“I thought we were just going to talk to her.”
“I know what you thought. I tried to tell you, this is serious shit. Tie her up.”
“They’re going to cut off your fucking face,” Sadie said, blood bubbling at her nose. “I’m going to watch them, and then I’m going to take a shit on you.” She looked like she was thinking about struggling, but that stopped when Theo put the tire iron’s tip to her throat. Auggie secured the belt, and then he stepped back, his hands out to the side like they were dirty and he didn’t want to touch anything.
“Go outside now,” Theo said.
“No.”
Theo’s gaze shifted to his face: the soft, dark brown eyes, the worried crinkles around his mouth. “Please go wait outside.”
“I can do this.”
After a moment, Theo nodded. “Watch her.” He made his way into the kitchen and did a quick search, throwing open cabinets, the oven, the warming drawer. He found the first stash when he lifted the range cover: dozens of baggies, already filled with crystal and ready for sale. He found kilo bags taped to the back of the sink. A box of Wheaties had more of the baggies.
“Stay the fuck out of my shit!” Sadie screamed from the other room.
When Theo went back to the living room, Auggie was pale and sweating, hands tucked under his arms. Theo touched his back lightly, and Auggie flinched. Then Theo sat on the couch facing Sadie.
“Every time you refuse to answer one of my questions,” Theo said, “I’m going to take one of your baggies. Do you understand?”
“Fuck you.”
“Go get one of the little ones,” he said to Auggie.
Auggie’s steps squeaked when he reached the linoleum.
“You fucking pieces of shit,” Sadie screamed, thrashing in the chair, kicking wildly. Theo was just out of reach, but she kept trying. “I will fucking kill you!”
“Do you understand?”
“My boss is going to spend days on you. Days. He’s going to take you apart.”
“Take one of the medium ones,” Theo said. Then, to Sadie, he added, “Next time, it’s a kilo because you’re pissing me off. Do you understand?”
Sadie stared at him. When Theo opened his mouth, she screamed, “Yes, God damn it!” She was taking huge, uncontrolled breaths, and a blood bubble at her nostril inflated and shrank wildly. “Yes, I fucking understand!”
“Here’s the thing about drug dealers: you’re all so fucking suspicious of each other.” Theo let a silent moment expand. “That’s because you’re all pieces of shit, of course. About the foulest, most disgusting shit on the planet. So in case you’re having a hard time understanding how everything is going to play out—drug dealers are also notoriously fucking stupid, which I’m assuming is true for you too—I’ll explain it. You’re already short because I took some of your stash. That means you’re going to have to make up the difference yourself when the middleman shows up to collect. If you’re lucky, you either paid in advance or you’ve got some money saved up, but I don’t think that’s the case here. So you’ll have to cover the money from selling the rest of this shit. If you’re careful, I think you’ll be fine. But if I take a kilo, boy, that’s going to be really hard to cover. And even harder to explain. What are you going to tell him? You got robbed? Maybe he believes you. Maybe not. Either way, you’re no fucking use to him.” Theo took another breath. “We’re going to have a talk. Then we’re going to leave with—God, for your sake—I really hope no more than two baggies. And you’re not going to tell anyone, and that’ll be the end of it. Am I clear?”
She jerked her head once in a nod.
“Tell me about Cal.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“All right,” Theo said with a sigh. “That’s a kilo.”
“No, fuck, no. I just don’t know what you mean.”
“Specificity,” Auggie said from the kitchen opening. “Take a breath.”
It was a moment before Theo realized Auggie was talking to him, and then, as though he were seeing himself from the outside, he was aware of the haze of rage and fear that was making it difficult to think, that was forcing him to breathe in rapid, gulping swallows. He took a few deep breaths and met Sadie’s gaze again.
“Did you sell to Cal?”
“Cal Reese? The sports guy?”
“That’s the one.”
Another of those jerky nods.
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“I don’t know, man. He’s been dead forever. It was a long time ago.”
“Did you kill him?”
“What? Fuck no. I heard they found him out at the rest stop.”
“Was he out there buying drugs?”
“Damn, man. I don’t know. He could get whatever he wanted from me. He was fun to party with. If he was out there to buy, nobody’s talking about it.”
Theo tried to gauge her sincerity. “So you don’t know who killed him? You don’t have any idea?”
“No. Who the fuck do you think I am? I sell crystal. I party. This isn’t some Breaking Bad-style shit.”
“Think really hard,” Theo said. “How long was it between when you sold to Cal and you found out he was dead? A long time? A short time?”
“You broke my nose, fucker. Holy shit. That’s really starting to hurt.”
“You want me to take another bag?”
“I don’t know! I told you, I don’t know. I don’t remember. Sometimes he scored every week. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. It was months ago, man.”
Theo glanced at Auggie.
“Who might have wanted to hurt Cal?” Auggie asked. “Did he ever talk about what was going on in his life? Problems he might be having?”
“Oh, sure. We braided each other’s hair and I told him how Missy’s mom had gotten fake titties and he told me he kissed Polly under the swing set.” To Theo, she added, “You probably shouldn’t bring your baby out to play with the big kids. Not until his balls drop, anyway.”
For a moment, the rage that twisted Auggie’s face made Theo forget everything else. It was a degree of anger that was totally out of proportion to the comment. Then it was gone, but Auggie’s cheeks were flushed, his dark eyes wide and the pupils huge.
“Just for that,” Theo said, “you can get that belt off yourself. Come on.”
Still carrying the baggies, Auggie followed him out of the house.
They drove a zigzag of blocks until Theo said, “Stop here.”
Auggie stopped the car and glanced over his shoulder. “Do you think she’s—”
“Give me those.”
“What?”
“Give me those baggies.”
The hesitation was worse than the words. “Theo, I’m trying to tread really lightly here, but you’ve got a history of—”