Page 70 of Cash

“Interesting.” Erasmus’s upper lip twitched, and it almost resembled a smile.

It immediately made Brick uncomfortable.

“So! Looks like you got yourself nice and fucked up,” Junior said gleefully to Jules. “Maybe you shoulda fuckin’ waited for us, huh? Maybe? Just maybe?”

“Fuck off.” Jules snorted, peeling out of his suit jacket. “Didn’t have time to wait.”

“What happened?” Erasmus asked.

“I…” Jules rubbed his forehead. “I don’t remember.”

“You were drugged.” Brick grimaced when all three men now turned to stare at him.

“Go on,” Jules urged. “Tell ’em what happened.”

“Jules came home, and he passed out almost the second he got in the door,” Brick said. “He told me to call Detective Cutter before he went down, so I did. Him and Fanny the medical examiner came over, and Fanny is the one who stitched him up. Fanny said he hadn’t lost enough blood to be that out of it, and we found this syringe in his pocket full of some blue stuff. They said it was probably rohypnol because of the color, and Cutter did one of those little drink tests.”

“Cutter friend or foe?” Junior asked Jules.

“Unwilling friend,” Jules replied simply.

“And Fanny?”

“Dunno.” Jules shrugged. “He’s with Cutter, so who the fucks knows.”

“But it was Finchie that fucked you up, huh?” Junior headed into the kitchen.

“Can’t fuckin’ remember yet. That’s who I went to look for anyway.”

“Did you get the ledgers?”

“No, I got stabbed.”

“Ain’t that a bitch.” Junior had found the bottle of whiskey, and he poured himself a glass.

“Pour me one,” Jules ordered. “A fuckin’ big one.”

“Yeah, yeah, hang on.”

“Your text said it was Finchie,” Erasmus mused. “So, it was either him or one of his employees.”

“Finchie, as in Reginald Arthur Finch IV?” Brick piped up.

“Yeah, that’s the bitch.” Junior walked back out of the kitchen, sipping his whiskey and carrying a second glass over to Jules. He paused, glancing over his shoulder at Brick. “We cool to talk in front of your… uh… whatever he is?”

“Boyfriend,” Jules said without hesitation.

Junior inhaled whiskey and promptly coughed. “Boyfriend? You fuckin’ kiddin’ me? Since fuckin’ when did you decide you like to go man cave spelunkin’?”

Brick blushed and wished his coffee was whiskey now.

“Since I met him,” Jules said simply. “He’s real smart. Already thinks last night was a setup.”

“Does he?” Erasmus smiled that weird almost smile again. “Well, our suspicions are the same then. With his family connections, Finchie could have easily passed along a message through the Raleigh Police Department to lure Jules out.”

“What connections?” Brick asked. “I mean, I know the Finches are rich, but how can someone just make the police do what they want?”

For some reason, that was very funny because everyone laughed.

---