I clasp my hands behind my back and saunter back toward my desk. “This is true. She’s got us there, doesn’t she,Frankie?”
He grins, his shoulders relaxed and his hands tucked deep in his pockets. “Can’t argue withfacts.”
I can almost hear Taryn’s exhale of relief behind me. It makes it that much more satisfying when I turn back around. “Oh, but you know what I do have?” I mean to pause for dramatic effect, but I’m too pumped to care. “The person you paid put the drugs in the wrong bag. It wasn’t even Shiloh’s bag you sabotaged,dumbass.”
“I didn’t…Icouldn’t…”
Since it seemed to knock her off balance the first time, I circle around her again. “See, I couldn’t figure out how in the hell you managed to get into all those places without being seen. You’re not necessarily plain looking,” I say, pointing to her dress. “I beat my head against the wall until Frankie’s friend, Paulie, called us back.” Pausing my stalking, I motion to Frankie again. “Care toelaborate?”
“Paulie said he remembered some new dude busting up to the meeting late that night,” Frankie explains. “He told me what he looked like then it hit me. I told theboss.”
I look back at Taryn and raise an eyebrow. “Any of this ringing abell?”
“No.” She smiles. It’s the kind of smile that shows all her teeth. The kind of smile that causes the right side of her mouth to twitch. And twitch. Andtwitch.
Walking over to her, I place a hand to the side of her lying, twitching face and run my thumb across her cheekbone. “Well, let me refresh your memory.” I guess she expects me to slap her because she flinches. Instead, I walk past her and resume my circle. “About three weeks ago, a new boy started hanging around the center. Quiet kid, chip on his shoulder, but that’s pretty common in the beginning. But this one never warmed up like the others. Kept to himself and did his own thing. Maybe that’s why I never noticed when he stopped comingaround.”
“I don’t have to listen to this shit,” Taryn huffs, turning to head toward the door. She makes it two steps before I grab her elbow and swing her around to faceme.
“Oh, stick around, sweetheart. It’s about to get good.” Releasing her, I walk slowly back to my desk. “Frankie heard this kid mention where he lived, so we paid him a visit. Want to know what hesaid?”
“Anything you repeat from a street thug is hearsay,” she hisses. “You should know thatfirsthand.”
“You’re exactly right. That’s why I invited him here to say it to your lying, fuckingface.”
I couldn’t have scripted it any better. Right on cue, a skinny kid over six feet tall walks in the room. He looks serious. Not smart serious—I’m talking don’t meet this kid in a dark alley because he’ll fuck your shit upserious.
I hope Taryn is pissing in her designer panties rightnow.
“Ah, Dax, come on in.” I motion him inside and he lumbers his way over to us, not giving her a second glance. I slap him on the back. “It seems our mutual friend, Taryn, is having a slight memory problem. Why don’t you jog it forher?”
Dax finally looks at Taryn, and all the money in the world couldn’t buy the expression on her face. Because it’s fuckingpriceless.
“My mom works for Taryn’s uncle in at the health department,” he begins, his voice surprisingly steady for a boy about to confess to some serious shit. “She knew you ran the center here and said I should come check it out. She talked to Mr. McDaniel about it and he told Taryn to hook me up with some mentoring or something. I said, “That’s cool.” I heard y’all had a ring and did some MMA shit up inhere.”
“Get to the good part, dude,” Frankiewhispers.
Dax nods. “Yeah, so instead of bringing me here because I don’t have a car or nothing, Taryn said she could get my mom a raise and then threw a shit ton of cash at me as long as I did some stuff forher.”
“What stuff?” I prompthim.
He shrugs. “Fuck with some chick. Scare her a little. But shit got real when she made me score her a lot of weed and dump it in that chick’sbag.”
“So why tell the truth now? I mean, you’re incriminating yourself aswell.”
“Because my mom didn’t get the raise, for one. Look, man, I might do a lot of bad shit, but I’m not gonna bus roll an innocent girl. Taryn told me this chick killed her best friend, but she didn’t tell me it was an accident.” He spins to face Taryn, his stare deadly. “I’m no executioner, bitch. You’re on yourown.”
Taryn’s eyes blaze with fire. “You fuckingtraitor.”
“Call me whatever you want,” Dax says, glaring back at her. “I’m not going down for this by myself just because you gotdumped.”
Fake tears well in Taryn’s eyes. “It’s still my word against his! Whose word do you think people are going to believe, a McDaniel or an uneducatedpunk?”
“They’re going to believeours.”
Everyone turns as Will steps through the doorway, closely followed by two uniformed police officers. Both Taryn and I are about to jump out of our skins but for two different reasons. I’ve been living for this moment since Frankie picked up the phone to call her. Taryn, however, looks like she’s about to puke up every meal she’s eaten since juniorhigh.
The first officer pulls out a pair of handcuffs from his belt and moves in behind her. “Miss McDaniel, please put your hands behind yourback.”
