lung. My body absorbs cannabis clouds. It’s my super power.” He laughed and handed the pipe to Eddie, who dumped the ashes on the oil-stained carpet and picked up a baggie from the table.
“That’s just it. I mean, the guy is completely clean, no one can trace him to anything. That’s why he’s got our ass over a barrel.” Eddie smelled the sticky green weed in the baggie, plucked the end off a thick bud, and packed it into the bowl of the pipe as he spoke. “But we gotta do something.”
“We need to turn the table on him somehow, get everything square again. I mean, this asshole didn’t do a damned thing but put up the money. We’ve done all the work.”
“Totally.” Eddie nodded and put the pipe to his mouth, sparking the lighter and inhaling with the fluid and graceful motion of a world class dope smoker.
“Hell, it was my property. You got the gear running.” Eli was getting incensed. “I mean, who the fuck does this guy think he is, threatening us like that?” He took the pipe from Eddie and looked down at it, as though it might know the answer.
Eddie said, “I don’t know man. But he did a damned good job, that’s for sure. He got my attention anyway.”
“Yeah,” Eli mumbled at the carpet and the room went silent. The images ran through their heads: crammed in the cab of the truck speeding down the highway; Ron bitching about getting the operation moving, bitching about the lack of volume, wanting a return on his investment; the argument escalating; then Ron stopping to pick up the hitchhiker and telling him to climb in the back—poor kid, young hippie looking guy, probably only twenty years old, cruising around the country with his backpack—and then Ron turning down the dirt road; pointing his finger at them, threatening to kill them; the hitchhiker getting nervous in the back of the truck and tapping on the window; Eli telling Ron to fuck off, that he wasn’t the boss; Ron screaming something like, “You wanna bet, you fucking pussies, watch this shit!”—and climbing out of the truck, getting the bat from under the seat, and taking after the hitchhiker like a lunatic. When another minute had gone by, Eli fired up the pipe. Anything to stop thinking about it.
Eddie finally spoke. “Goddamn,” he said, shaking his head, the shock lighting up his glossy eyes. “I never thought I’d see something like that.”
Eli exhaled slowly and set the pipe on the table. He leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head, hoping to drift off into better thoughts. “I know,” he said. “The guy’s head came apart like a melon.”
V
The cops almost missed him.
When they came, they nearly drove right by, which would have been fine with Hank. The Suburban was already past the wrecked Subaru when its brake lights flared up, bathing the dark roadway in a soft red glow. Hank watched the Suburban slow to a stop and couldn’t tell if they’d noticed his car as they went by or if it was the trail of fresh black skid marks that caused them to stop.
Whatever it was, they were stopped in the center of the road with their high beams glaring off into nothing. After a few seconds, the Suburban did a three-point turn. Its headlights swept wide across the desert, coming to rest on Hank, the totaled car, and the pile of smashed gear he’d gathered up.
They didn’t flip on the red and blues—Hank figured he didn’t look dangerous—they just pulled up on the side of the road and left the high beams on him. Hank squinted into the light and watched a shadowy figure get out of each side of the vehicle and come toward him.
“You alright?”
Hank couldn’t tell which one was talking. He stood and took a couple steps toward them and said, “Oh, I think I’m just fine.” He pointed his thumb back over his shoulder and smiled. “The car’s seen better days though.”
“I can see that.” It was the one on the right who was talking. The one who’d been driving. As they got closer, Hank could see that he was older and wore a star on his left breast pocket. It struck Hank as an odd bit of the old west, and he wondered briefly if these guys were really cops at all. Then Hank noticed that the young deputy had a flashlight out and was shining it on him, a useless