Page 60 of Justice for JoElla

“Naw, I ain’t got no house.”

“And you had a lot of money.”

“Naw, but I got some, and I got more.” He sat there staring at JoElla, and she let him. Something was going on in his head, and she was hoping he’d speak to it. “Hey, don’t I know you?”

“Maybe. I was Josie’s neighbor.”

“Josie’s neighbor… The one who was a cop?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you weren’t no cop no more. I mean, after that shootin’ and all.” There was a weird look on his face, a sort of vacant expression, and JoElla didn’t know what to make of it.

“Yeah. That was me.”

“Uh-huh.” He just kept staring at her with that disconnected gaze, and she kept her composure. Whatever he was thinking, it was going to come out pretty soon. It was boiling right under the surface. “You know I had help, right?”

JoElla shrugged, lifted her eyebrows, and let the corners of her mouth drop. “Yeah. I just assumed you did.”

“Did you know I got away in Texas?”

“Yeah. I know. And he knows too. He came here looking for you,” she said and threw a thumb over her shoulder toward Quint.

“Awww, a Texas lawman! All this way for lil’ ol’ me? I feel so special,” Warmuth singsonged toward Quint.

“Why don’t you just tell us where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing?” Quint asked calmly.

“Why would I do that, unless you’ve got something to bargain with?”

JoElla wracked her brain. There had to be something… “How ‘bout this? How ‘bout I make sure you get a good job in the pen?”

“How ‘bout you get them to take the death penalty off the table?”

“I don’t have the ability to do that, but I can talk to them about it.”

“That ain’t good enough. I need more.”

“Did you hang out at Burton and Emma’s for a while?”

“Burton and Emma? Who’s Burton and Emma?” Just the way he said it and the expression on his face told JoElla that he had no idea who she was talking about. How could he not know? It was pretty damn confusing. Nothing was making sense. She was about to give up when he asked, “Hey, you, Texas, can you get me somethin’ to drink. I’m parched up in here, dawg.”

Quint glanced from Warmuth to JoElla and she nodded. “Yeah, sure. Be right back.” In seconds he was gone.

“I wanted to talk to you alone,” Warmuth said quietly, almost whispering.

“Okay. You’ve got me.”

“I’ll tell you this shit, but I won’t tell nobody else. But you have to promise me you’ll protect me.”

“Protect you? From?”

“Just listen to me. There’s some serious shit going down here. I got a source of money and places to stay. But they all connected here and there, and I gotta be careful, knowwhatI’msayin’?”

“No. I don’t know what you’re saying. I guess I’m just thick-skulled.”

“I done got by with everythin’ because I had somebody working to keep me goin’, but I gotta tell ya, it’s not gonna last much longer, and when that ends, he’ll kill me. I know that. So I’m gonna tell you what you need to know to stop him, but you’re on your own. You take anybody with you, he’ll know. You tell anybody you’re goin’, he’ll know. So I’m gonna tell you where to go and what to do, and you’d better follow my instructions exactly or we’ll both be dead. You got that?”

“I do.” She had no idea what he was talking about, but something was eating at the guy, and she wanted to know what it was. If this was the only way, then she’d do whatever it was.

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