment of silence, not for a stone 130 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:58.960 killer, but for wasted human potential. Then Stevie again took the Khan and 131 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:03.559 turned the boat around. He pushed forward the throttle leven higher the old engines 132 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:24.080 power in his home school announced the subject oh Nietzsche's influence in Jack London's the 133 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:28.759 seawall you knew, Humphrey van Waden. There's a master plan afoot. It'll 134 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:33.720 makes sense to you when you read my essay. Okay, we'll let the 135 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.320 carve at some writing time after we see Quartez. Honey, I know will 136 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:43.480 be super careful. Careful is not in your nature? Where's Nikki Mickey's gone? 137 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:50.080 The silence in the room was total. You could faintly hear the traffic 138 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:56.399 on the street and in the distance New York City's endless sirens. Her pain 139 00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:01.320 was manifest, and I empathized, but I was simultaneously filled with elation. 140 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:07.399 I held myself back from the obvious question and asked another one instead. Where'd 141 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:11.840 he go? Why? It doesn't matter? He was never going to get 142 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:15.720 clean. For years now it hasn't been good. I don't know what'll happen 143 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:18.720 to him now. She looked at me suddenly, with desperation in her eyes. 144 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.639 Tony, don't go against the cartel, please? I told her we 145 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:26.919 wouldn't. Technically it was true. That's what I tried to think. Is 146 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:31.879 Reggie and I drove to Cortes's garage the next day. Why are we doing 147 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:37.320 this? She's Lee's assistant. That makes it practically family to us. Someone 148 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:41.679 steps in dogs shit in a field of dogs shit they knowingly walked into. 149 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:46.039 I don't think it's our responsibility to buy them new shoe. You can bounce 150 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:50.799 if you need to. I won't be man. I finished my essay last 151 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:54.039 night. My day's free. We rolled up the street until we reached Cortes's 152 00:12:54.039 --> 00:13:01.360 garage. We got out, strolled around the lock, and strutted inside. 153 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:09.600 I looked around. There were no witnesses. A mechanic had a batted sedan 154 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:15.480 on the hoist. His dark hair was covered in sweat. He was short, 155 00:13:15.799 --> 00:13:20.639 stocky, and muscles bulged in his arms like overstrained houses. He wore 156 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:26.840 a white tank top and baggy dark pants. He had dark blue tattoos stretching 157 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:31.000 from either shoulder down his arms. One was of a mustachioed man in a 158 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:33.960 dark suit in for Dora, pointing a handgun. The other was of a 159 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:39.639 victim taking shots from the gun in his midsection. This aldero had the butt 160 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:43.799 of a cigarette in his mouth. We pulled on gloves and ski masks. 161 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:50.519 My right hand clutched Mollie in my jacket pocket. My left groped for the 162 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:54.919 switch controlling the front gate. The gate started to roll down. The Saldero 163 00:13:56.039 --> 00:14:03.559 looked surprised before he looked belligerent. Reggie hit him once a short modulated left 164 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.240 to the point of his jaw, and he collapsed like an imploded building. 165 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:15.279 I nodded the Reggie watched for cops on their payroll. I started up a 166 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:20.720 short flight of grease stained wooden stairs to a glass enclosed office. A big 167 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:24.159 guy in black sweat came out with a pistol in his hand, but I 168 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.480 got molly under his chin, pointed up his drain. Before he could turn 169 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:31.639 to me, I shoved him into the office. Inside, a wiry dude 170 00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:37.440 with a shock of black hair sat behind the desk. He'd heard the commotion 171 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.480 and had the baleful snout of an AAR fifteen pointed my way, Cortez. 172 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:48.600 I guessed one question, one answer, or I then late your co over 173 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:52.120 here. We just want to know what you did to Destiny Hunter. They're 174 00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:58.200 coming. Locked the doors the thief. You're here for her? She stole 175 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:03.279 from us. How'd you know it was herne The shimmon was coming. I 176 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:07.240 could hear a police car roaring up towards the garage. Siren on what happened 177 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.279 to her. I don't know if she ran. If we find Destiny with 178 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:13.799 your coke or the money from the sale of your coke, we'll return all 179 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:18.200 the drugs or cash to him. But you need to leave a bee after 180 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:22.279 that. Do it, and there's a conversation to be had. I can't 181 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:28.799 promise more than that. I started down the stairs. Something was tugging around 182 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:33.240 in my brain, but I didn't have it yet. Reggie and I flattened. 183 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:37.799 We went over side fences and kept going over him toward the avenue one, 184 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:41.559 which we parked. We got in the car and slowly rolled out of 185 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:48.639 there. We shoved ski masks and gloves into a plastic trash bag some twenty 186 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.840 blocks away. Reggie hopped out and shoved it near the bottom of a garbage 187 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:58.919 filled restaurant thumpster. At the speed limit. We drove silently out of Brown's, 188 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:04.600 though we were well on our way to Bedstye before Reggie spoke, did 189 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:08.480 you get what you needed? Grimly, I nodded. I knew were to 190 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:17.759 find the answers, and tonight alone I would do it. Okay, okay, 191 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:22.799 what I'll tell you? What the hell is destiny? Really everything. 192 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:30.679 She went by Channel Chisholm, nicknamed Chaci in her youth. She came from 193 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.440 rural Jamaica, a poor family. She ran off from brutal farm work as 194 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:37.240 a child. We don't know how old. Makes her way to Kingston, 195 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:42.960 lives by her wits, eventually emigrace to the US, where my parents adopted 196 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:49.240 her in her early teens. Things were great between us, but the trauma 197 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:55.320 of her youth never left her. She couldn't be in someone else's care had 198 00:16:55.320 --> 00:17:00.200 always made her uneasy. She was like a street dog that couldn't adopt app 199 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:06.000 to a loving home. So she emancipated herself at eighteen, Sharp as a 200 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:10.640 hatchet, pretty as a show cat, cool as the trade winds, she 201 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:17.079 makes her way from pickpocket to credit card fraud consort of lonely millionaires, bilking 202 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:22.759 them for cash. Works this last angle successfully for years. Eventually, with 203 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:27.680 chains and pipes beaten within three millimeters of life by a drug gang she defrauded. 204 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:33.599 She crawls back to me and promises she's going straight. I guess she 205 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:37.759 didn't. Why didn't you tell me? I thought you wouldn't look for her? 206 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:41.720 Are you kidding? She's your sister? Yet I killed ten men to 207 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:45.799 find your cat, Lisa, you need me to say it out loud. 208 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:49.440 We were seated close to each other. She put her hands on me, 209 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:56.880 something between an apology and a thank you. I kissed her. She twisted 210 00:17:56.920 --> 00:18:00.720 in my arms. Her arms went around my neck and kissed her again. 211 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:04.680 I continued to kiss her. I refused to stop kissing her. I bent 212 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:10.279 and scooped her in my arms, carried her slender form into the living room 213 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:14.279 and laid her down on the sofa. It had been as long for her 214 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:23.440 as it was for me. Afterwards, we lay together, unmoving, incapable 215 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:29.279 of moving, in each other's arms and breathed. We lay together for long 216 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:36.680 moments of quiet. She fell asleep. Eventually I got up and got a 217 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:40.599 glass of tap water from the kitchen. As giddily happy as I was, 218 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:45.559 that something nagged at me again, from the deep recesses of my brain and 219 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.079 intuition that would only get louder until it was dealt with. Feeling my heart 220 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.720 beat against my chest, wanting to stop my legs from moving, I crept 221 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:57.200 down the basement stairs. A dim light from the kitchen illuminated the room, 222 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:02.240 but I knew my way even if it pitch black. There was a painting 223 00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:06.599 on the wall behind it was Lisa's wall safe, the wall safe to which 224 00:19:06.599 --> 00:19:11.599 she had long ago given me a key. Finally I understood why I was 225 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:15.960 certain she had not subsequently changed the lock, and it hit me. The 226 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:19.240 whole goddamn scheme fell at the place I'd had all the pieces, had them 227 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:22.480 for days. I could have should have put this together days ago, but 228 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:26.960 only now it coalesced. I thought of Stevie's words, his words on the 229 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.440 boat, and I shook my head at how I had missed what was right 230 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:33.200 in front of me. For a moment, I stood and marveled at the 231 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:38.640 scheme, so simple yet so complex, drawing into her web the man who 232 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:42.759 loved her, drawing him in. For multiple reasons, but one overriding reason, 233 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:48.359 I was certain of it. Lisa should have been a marine, simplify, 234 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:53.279 always faithful, whatever devil stocked the clandestine byways of a soul, never 235 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:56.920 faithless to a man as such, certain that a man would never be faithless 236 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:02.240 to her, and never turned her into the heads. I slipped the key 237 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.160 into the lock. It fits snugly, and the door swung open, readily, 238 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:10.759 swung wide. I hadn't even shined the flash from my phone inside, 239 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:14.680 but I knew what I would find. For a moment, I paused, 240 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:18.799 how could I have missed it? Destiny Cortez's lover knew when and where the 241 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:23.119 shipment arrived. She was terrified, would never rob a drug gang again. 242 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:27.119 But she knew somebody who was just this side of fearless and mentioned it. 243 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:32.799 Somebody expert with a gun, somebody with a devil inside her, somebody who 244 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.759 would go against the cartel the way some climber's free solo three thousand foot vertical 245 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:41.960 rock faces. Lisa had access to Muldoon, who regarded her like a daughter. 246 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:45.359 She knew she could sell the blow for over two million, and that 247 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:48.480 it would be trafficked in Hell's Kitchen and on the upper west side. I 248 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:52.920 was about to shine the light inside when I heard a noise from above. 249 00:20:53.640 --> 00:21:00.440 I turned off the light silently. I pushed the door almost shut, listened 250 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:06.000 slight sounds came from the rear door of the lock being picked picked quietly, 251 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:11.079 expertly by professionals. I pulled Molly, I held her in my right hand 252 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:15.240 and got on the floor. Was it the d ea? I wouldn't shoot 253 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:19.200 federal offices. If it was them, I would just surrender, but with 254 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:22.880 it. When all hope of saving Lisa from long years in the ice box 255 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:27.480 was at the cartel, I made my way back to the sofa, but 256 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:33.160 Lisa was gone. She had heard the noise too. I rolled behind Lisa's 257 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:37.680 sofa. These would not be cortez vacarios. These would be hitmen from Mexico, 258 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:44.079 professionals. I breathed, trying to calm myself. How many of them 259 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:49.039 would there be? Probably two? Again, silently, I snarled. My 260 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:55.400 nine was fully loaded. The back door opened. It was the slightest squeak, 261 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:59.519 but my hearing was so attuned I could hear an ant cough even now 262 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.160 and want them going after her. Even after she suckered me and played with 263 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:08.839 my life, I was still determined to save hers. My hands shook gunfights 264 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:14.759 with professional killers when nobody's idea of fun. I tried to breathe slowly. 265 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:18.039 I pointed my phone at the far wall. I switched on the light and 266 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:23.319 ducked behind the sofa. There they were, two of them, illuminated in 267 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:37.519 the glare. Instantly they cut loose redmeat. Village is a production of voyage 268 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:41.759 Media. The series is produced by nat Mondel, Robert Midas, and Dan 269 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:45.279 Bendimore. Directed, produced, and adopted by Dan Bettimore, based on Andrew 270 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:49.039 Bernstein's upcoming novel at the same name. When a link to the novel is 271 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.799 available, it will be listed in the show notes. Starring Catherine Bell as 272 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:57.759 Lisa, Malik Yoba as Reggie, and Ryan Heppy as Tony. Additional cast 273 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:03.160 credits are available and showed edited, sound design and mixed by Nick Missidi, 274 00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:07.640 original music by Derlas Gonzalez. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us 275 00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:11.880 a five star review and Apple Podcasts or anywhere you're listening and subscribe now for 276 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:12.880 future episodes.