Page 37 of Gifts

“Who are you?” he mumbles out the side of his mouth, the rough brick biting into his skin.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know who I am. You tell me your connection to those girls and we can forget we ever met.”

He winces as I pull his forearm farther up his back, but that doesn’t keep him from spitting, “No way. I’ll get killed. Do to me what you want, but it won’t be as bad as I’ll get from my boss.”

I lean in and give more weight on his skinny, squirrely frame. “You don’t get it. I know where you live, I know where you’re hiding out, and if you move, I can find you again. Today was child’s play. I find people—it’s what I do. You flip for me and tell me who sent you there, I won’t call your parole officer. He and I have become buddies and bonded over your drug-peddling ass. You choose.”

“I’ve never seen those girls before.” He tries to appease me.

“You’d better never see them again. Tell me who sent you.”

“This is boring as fuck,” Grady mumbles from behind me. “I need to get home. Are we going to make him talk or what?”

“Give us thirty seconds,” Crew adds, his cool and calm voice laced with a warning. “He’ll be inviting you to Christmas dinner with his boss.”

“They’re getting antsy, Ray. They also don’t mind getting their hands dirty. This is your last chance to talk before I let them at you.”

It’s easy to feel his chest rise and fall with his labored breaths. If he pees himself, I’ll be annoyed as hell.

I push him into the bricks one more time before stepping back. He slumps against the building and holds out a hand to Grady and Crew who have stepped in front of me. “No wait—”

But he doesn’t get a chance to say anymore because Grady wasn’t kidding when he said he was bored. He grabs Raymond by the collar and throws him forward. Landing on his hands and knees with an umph, he falls forward on his face, skidding across the cement.

“Who the fuck sent you,” Grady waits for Raymond to push back up on his hands and knees and then kicks him to the side with his boot, “to peddle that shit,” he kicks him one more time and Raymond lands on his back, “to young girls?” Grady puts a foot to his chest and presses down.

“I wasn’t peddling anything,” Raymond croaks. “I was making a delivery, I wasn’t even supposed to collect money.”

“Who was the delivery from?” Crew demands as he steps forward.

Raymond finally closes his eyes and exhales. “My bud. I work for him on the side. I have a real job, too.”

“I don’t give a shit about your real job.” I glare down at him. “I want to know who sent you to those girls last week.”

“I’m about to get you up and let you spar with my buddy here.” Grady presses harder and motions to Crew. “He’s taken down badasses around the globe with a hand tied behind his back. You talk or I let him at you.”

He groans. “Fuck, okay. His name is Dooley.”

“That’s not a fucking name. Give me a real name,” I assert.

His eyes get wide and he panics. “It’s his name!”

“Where’s his territory?” Crew asks.

“Here and some of Fairfax. Maybe the District.”

Grady pushes off him and steps away. “Get the fuck out of here and don’t ever step outside of the beltway. You ever go that far west again, you’d better be on a fucking plane. And stay away from young girls.”

Raymond rolls to his side and scuffles to his feet. He never looks back and runs around the side of the building.

“I’ve gotta buddy who’s a detective at Fairfax PD. If he’s on the up and up about the location, we might be able to find this guy by his street name,” Crew says.

“I need to find out how this ties into Terry Mosher, the kid who tried to fuck with Levi.” I run my hand through my hair. “I’ve gotta go. Traffic’s gonna be a bitch and I’ve gotta pick up Emma. We have plans tonight.”

Crew looks at me and frowns. “You have plans?”

“With your kids?” Grady confirms with a question.

I glare back. “Can I not have plans?”

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