Moonlight Mile - By Dennis Lehane Page 0,1

find and hadn't found any bank accounts we didn't know about or any stock reports that hadn't been reported. I hacked his computer and found pretty much the same-nothing but his self-serving rants to ex-frat buddies and some pathetic, never sent, letter-to-the-editor screeds rife with misspellings. He visited a lot of porn sites and a lot of gaming sites and he read every article ever written about himself.

When the cab dropped him off, I pulled my digital recorder out of the glove compartment. The day I'd broken into his place and hacked his computer, I'd placed an audio transmitter the size of a grain of sea salt under his media console and another in his bedroom. I listened to him let out a bunch of small groans as he prepared for the shower, then the sound of him showering, drying off, changing into fresh clothes, pouring himself a drink, flicking on his flat screen, turning it to some soul-crushing reality show about stupid people, and settling onto the couch to scratch himself.

I slapped my own cheeks a couple times to stay awake and flipped through the newspaper on the car seat. Another spike in unemployment was predicted. A dog had rescued his owners from a fire in Randolph even though he'd just had hip surgery and his two hind legs were strapped to a doggie wheelchair. Our local Russian mob boss got charged with DUI after he stranded his Porsche on Tinean Beach at high tide. The Bruins won at a sport that made me sleepy when I watched it, and a Major League third baseman with a twenty-six-inch neck reacted with self-righteous fury when questioned about his alleged steroid use.

Brandon 's cell rang. He talked to some guy he kept calling "bro," except it came out "bra." They talked about World of Warcraft and Fallout 4 on PS2 and Lil Wayne and T.I. and some chick they knew from the gym whose Facebook page mentioned how much extra working out she did on her Wii Fit even though she, like, lived across from a park, and I looked out the window and felt old. It was a feeling I had a lot lately, but not in a rueful way. If this was how twentysomethings spent their twenties these days, they could have their twenties. Their thirties, too. I tilted my seat back and closed my eyes. After a while, Brandon and his bra signed off with:

"So, a'ight, bra, you keep it tight."

"You keep it tight, too, bra, you keep it real tight."

"Hey, bra."

"What?"

"Nothing. I forgot. Shit's fucked up."

"What?"

"Forgetting."

"Yeah."

"A'ight."

"A'ight."

And they hung up.

I searched for reasons not to blow my brains out. I came up with two or three dozen real fast, but I still wasn't certain I could listen to many more conversations between Brandon and one of his "bras."

Dominique was another issue entirely. Dominique was a blue-chip working girl who'd entered Brandon 's life ten days earlier via Facebook. That first night, they'd IM'd back and forth for two hours. Since then, they'd Skyped three times. Dominique had remained fully clothed but wildly descriptive about what would happen should (a) she ever deign to sleep with him and (b) he came up with the sizable cash allotment necessary to make that happen. Two days ago, they'd traded cell phone numbers. And, God bless her, she called about thirty seconds after he clicked off with bra. This, by the way, was how the asshole answered a phone:

Brandon : Talk to me.

(Really. And people continued to contact him.)

Dominique: Hey.

Brandon : Oh, hey . Shit. Hey! You around?

Dominique: I will be.

Brandon : Well, come here.

Dominique: You forget we Skyped. I wouldn't sleep with you there wearing a hazmat suit.

Brandon : So you're thinking about sleeping with me finally. I never met a whore decided who she'd do it with.

Dominique: You ever meet one who looked like me?

Brandon : No. And you're, like, near my mom's age. And still. Shit. You're the hottest chick I ever-

Dominique: How sweet. And let's clarify something-I'm not a whore. I'm a carnal service provider.

Brandon : I don't even know what that means.

Dominique: I'm totally unsurprised. Now go cash a bond or a check or whatever you do and meet me.

Brandon : When?

Dominique: Now.

Brandon : Now now?

Dominique: Now now. I'm in town this afternoon and this afternoon only. I won't go to a hotel, so you better have another place, and I won't wait long.

Brandon : What if it's a real nice hotel?

Dominique: I'm hanging up now.

Brandon :