Page 49 of Trigger

“Not achance in hell. You saved my life last night. I will owe you forever.”

“You’reexaggerating. And you called me babe just to annoy me.”

“Yeah,you’re probably right. Babe.”

Chapter 11

Spilling Secrets

Carter

Oncein the hospital, things started to look up, especially since Bob turned out tobe surprisingly cooperative. Well, not immediately.

“Hello,Bob,” I said when we entered his room and found him slurping on a milkshake.“We heard you got shot, so we came to see how you’re doing.”

Hiseyes widened in alarm, and a fine sheen of sweat coated his chubby face. Helooked as if he saw two ghosts, so there was no need for the introduction.

“Idon’t know anything,” he mumbled, looking at me and then at Thorsen, whoapproached the machine beeping next to his bed.

“Youand I both, pal,” Thorsen said. “Do you know what these tubes are for, Carter?They can’t all be useful, can they?”

Hereached for one of the many tubes connected to the machine and gave it a small shake.Bob’s eyes all but popped out of their sockets.

“Don’ttouch that. It’s my oxygen.”

“Youcan’t breathe, Bob?” I said, walking up to his bed. “I’m sad to hear that.Thorsen, leave that tube alone. It’s Bob’s oxygen.”

“Whichtube?” Thorsen asked, pulling the tube out of the machine. “Oopsie.”

“Itwasn’t me!” Bob exclaimed, wide-eyed. “It was Davidoff. He thought you cameafter him, so he had you thrown into that pit. He said he would rather die thango to jail.”

“Itwas Baldie, Thorsen.” I informed him. “It wasn’t Bob. Stop playing with thatmachine.”

“Youcould have alerted the police, Bob,” Thorsen said matter-of-factly. “Instead,you left us in that bunker to rot.”

Bobsnorted. “Right. Davidoff would have killed me if I said anything.”

“Whatabout Sophie Malik?” I asked him, sitting on the edge of his bed. “Why did youkill her?”

“Ididn’t kill her or anyone else,” Bob growled. “You’re barking up the wrongtree, pal.”

“Youdidn’t even ask us who Sophie Malik is,” Thorsen said. “That’s suspicious,Bob.”

Bobsneered. “Oh, so you’re the bad cop, and the grumpy one is the good cop. Well,fuck that, Viking clone. I know my rights. I want a lawyer.”

“You’rewrong, Bob,” I said, standing up. “He’s the bad cop, but I’m the worse cop.”

When Ipulled out my gun and pointed it at his face, he paled.

“Uh-uh,”Thorsen said, shaking his head. “You made my partner mad, Bob. Not a goodidea.”

Clearly,my reputation preceded me because Bob immediately remembered everything.

“Ididn’t kill her. I swear. I just threw her out of the club, that’s all.”

“Whywould you do that?”

“Shewas causing trouble, along with the blue-haired faggot she came with. They weredancing and drinking and drawing too much attention to themselves. Some guysstarted to fight over her, so I threw both her and her buddy out.”

---