Pretty Girl Gone Read Online Free PDF Page A

outside looking in while men and women I didn’t know manipulated events and made decisions that affected my life, sometimes gravely. Now I was being asked to participate, albeit in a somewhat roundabout manner. It made me feel the way I had when I was a freshman in high school and the “cool” kids invited me to lunch at their table. It made me feel important.
    Then Donovan had to ruin it all by saying, “At the same time, we will not allow you or anyone else to devalue our investment in the governor.”
    Suddenly, I was a guy who found himself lost in an elaborate maze without a ball of string or a trail of bread crumbs to lead him to safety. The voice in the back of my head that I had learned to trust long ago was now screaming at me.
These men can’t be trusted.
’Course, I knew that before I even walked into the room.
    “Gentlemen, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I stood and rolled my chair under the table. “The first lady is my friend, that’s true. But if she has a problem, as you say, I am unaware of what it could be. ’Course, if I did know, I wouldn’t discuss it with you or anyone else. That’s a promise I make to all of my friends and I never break my promises. Just to prove it, I’ll make you a promise. You fuck with me or my friends, I’ll fuck with you. I won’t pretend that you and your resources don’t scare me. They do. But you know what? I can be pretty scary, too.” I pointed at the file in front of Muehlenhaus. “Ask around.”
    Coole, Gunhus, and Mahoney looked at each other to see if they wereeven remotely frightened by my remarks. Apparently not. Muehlenhaus seemed delighted. He clasped his hands together and laughed. Donovan laughed with him, just not as vigorously.
    I was astonished by their reaction and probably looked it.
    The old man said, “You’ll do, McKenzie. You’ll do fine.”
    The thought I had at the Groveland Tap pushed itself from the back of my brain right up front.
You are a schnook
.

2
    Normally, I would eschew the Minneapolis skyway system. Only normally it wasn’t five degrees below zero and normally the wind that seemed to gain velocity as it was funneled between the downtown skyscrapers wasn’t powerful enough to lift you off your feet.
    The skyway system was a network of streets in the sky, connected to each downtown office building with an enclosed pedestrian bridge or skyway that spans the street below. The original purpose was to allow pedestrians to travel from one building to another without suffering the cold and wind of Minnesota’s winters or the heat and humidity of its summers—neither of which was nearly as brutal as their reputations suggest, although have you been outside lately? Yet, over time, the skyway virtually took over downtown Minneapolis as people abandoned the city streets for its artificially controlled environment. Most businesses followed the pedestrians. In fact, very few businesses other than restaurants and shopping centers still had entrances on the street. It had reached the point where one intrepid magazine writer of my acquaintance wrote howhe was able to “live” on the skyway for an entire month—working, lodging, eating, shopping, dating, and generally entertaining himself—without once allowing the warmth of the sun or the cool of moonlight to touch his face. Personally, I don’t think the man’s been the same since.
    Muehlenhaus had offered me transportation back to St. Paul, but I didn’t want him to believe for a moment that we were partners. Nor did I trust Norman. The look on his face—call me paranoid, but I had a feeling he was the type who held a grudge. So, I decided to hoof it to a hotel where a cab could be found that would take me back to my Audi.
    It was getting close to the rush hour and most of the people in the crowded skyway moved relentlessly as they completed last-minute errands or rushed to parking ramps in hopes of beating the traffic. When I slowed to punch the numbers for