Free The Big Ugly by Jake Hinkson Page A

out.
    "Thanks."
    "It's good to see you," I said.
    She leaned against her doorway and crossed her arms. She gave me a polite smile, but her dark brown eyes were serious. "It's good to see you, too."
    "Bet you're wondering why I'm here."
    "Well, I'm glad to see you," she said with another polite smile, "but … yeah. You and me don't exactly run in the same social circles."
    I walked over to her sofa and nodded at it as if to ask if it were okay for me to have a seat.
    She nodded.
    I pushed a folded Afghan out of the way and sat down. "Well," I said, "I don't know about social circles. We were inside together."
    "I guess. But you did a year for fucking up a prisoner—"
    "Allegedly."
    "And I did five for
allegedly
jacking up a bank." She smiled for real this time. "You see the difference?"
    "I get it. There's a difference between us and the time we did. And yet here I am."
    She walked over to her sofa and sat down on the edge of the cushion, leaning forward, elbows on her knees. "Yeah. Here you are."
    "I'm looking for Alexis Kravitz. Thought you might know where she is."
    She stared at me for what seemed like a full minute before she said, "Alexis."
    "Yes."
    "Why you trying to find Alexis?"
    I told her. We sat there eyeball to eyeball, and I told her all about it.
    She didn't say anything as I talked. She didn't nod, didn't shake her head. She just stared at me while I told her what I knew. When I was done, she said, "So why you here? Why you come to me?"
    "I was hoping you'd know where she is or how I could locate her."
    "I don't."
    "Damn it. Since we were all together at Eastgate, I thought maybe she'd contacted you when you got out."
    She watched my face a moment, then she asked, "You know who Junius Kluge is?"
    "Aside from what I've told you, no."
    "He bad. Does the dirty work for the Colfax family."
    "The Colfax family. As in Governor Lou Don Colfax, that Colfax?"
    "Mm hmm. That weird guy that tracked you down and chewed up the money—that's Vin Colfax, the little brother of the governor. He's too much of a psycho to go into politics like Lou Don, so he works for Junius. Stay away from him."
    "Bad news?"
    "Remember Yasmine Johnson from Eastgate?"
    "Yeah."
    "She can't have kids no more because of Vin Colfax. Don't know the whole story on it, but he fucked her up so bad she can't never have kids. He that kind of bad."
    I stared at my hands a while.
    "Look," I said. "I need help. And I know it's a big favor—"
    "It ain't no favor. I owe you. That's why you here. You here to collect a debt."
    "I didn't mean—"
    She waved that away. "We both know why you come to me. I owe you, Bennett. I ain't about to deny it. I got an obligation to somebody, I pay it."
    "Then can you help me find Alexis?"
    "You ever stop and wonder why Jerry Kingston and Governor Colfax—two of the most powerful mother-fuckers in this state—got people out looking for some ex-con like Alexis?"
    "Yes."
    "And?"
    "And, I don't know. Maybe she has some dirt on one of them. Maybe she fucked one of them. Maybe both. I don't care. All I know is, I need money to try and put my life back together."
    "So it's all about getting paid?"
    "Like the man said: it ain't about the money—it's about me needin' it."
    "I hear that. But what about Alexis?"
    I didn't know what to say to that. Jack waited me out though. I finally told her, "If I can find her, I'll see what she says. I don't want to get her in trouble."
    Jack regarded me warily. "Maybe she already in trouble. Maybe you headed right into trouble with her."
    "Maybe."
    "If she is in trouble, you just gonna hand back the money to Junius Kluge and that preacher dude, and go on about your business, even though you got a shady PO breathing down your neck?"
    "I suppose so. I mean, I'm not going to let Alexis get hurt because of me."
    Jack sat back on her couch. For a moment, she stared at the sunlight pooled like honey on the coffee table.
    "Okay," she announced.
    "Okay what?"
    "I'll take you to her."
    "I thought you