Page 41 of Stand By You
“Vaping. Prescription THC,” Slick said. “You can check with my doctor. It helps calm my anxiety.”
“And what do you have to be nervous about?” Simons asked.
“Life, dude. It’s a bitch,” Slick replied. “I always had anxiety in school.”
“Me too,” Wizard piped up. “My doc gave me the same advice.”
“Tell us why you came in tonight?” Simons said.
“We found that body, dude,” Slick said. “We had nothing to do with it.”
“But you knew him, right?” Simons asked.
“Sure,” Wizard said. “He hired us to do odd jobs.”
“Like what?” Kohl asked.
“Run errands,” Slick said. “We’re bike messengers, so adding on a little job here and there on the side isn’t a problem.”
“What if I tell you I don’t believe that is what you were doing for the man,” Simons said. “What if I tell you I think you are lying through your teeth. What did the man hire you to do?”
The two looked at one another for a few moments, making funny faces and tilting their heads, before they looked back at him.
“Okay. Okay,” Wizard said. “He hired us to pick up this kid at the zoo. You know, the one that Amber Alert is about. We’re your guys of interest.”
Simons nodded. “Now we’re getting somewhere. And why did he hire you to pick up the kid?”
“Because he’s into child recovery, rescuing kids in danger from abusive parents,” Slick said.
Simons glanced at Kohl then back at them. “Was the kid you took with an abusive parent?”
“Yea, man. His old man was the worst kind.” Slick leaned across the table. “Withholding his insulin. It’s a wonder the kid didn’t die from it.”
“Right on,” Wizard chimed in, banging his fist on the table. “We know about dead beat dads. We both had one. But this man is the worst doing that to his kid.”
“His insulin? Are you telling us that Travis McGinty is a diabetic?” Kohl said.
“Yea,” they said in unison.
“That’s what Carlton told us, dude. Hand to God!” Wizard held up his hand for emphasis.
“We weren’t told that bit of information from the family,” Simons said.
“Don’t worry, we took care of him, Carlton gave us a patch to put on the kid to help regulate his insulin,” Slick said, nodding and smiling.
“A patch? Tell me about that,” Simons said.
“Pretty simple, just open the packet and slap it on the skin, you know, like a band aid,” Slick said. “Insulin goes in, kid’s okay, capeesh?”
“I know how it works,” Simons said. “So, you placed this patch on the kid and then what happened?”
“He went to sleep, pretty quick,” Wizard described. “I was worried because he slept and slept the whole time we were with him, but Carlton told us that was what would happen and not to worry about it.”
Simons nodded and turned to his partner. “I think it’s time to wake up Nick and Jillian. Check with her to see if Travis is a diabetic, we’ll need to get his medical records and have them come to the station.”
“Will do,” Kohl said, standing. “Can I bring either one of you something to drink?”
“We’re good,” Slick said.
