on her back and shoulders.
“You guys are fucked,” she said with a tight laugh. “You guys have no idea who you’re fucking with.”
“When I want you to talk, I’ll tell you.”
“You think you can bust my stash and walk away from it? You motherfuckers are dead. Dead. When—”
Theo caught a handful of her hair and smashed her face against the door. The movement took her by surprise, and she never had a chance to resist. He was pretty sure he heard her nose break.
“I got a chair,” Auggie said, “what do I—Jesus, what happened?”
Still steering her by the hair, Theo propelled Sadie toward the straight-backed chair that Auggie had set in the middle of the room. “Go find something to tie her with,” Theo said.
“I don’t—”
“Now,” Theo shouted.
Auggie ran into the bedroom.
Staring up at Theo, her nose flattened and misshapen, blood covering her mouth and chin, Sadie said, “You are a fucking dead man.”
“I’ve heard it before,” Theo said. “Be quiet.”
“It’s not me. It’s my boss. And his boss. And his boss.”
“Yeah, the Ozark Volunteers, every goddamn one of them jerking off with his sister. I know. Shut up.”
Auggie came back with a belt and a bedsheet.
“She doesn’t have anything—”
“The belt is fine. Pull her arms back, put it above the elbows, and get it as tight as you can.”
“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