Page 170 of Five Mountain Daddies

“Exactly. At least help out your bottom line. I mean, what’s it matter toher?”

“Hey, wait a minute—” she starts, but Wyatt interruptsher.

“I mean, I have her already. Could just take her down to the precinct right now, get a nice pat on the back from my sergeant. That’d be way easier thanthis.”

“I think it’s the best solution,” Isay.

“Wait,” she says, sitting up straight. “Hold on,guys.”

“No, I think you’redone.”

“It was a drug deal.” The words tumble out of her mouth all at once, and she looks surprised at herself. I half expect her to put her hands over her mouth and sit back, but instead she just slouches forward,resigned.

“What was?” Wyatt asks, eyesnarrowed.

“He got this shit, I know don’t know, some pills,” she says softly. “He was bragging about it for months to me. And then the night he said he was going to sell them…” She trailsoff.

I stare at her in horror. “He was sellingpills?”

“Percocet or some shit,” she says. “You know, opioids.” She rolls her eyes. “All the fucking rich idiots want the pill shit, even though heroin is the same andcheaper.”

“Back up,” Wyatt says. “He was killed during a drugdeal?”

“That’s right,” she says. “Shit, I mean, I told him not togo.”

“Who wasbuying?”

She shakes her head. “He didn’t tellme.”

“Really?” I ask her. “He bragged about it, but didn’t tell you thebuyer?”

She glares at me. “He didn’t fucking trust me,okay?”

Wyatt glances in my direction. “Whynot?”

She sighs. “Because I’m a fucking junkie and he was afraid I’d try to fuck things up.” She looks defiantly at him. “Is thatenough?”

He watches her for a second. I’m not sure what he’s thinking, but that’s a lot of new information, and I’m still trying to process itall.

I didn’t know Atticus sold drugs. I mean, I figured that’s what he did for the Niners, but I didn’t know for sure. I certainly didn’t know he was selling enough drugs to get killed. It explains a lot though, a drug deal gone wrong. He got robbed for his drugs, and maybe he put up a fight, which is how he got stabbed and shot so many times. Maybe he was trying to make his life better, and this was his way out, and it all wentbad.

I can imagine my brother in total fear but still fighting for his life. And he was left there alone in that alleyway todie.

“That’s enough,” Wyatt says softly. “You did a good job,Kristi.”

“And now I can have myshit?”

Wyatt laughs. “Fuck no. You can go the fuck home and pray I don’t bust yourass.”

She looks shocked. “You fucking piece of shit,” she says. “What I just told you could get me killed, you know that? Those people are still outthere.”

“You’re lucky I don’t arrest you, stupid junkie,” he says to her, all menace and anger. It surprises me how quickly he turns it on. “You need to shut your fucking mouth, go home, and stay there. If I have to hunt you down again, things won’t beeasier.”

She stares at him, clearly surprised. She quickly gets herself together. “You don’t scareme.”

“I should.” He stares at her. “Now go the fuck home before I change my mind and drag you by the hair tojail.”

She watches him for a second before sliding out of the booth. She’s about to leave, but before she does, she turns to me. “I’m sorry about him, okay?” she says to me. “He was a nice person. Didn’t deserve what hegot.”

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