live
life through me, but it’s her dream now, not mine any longer. I
couldn’t stand it anymore.”
“ And so,” Monroe said, “you
went to the trouble and the expense to get yourself shot? Isn’t
that a bit extreme?”
“ You might think so from
where you’re looking in,” Angela said, still staring down, looking
ashamed, embarrassed, leaning further forward and bringing her
uninjured hand in front of her now to fiddle with her little toe,
the physical activity subconsciously intended to partially distract
her from her fear and shame, “but I had to have a
break!”
“ Angela,” Monroe said with
his voice calm and steady but dead serious, “listen to me now. I’m
not here to arrest you or anything like that. I’m not going to tell
the police anything. All I want is for you to help me find the man
who shot you.”
“ Why do you care? What does
what happened to me have to do with the government?”
“ Nothing,” Monroe told her.
“This man, assuming he is who we think he is, has been going around
shooting people on request for years. Most of them die because they
apparently want to. If regular citizens are getting themselves shot
for personal reasons, then I truly don’t care what they do or what
their reasons are. It simply isn’t my business. But this man
recently stuck his nose far too deeply up the ass-end of
international politics. One of his contracts had far-reaching
consequences that cost hundreds of people their lives. In other
words, he’s gone from what might be considered assisted-suicide to
committing murder by association. That, I cannot allow. You may
have wanted to be shot, although I still think you could have found
a better, less dramatic way to have a vacation from your mother’s
interference in your life, but think of all the people in the world
who don’t want bullets tearing into their bodies, who don’t want to
die, who get caught up in wars that were not their idea! Help me
put a stop to that, Angela.”
“ And you promise,” Angela
asked, turning her head to look at Monroe with the beginnings of
tears in her eyes, “that I won’t get in trouble?”
“ Not by my doing, you
won’t,” Monroe said.
Angela fell silent for
several minutes, as if weighing, in her mind, whether or not to
speak further. She finally decided in favor of Monroe and began
again.
“ What do you want to
know?”
“ First of all,” Monroe
asked, “did you ever meet in person or see the man who shot
you?”
“ No.”
“ Damn,” Monroe said. “That
would have made things a lot easier. All right then, let’s start at
the beginning of the whole strange affair.”
“ Can we leave here for a
while?” Angela asked. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Can we
go for a drive?”
“ Will they let you leave the
grounds?”
“ Who’s going to stop us? I’m
paying them a fortune to stay here and you’re a secret agent or
something. Don’t you have a gun?”
“ Of course I do, but I can’t
just go around shooting whomever I please.”
“ Whatever, Rick. This time
you can help me get dressed so we can get out of here
sooner.”
Monroe could still see
flirtation in her eyes and her smile, even after he had scared her
with the truth. “My pleasure,” he said.
***
It was chillier than the
previous day and Monroe had the Lexus’s heat turned on as the
window was slightly open on the passenger side so Angela could puff
on a Newport. They had left the grounds of the rehab center and
were cruising along at a leisurely pace.
“ I couldn’t injure myself,”
Angela said. “I’m too much of a coward. So I went looking for a way
to have someone else hurt me. I knew there had to be a way and
money was no obstacle. I hired a private investigator and he very
quickly found exactly what I was looking for. I paid a few thousand
dollars for a phone number, and that’s how I contacted the man who
shot me.”
“ It was that easy?” Monroe
was amazed.
“ Getting the number
life through me, but it’s her dream now, not mine any longer. I
couldn’t stand it anymore.”
“ And so,” Monroe said, “you
went to the trouble and the expense to get yourself shot? Isn’t
that a bit extreme?”
“ You might think so from
where you’re looking in,” Angela said, still staring down, looking
ashamed, embarrassed, leaning further forward and bringing her
uninjured hand in front of her now to fiddle with her little toe,
the physical activity subconsciously intended to partially distract
her from her fear and shame, “but I had to have a
break!”
“ Angela,” Monroe said with
his voice calm and steady but dead serious, “listen to me now. I’m
not here to arrest you or anything like that. I’m not going to tell
the police anything. All I want is for you to help me find the man
who shot you.”
“ Why do you care? What does
what happened to me have to do with the government?”
“ Nothing,” Monroe told her.
“This man, assuming he is who we think he is, has been going around
shooting people on request for years. Most of them die because they
apparently want to. If regular citizens are getting themselves shot
for personal reasons, then I truly don’t care what they do or what
their reasons are. It simply isn’t my business. But this man
recently stuck his nose far too deeply up the ass-end of
international politics. One of his contracts had far-reaching
consequences that cost hundreds of people their lives. In other
words, he’s gone from what might be considered assisted-suicide to
committing murder by association. That, I cannot allow. You may
have wanted to be shot, although I still think you could have found
a better, less dramatic way to have a vacation from your mother’s
interference in your life, but think of all the people in the world
who don’t want bullets tearing into their bodies, who don’t want to
die, who get caught up in wars that were not their idea! Help me
put a stop to that, Angela.”
“ And you promise,” Angela
asked, turning her head to look at Monroe with the beginnings of
tears in her eyes, “that I won’t get in trouble?”
“ Not by my doing, you
won’t,” Monroe said.
Angela fell silent for
several minutes, as if weighing, in her mind, whether or not to
speak further. She finally decided in favor of Monroe and began
again.
“ What do you want to
know?”
“ First of all,” Monroe
asked, “did you ever meet in person or see the man who shot
you?”
“ No.”
“ Damn,” Monroe said. “That
would have made things a lot easier. All right then, let’s start at
the beginning of the whole strange affair.”
“ Can we leave here for a
while?” Angela asked. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Can we
go for a drive?”
“ Will they let you leave the
grounds?”
“ Who’s going to stop us? I’m
paying them a fortune to stay here and you’re a secret agent or
something. Don’t you have a gun?”
“ Of course I do, but I can’t
just go around shooting whomever I please.”
“ Whatever, Rick. This time
you can help me get dressed so we can get out of here
sooner.”
Monroe could still see
flirtation in her eyes and her smile, even after he had scared her
with the truth. “My pleasure,” he said.
***
It was chillier than the
previous day and Monroe had the Lexus’s heat turned on as the
window was slightly open on the passenger side so Angela could puff
on a Newport. They had left the grounds of the rehab center and
were cruising along at a leisurely pace.
“ I couldn’t injure myself,”
Angela said. “I’m too much of a coward. So I went looking for a way
to have someone else hurt me. I knew there had to be a way and
money was no obstacle. I hired a private investigator and he very
quickly found exactly what I was looking for. I paid a few thousand
dollars for a phone number, and that’s how I contacted the man who
shot me.”
“ It was that easy?” Monroe
was amazed.
“ Getting the number
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