BULLETS by Elijah Drive Read Free Book Online Page A

and then they’ll have a good, long fucking laugh together.”
    Camilla stared at him, her eyes burning, and bit a profane response back when Slick shuffled out of the back with Melvin and stepped up to the counter. Brower slid back and let Moore take care of it. Slick’s eyes went back and forth between Camilla and Brower, not missing the obvious tension.
    “Ms. Leon, look forward to seeing you again,” Slick said.
    She nodded. Slick glanced at Brower.
    “Look forward to seeing you again, Brower, but for entirely different reasons.”
    Brower ignored that as Slick signed the papers and Moore handed over his plastic bag of valuables. Slick took his shoes and belt out, dropped the shoes on the floor and slipped them on. He tucked his wallet into his pants and pocketed the cash after eyeballing it to make sure it was all there. He felt eyes on him as he searched the plastic bag, not finding something specific that he needed.
    “So where’s my phone?”
    “What phone?” Brower asked.
    “My cell phone. The one the sheriff took off of me. Where is it?”
    “You didn’t have a phone, sir.”
    Slick smiled, he’d hoped they’d do this. “You mentioned that you know what I do for a living, right, Brower?”
    “I do, and you can call me Deputy Brower.”
    “So you remember that I’m a professional card player. I sit at a table all day and analyze whether or not someone is lying to me. I’m good at it, I trained for it, learned everything there is to know about it from a former FBI interrogator who was a master at catching lies, truly. He saw everything. No one can hide all their lies, not completely, no one, our bodies give it away in very specific, personal ways. I learned the craft of reading them very well. So let me ask you again, where’s my phone?”
    “You didn’t have a phone, sir. I’m sorry.”
    Slick turned to Camilla. “See that?”
    “See what?”
    “His left eyebrow, catch it? It bounced up just a hair when he lied. That’s his tell. Let’s try again. Brower, did you or did you not have me beaten during questioning?”
    “Look—”
    “It’s a simple question, was I or was I not beaten in custody? Yes or no?”
    “I don’t have to answer to you—”
    “You do, however, answer to me, deputy. Answer the question, was he beaten while in custody?” Camilla asked.
    Brower took a breath, opened his mouth to speak but before the words even came out, his left eyebrow jumped up.
    “Hah! See, didn’t even need to say a damn thing and there it is. Bingo!” Slick grinned at Camilla, who only glared at the deputy, now supremely pissed.
    “You have an issue with your treatment in custody, take it up with the sheriff. I don’t answer to you or anyone,” Brower said. “End of story.”
    “Fine. Give me my phone and I’ll go.”
    Brower caught Moore staring at his forehead and pushed him aside.
    “Get back to work, Moore, stop fucking around. Listen, I don’t know what happened to your phone, this is all you had on you when you were brought in.”
    The eyebrow bounced up and down and it was next to impossible for everyone not to notice. Even Melvin enjoyed the show. Camilla stepped forward.
    “Where is it?” she asked.
    “If it’s not checked in then it’s not here. Everything else is here, including the roll of cash. Why would I take a phone? He didn’t have one on him when I processed him.”
    “Hah, now you’re getting it, you have to parse hairs to get by,” Slick said. “I didn’t have the phone on me when I was processed because Rawlings took it away before I was allegedly arrested. Good work, you’re figuring the game out. But that doesn’t mean you don’t know where my phone is. You do.”
    “Your phone is not here. That’s all I can tell you.”
    “Sure it is. You know it’s a smart phone, right Brower? Look at me,” Slick leaned on the counter. “It’s got a built-in GPS chip. Phone doesn’t even need to be on for me to track it. It’s how Thumper found me.