“Listen, I appreciate the gesture but I just want to forget it ever happened.” She pulls out her cellphone, shifting away from me. I get the sudden urge to spank her for turning her back on me. No one ever turns their back on me without permission.
For a while we sit like that. I stare at her. She’s on her cellphone, tapping away at something. I catch a glimpse of the screen. Debt advice. I’m guessing she’s in some kind of trouble.
I call Albert. He answers at once. “Carlo,” I tell him.
“I heard. I’ll meet you at the next station with a fresh car. I guess we got the proof we need.”
“Fire him immediately.”
“Got it.” He knows what that phrase means. Fire as in fire a bullet into his skull. “That leaves one more mole. Any ideas?”
“We’ll dig him out sooner or later.”
“Anything else?”
“Crew of four on my train. Biker jackets on three men. Woman with them.”
“I’ll get the cameras checked. What do you want doing with them?”
“They join Carlo.”
“Got it.”
The woman I’m staring at curses quietly, loading something else on her phone. As I hang up, I see what it is. Today’s Wordle.
“Tough one,” I tell her. “Took me four attempts. Want a clue”
She glances back at me and a half-smile forms on her lips. “Do you mind? I’m trying to think.”
“Go ahead.”
“Now you’ve got me thinking I need a clue when I don’t need a clue. I can do these things just fine without any help, thank you very much.”
I stare back at her but she doesn’t look away. She’s braver than some made men I’ve confronted. I like that about her. “You sure you don’t need help?” I ask, seeing if I can get a rise out of her.
“This is the no mansplaining carriage,” she says, looking back at her screen.
“What’s your starting word?” I ask.
“I don’t have one.”
“A friend of mine recommended later. I tend to use that or crane. Covers as many bases as you can for an opening move.”
She scowls at me. “I said I don’t need your help.” She taps on the screen. I notice she’s using Crane. I smile to myself. Crane becomes Depth. She’s got it in two. She shows me the screen, sticking her tongue out at me. “Told you I didn’t need your help.”
“I see the stats. You normally get it in six. You got lucky.”
“Sorry the little girlie beat you, are you?”
I don’t rise to her taunt. “You ever tried Moviedle?”
“No.” Her curiosity gets the better of her a second later. “All right, what’s that?”
“You get a movie in fast forward so it’s an entire movie flashing on screen for one second. Got to try to guess it from the clip.”
“In one second?”
“Give it a go. It’s entertaining.”