The Kingmaker

14 - Corrosive

 "I'm so sorry this happened," Eden sniffled into the pre-paid cell phone she had picked up from the drugstore four blocks down. "No, really, Diana. I'm...getting by. You're the one I'm worried about, and Donna. My God. I just saw him less than a week ago..."

She sniffled again as she assiduously counted out Nathan's money on the floor of her apartment. This stack would be for her own expenses, the second one would go to...

"You're right, I do need rest. But so do you - I can't function right now, so I can't even imagine what it must be like for you and Donna. Please promise me you'll call anytime you need anything, okay?"

Another sniffle. A big one this time, she had to make it extra convincing since it was going to be the last one.

"You know I'll call. We'll get through this, Diana."

Eden hung up and tossed the phone down next to her, attention entirely riveted by the hundred grand in cash she had lying in front of her. Handling this would be a little tricky. A lot of hundreds, some fifties, but nothing of a lower denomination - she suspected this wasn't properly laundered money. Aside from his skill in drug "cooking," he was decent at making connections to expand his business and connecting with the right suppliers and distributors. But he was ass-backwards awful at taking care of the details.

Details were important. Details made the painting. Who cared if the artist had a grand idea - if the execution wasn't flawless, then the result would be s**t.

And that was exactly why Nathan was dead and she wasn't.

Poor Donna, poor Diana. She didn't really feel sorry for their loss considering how low of an opinion she had of anyone who had to do with That Night, but she could still feel sorry that they had been saddled with such an i***t for a child, or nephew in Diana's case. Maybe now they could focus on their actually worthwhile kids.

Mm. That sounded harsh even to Eden, but sometimes - the truth hurt like that.

"Authorities are baffled by the fiery incident that took place in Tillingway Hall, the chemistry building on Alexandria University's campus, rocking the community -"

It would be nice if the walls weren't thin as hell here, too, but on the other hand, she could listen to the news for free thanks to her unwittingly generous neighbors. A shame that she couldn't have just stayed in Nate's luxurious condo, but on the upside, she wasn't there when his place got raided by his distributor who came looking for all of his unsold product.

That would have ended as another kind of mess altogether, the sort that Eden strategically intended to avoid until she had at least some of her pieces appropriately situated on the board first. She was versatile, but a player couldn't win a match with one piece. Not unless her opponent - what, lacked eyes? Hands?

No. She needed to bide her time. Eden was no stranger to the art of riding hard and risky, but this time, things were different. This time, it mattered.. Everything had to be -

Perfect.

" - two students still in critical condition after inhaling corrosive fumes, and we are told that the entire building will be off limits until investigations are complete -"

Eden smiled and looked over at the two still-wrapped bricks of cocaine sitting in the corner of her studio. It wasn't meth, but with one supplier at least temporarily out of commission, a nice, empty niche would open up for her to slip right into. People who couldn't get their normal fix would look for something else to tide them over, and that was where she would step in.

And she knew exactly where to go.

----------

"Any news?" Eden settled down next to the shivering woman with a sigh but received no answer in return. "Come on, drop the act," she said impatiently. "I'm here for the same s**t you are. Tell me if you've heard when they're gonna be able to start slinging again, and I'll share this with you."

She slipped a tiny, clear plastic baggie filled with a white powder out of her jacket pocket. With a flick of her wrist, she flashed it once before concealing it again.  The gaunt, pale-faced woman's gaze followed it with great interest - excellent. So this one wasn't a one-horse cowgirl, which was a relief: it meant that she could be easily plied by things other than the crystal meth she was clearly craving, e.g. an eighth of an ounce of high-grade cocaine.

Eden thought her initial assessment of the woman couldn't be too far off the mark. Hanging around on the end of the dark sidewalk in the dead of night, just a bit aways from the locked-down Tillingway Hall? Definitely someone desperate to find her customary fix. And just as definitely, she was not going to get it tonight. The supply was freshly dried up, and no dealers were stupid enough to poach on the wrong territory to dole out their product to fill the vacuum.

But Eden could offer her something else.

"No news," the woman muttered. Her eyes were still trained on Eden's pocket.

"Come on, don't be like that. I haven't gotten in a good hit since, I don't know, like three days. There's gotta be something they can do. I need it."

"Welcome to the f*****g club," the woman snapped. "One of their cooks blew himself up and now the whole place is crawling with cops."

"What's the big deal, though?" Eden protested. "Why don't they just pay off the cops, get 'em off their backs? We're f*****g dying out here."

But she didn't wait for a response to her complaint, and she simply handed the baggie over between her forefinger and thumb. The woman didn't lunge for it, to her credit, but the iron tight grip she tugged it away with spoke volumes to her interest.

"I've got more, but not a ton. Boyfriend is on a bender so I've got his share if you really need it."

The woman paused just before opening the baggie and shot a suspicious look over at Eden. "Why're you doing this?" she asked. "I'm not in the mood to mess around unless you've got enough of that to change my mind. Already had someone tonight try to do that choking bullshit on me without paying up first."

Ah, she was a hooker, then. Eden wasn't surprised since that was a standard living for a lot more people living in Alexandria than most outsiders suspected, but it did make her almost smile. To think that the woman had thought she was interested in a little nookie. What did she take her for, an ordinary citizen?

Good. That was exactly the kind of look she was going for. Luckily for the both of them, Eden had other intentions for this woman, and she drew out another eight-ball of sealed powder from her other pocket without missing a beat.

"Nah," she said softly. "Boyfriend's on a bender like I said, but he's spending the night at his f*****g ex's place since she has the best s**t, apparently. Says nothing's gonna happen between them, but I know he's gonna come back with lipstick on the tip in the morning...if he even bothers to come back."

The simultaneous sounds of a sharp inhale and a slight crinkle of plastic from beside Eden informed her that the hooker hadn't been able to wait. Or maybe she just didn't want to weigh in on the sob story, which was more than fair. Who in this city had the time to let a stranger cry on their shoulder? Not Eden, and not her new friend, either. She leaned back against the worn brick wall and let out a plume of warm breath into the cold night air.

"Not leavin' him?" the woman asked, surprising Eden. Oh, so she did have an opinion after all.

"He gets me the blow," said Eden. She shrugged and continued to stare up at the moon. "I mean, I'd give anything, do anything for him. But he doesn't care. I'm just there to keep his d**k wet, I guess. But that's alright, because at least I get this."

Eden dangled the tiny zip bag between them from her fingers, and the hooker gave a raspy chuckle in return. Nothing else, but that was fine. Small steps.

"I don't know about you, but I'll be back here tomorrow night just in case someone shows up to start slinging again. I'm gonna check some other places, you mind if I give you a number to call me at if they come here instead?"

The woman pursed her lips. "They're not gonna be able to get it back on the streets for another three nights. The fire was real bad, bad enough that they can't cook yet. They're finding some...campers or something to try to cook in, but no one knows where."

"f**k," Eden grumbled. "Tuesday night? You sure?"

The woman shrugged.

"Okay, okay. Can I still give you my number just in case?"

Another shrug, but this one was a little less frigid.

"Awesome. Here..."

-----------

Tuesday night. That wasn't bad - meant she had all of Sunday, Monday, and at least half of Tuesday to track down the "campers" the hooker had mentioned. Eden wasn't willing to bet hard on the reliability of her information, but at least it was somewhere to start.

...DiAngelo probably knew more.

No. Eden sighed and stretched out on her studio floor, promptly quashing the temptation. That would be stupid - it wasn't time yet. Like as not, he was jumpy enough to have her skinned the moment she showed up if she tried to appear with no one to vouch for her, and a premature death was not in the plans she had laid out.

No. DiAngelo would come later. Nate had gotten what he deserved (well, a little bit of it, at least), and his old friend was going to meet an equivalent end. But later.

Not too much later, though.

Eden turned her head so that she was looking sideways along her floor, squinting as she observed the peeling paint on the bottom of her walls. She should sleep, she told herself. It was better to get a few hours of rest and then start working in the morning again - she needed to be at her best. That would be the smart thing to do.

But ever since returning to Alexandria, her nights had been plagued with irritating glimpses of Brook, her mother, and her father most of all. Memories of countless chess games, chiseled pieces set on the window sill, the rustling of paper and the squeak of markers on a whiteboard. Dreams of things long gone that would never return.

What a waste of time.

Eden jumped up from the floor and shrugged her jacket back on again, eyes on the door and looking past it already.

Past it, and out at the city that waited for her.