Page 74 of Corrupted Seduction

“Excellent,” Aurelio exclaimed. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

The kid whimpered.

Christ, this was definitely not my finest moment.

“Tell me,” Aurelio began, “who hired you to pick up that note at the park this evening?”

“I-I don’t know, man.”

Aurelio tsked and shook his head.

“I swear, I don’t know his name. I was just minding my own business, and this guy comes up to me. He tells he’ll pay me; all I gotta do is pick up a message for him, that’s it. No names, I swear, man.”

“Describe him, if you don’t mind,” Aurelio said with an encouraging smile.

The kid swallowed. “It was dark. He was wearing a hoodie, so it was hard to see his face. But he had tats! He handed me a phone, and his hands were covered in tats.”

“Tattoos of what?” Aurelio persisted.

“I don’t know. I swear I don’t. I didn’t get a good look at them, but they were black tats; no color at all.”

“The phone he gave you, where is it now?”

“In… in my pocket.”

“Good. Would you mind handing it to me?”

Christ, Aurelio was one eerie fucker, standing there looking like Mr. Rogers with a blade in his hand.

The kid’s hand shook as he reached into the pocket of his baggy, worn jeans. He nearly dropped it when he pulled it out and held it up for Aurelio to take it.

Aurelio handed it to me, and I scrolled through it one-handed. Just one number in the contacts list. Just one text to that number, reiterating the context of the note verbatim. No other activity on the phone. I had a feeling the number led to a burner phone, but that wasn’t the kid’s fault.

I nodded to Aurelio, letting him know to continue.

“Is there anything else you can think of?” he asked the kid. “Anything else you think might be useful to me?”

The kid’s sobs had slowed. He sniffled like he had the biggest cold in the world, then started to shake his head, but stopped.

“A car,” he said. “The guy was driving a fucking nice car. Black sports car. I-I don’t know anything else about it.”

I nodded again to Aurelio. We were done here. And thank fuck.

I unwound my arm from around the kid’s neck while Aurelio rolled up his leather bag of goodies.

“That… that’s it?” the kid asked. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

“Almost,” I said.

He swung his head around, looking up at me with wide eyes. To his credit, he hadn’t actually pissed his pants.

“You’re going to leave,ragazzo.” I looked around. “Somehow, I don’t think it will take you long to pack.”

“Leave? Where am I going to go, man?”

“If the man who paid you discovers you’ve spoken with us, he may not be too happy with you.”

“Fuck,” the kid cursed under his breath. He was still shaking like the prospect of having to leave was just as terrifying as two grown men here to torture him.

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