Page 83 of Cash

“Hey! I walked in and your dick was hangin’ out! I got fuckin’ distracted!” Junior protested. “The first priority was tellin’ you that we hadn’t grabbed Finchie yet. Then it was makin’ sure you knew Brick’s little friend got stabbed! I thought that was pretty fuckin’ important!”

“Junior, for fuck’s sake.”

“Fuck you!” Junior rolled his eyes and groaned. “Listen, the motherfuck didn’t know nothin’. Not that would help us anyway. There’s some sort of fucked system at the ME’s place where certain people go over to certain crime scenes, okay? Wink wink, nudge nudge.”

“To cover up crimes,” Brick realized out loud. “Trixie was right. There really is a conspiracy to cover up murders.”

“Yup. But sweet little Fanny claims he ain’t on the rotation, okay? And after Raz almost bit off his pinkie, I believes him.” Junior shrugged.

“So, he’s not the one who told Finchie where I was?” Jules cut in.

“Don’t think so, no. He acted like he didn’t even know who the fuck you were. It’s a dead end.”

Brick was still caught up on the striking mental image of Erasmus biting someone’s finger off, and he asked glumly, “Is there any more alcohol here? Please tell me there’s more?”

“Cabinet by the sink,” Jules replied. “Go get it, baby.”

Brick squeezed Jules’s knee and then stood up, trudging over to the kitchen.

“We know it ain’t Fanny, it ain’t none of us here, so that leaves the movin’ guys, the realtor, and the cable guy.” Junior held his head up high. “While Erasmus keeps an eyeball out for Finchie, I’m gonna go knock on some doors. But you know, quiet like.”

“Don’t suppose you saw Detective Cutter over there?” Jules asked.

“No. I dunno where he’s at. Who the fuck knows?”

“He really does not like us,” Brick said as he came back with a bottle of vodka he’d found. He certainly wasn’t intending to get drunk, but he was desperate to take the edge off his nerves.

“No, he does not,” Jules said, “but he did help save my life.”

“While that is true, I don’t think we can count on that happening again.” Brick took a few pulls straight from the bottle, hissed from the burn, and then poured some in Jules’s glass. “Pretty sure he said your one favor is used up.”

“I ain’t worried about it.” Jules sipped the vodka. “Everything is gonna be fuckin’ fine.”

“Says you.” Junior arched his brow. “You got a plan, huh?”

“I do.” Jules set his glass down. “You go on and rattle some skulls, see if any of those fuckers ran off and sang to Finchie. If they did, maybe they know where he’s hiding out. Erasmus is gonna keep a watch on the funeral shit, see if Finchie pops up there. If not, then we’re gonna go see Miss Trixie over at the hospital and see if she remembers somethin’.”

“And then if that don’t fuckin’ work?” Junior pressed.

Jules smiled. It was not a nice smile. “Then we do things the hard way.”

“Detective Cutter is not gonna be happy.” Junior grinned.

“No, he is definitely not.”

Brick grimaced. “Do I even wanna know what that means?”

Jules smooched Brick’s cheek.

“Is that a no? Are you telling me no?”

“That’s a no, baby.”

“A big one,” Junior agreed. He headed to the door with a wave. “You kids have fun now! I’ll call you later after I’ve made some new buddies. Try to keep your fuckin’ dick in your pants while I’m gone.”

Jules winked. “I ain’t makin’ no promise I can’t keep.”

“Ugh. Later.”

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