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—”
“I’m not going to keep them, dummy. But I don’t want you keeping them either. I’m going to dump them down the storm drain.”
“Great,” Auggie said. “We can do it together.” He shifted the car into park, got out, and walked to the storm drain.
Theo swore. Then, yanking on the handle, he opened the door and got out. When he got to the storm drain, Auggie displayed the two baggies and emptied them both down the drain. Then he displayed the empty bags.
“Those too.”
Auggie tossed them.
“Relieved?” Theo said. “I barely managed to resist the urge to light up a pipe and smoke them right here.”
“You can be mad at me if you want,” Auggie said. “I’m used to it by now.”
“I’m not an addict, Auggie. I made a mistake. I took a pill for my knee and thought I could handle a beer on top of it. I learned my lesson.” He blew out a breath. “And I don’t even think I thanked you for, you know, helping me.”
“You puked a ton.”
Theo winced.
“And you scared me.”
“I’m sorry. That was months ago,