Chapters (95)
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by David Swinson
- Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Hachette Digital.
Head lowers, just like his uncle, and he starts shaking again. I realize I’ve already crossed the line. Too late to call Hurley or Millhoff. That’d fuck me no end, so I have to play this out.
“I…I…I don’t…” He stops, scared, and it’s something more than the predicament he’s in with me.
“What is it? You tell me, Bid. You do nothing, but tell me. I do the rest. I’ll even let you keep this shit in the baggie too.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Yeah, it’s that simple.”
“I can’t.”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re hiding, but I’m going to dump the contents of this baggie in the toilet right now unless you talk.”
“I’ll pay you back somehow.”
“How the hell are you gonna pay back a life?”
Tears stream.
“I had nothing to do with that,” he says, and, judging by the look he gives me afterward, I know he regrets saying it.
“Fuck it,” I say, standing.
I grab the baggie. I know for a fact this shit here means more to him right now than anything.
“No—wait. Don’t do that.”
See?
“You gonna talk? And I’ll know if you’re fuckin’ playing me. No second chance.”
I set the baggie back on the table and sit down. I can tell he’s aching inside, his body and mind desperately needing to light up.
“Let’s start here first—where’d you sell the gun?”
Hesitating again. Fear. I give him a couple of seconds.
“I’m not going to ask again.”
“You’re going to get me killed!”
“No. No one will know where it came from. They might put it together if you got yourself locked up, cooperated, and then whoever these people you’re dealing with start getting locked up because of it. But you’re not locked up, and what you tell me stays with me only.”
“You’re still a cop, though. I know how this shit goes for someone like me.”
“Listen, though.” I let him believe I’m still a cop. “I like to handle things my way, especially when it concerns my life getting jacked.”
He bows his head.
“Look at me.”
He does.
“Now answer the question. Who’d you sell the gun to?”
“Another police officer, just like you. Officer Jasper.”
Forty-Seven
Forty-Seven
Officer Willy Jasper.”
That surprised the fuck outta me. But then again, maybe not so much. I don’t know if I believe it. But I start to thinking it’s more than a coincidence, me showing up at the nightclub the few times I did, then the burglary and then Jeffrey being murdered at my home.
But why?
“What about the kid who was killed in my kitchen?” I ask.
“Listen, Officer, please—”
“Detective.” Only because I like hearing that again, and I want the respect.