a mismatched sort of duo; the tall one with dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes, the other with red hair and blue eyes. One thing that stood out more than their odd combination?
They were both in shape.
“The name’s Gary,” he answered. “This here is Merrick.”
I adjusted my purse strap over my shoulder. “Can’t say I’ve heard of either of you,” replied, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Oh, but we’ve heard of you,” he tossed back.
Randy.
There was no other possible connection. Sure, I had friends and went out on occasion, but I didn’t do much beyond that. I might live in a bad neighborhood, but I didn’t spend time hanging out in my front yard.
“Is that so?” I wasn’t going to give away anything. I didn’t know what this was about, and I wanted to get away from them unscathed, if possible.
“We’re friends of Randy’s,” Merrick said helpfully. “Good friends.”
My heart started to beat a frantic tattoo inside my chest, but I did my best to school my features. “I’m sorry, but he’s never mentioned you guys,” I replied smoothly. Or, at least, I hoped it was smoothly.
“That’s okay,” Gary said. “I could see how he’d want to keep you all to himself.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I prayed to God this wasn’t going where I thought. “I don’t know where he’s at if you’re looking for him,” I told them. “We…we broke up a while back.”
Merrick tsk’ed. “That’s a shame. Breakups are always difficult.”
“Yeah,” Gary agreed. “Messy things, those.”
What. In. The. Actual. Hell?
For a brief moment, I wondered if they were on something. “Well…uh, as you can see, I can’t help you if you’re looking fo-”
Gary interrupted me. “We’re not looking for Randy, per se, Robbie. More like…we’re looking for something he was…holding for us.”
“You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Merrick asked.
My mouth went dry knowing where this was going. Randy had either money or product for these guys, and now they were collecting.
“I told you…” I had to clear my throat, which probably make me look guilty as hell. “We broke up weeks ago. I…I haven’t seen him.”
“See, that’s the thing,” Gary remarked. “The first week Randy didn’t show up, we chalked it up to a bender. That happens sometimes. You get…overwhelmed by your…party of choice.” I stood there listening to these men talk about drugs and deals as if they were discussing the weather. “The second week he stayed missing, we thought he might have gotten pinched and was in jail.”
“A quick computer search proved that wrong,” Merrick added.
Gary took a step closer towards me, but he kept a respectful enough distance that, if anyone walking by were to see us, it’d look like we were just some friends talking. “Now, the third week he remained gone, we thought he might be dead.”
“Searched the obituaries and made some inquiries at the morgue, and city records say he’s not dead,” Merrick remarked. “At least, he’s not in Cedar Creek dead.”
“So, the fourth week pointed to Randy possibly skipping town,” Gary continued. “But, you see, that just doesn’t feel right.” He cocked his head to the side. “I think the man done pissed off the wrong person and maybe he just didn’t get a proper spiritual send off, you know?”
The sensation of dread danced down my spine. “I…I still don’t know how I can help you guys.”
Merrick grinned and it didn’t put me at ease at all. “Did you ever see Randy with an engraved wooden box?”
“Very beautiful,” Gary threw in for added flair.
“Indeed,” Merrick agreed. “It about a foot long and six inches wide.”
“And it’s made of real wood,” Gary supplied further. “None of that particle board bullshit. But real solid oak, intricate designs on the sides.”
“Uh, no,” I told them. “But then…I didn’t spend a lot of time at his place. The…longer we dated, the more time he spent at my house.”
“Well, that’s what we kind of figured,” Gary replied. “So, that’s why we think there might be a chance that this box could be at your house.”
My eyes widened.
No way.
I shook my head. “I don’t th…think so,” I stammered. “I never saw him with a box like that.” I started to fidget in fear, but I was sure they wouldn’t see it that way. They probably thought I was panicking over getting caught with the box. “I didn’t really see him with much, actually.”
Gary reached out and started playing with a lock of my hair that had fallen