Page 87 of Sinners Reunion

“Have you forgotten what I do for a living, Ice Pick?” I splay my hands in front of me. “Discerning signals and deciphering language are my bread and butter. Blayne can tell you where the bull is, but I’m the one who can detect the bull’s shit.”

He squints for a moment, working with all his might to decipher what I’ve just said. Then he gets it, and he slaps his knee with a laugh. “You’re saying you got a good bullshit detector, but he’s just good at understanding farm animals.”

“Yes, precisely that.” Though it ruins the punchline when you explain the bloody joke, but no bother. “You could at least tell me what he’s been saying. Perhaps I can confirm any suspicions or clearances.”

Ice Pick thinks this over, then shakes his head. “I don’t know . . . I don’t think Blayne would like it.”

“I don’t think Blayne has to know,” Josie says. “It can stay between us. We just want to help you.”

He twists the beer can in his hand on the table. He takes another sip, then sighs. “He thinks it was you, King.”

Well, I didn’t expect him to spill the beans so simply. I also didn’t expect to be suggested as the culprit.

“What’s his logic? How’d he finger me?”

Ice Pick curls his lip, sending his mustache at a wonky angle. “I don’t want to know how he fingered you, buddy. That’s between the two of you.”

“What? No.” I drag my hand down my face. “How did he come to the conclusion that I was the one who betrayed your trust?”

“He’s been questioning everyone’s alibis. When Blayne went to talk to Chef, he said that he lied to Josie because you asked him to. He said he didn’t have no alibi for you.”

Josie folds her arms over her chest and sits back. “Did he, now?”

“You’ve always been so good to me, King,” Ice Pick says. “What Blayne said made my stomach hurt. I didn’t want to believe it.”

“Good! You shouldn’t believe it, and neither should you.” I pin Josie with a glare. “I’m not sure why Chef Maurice is lying, but you can be certain he is.”

“Which time?” Josie asks. “Was he lying when he said you were killing Cattle? Come to think of it, how did you get scratches on your back?”

Ice Pick sucks in a sharp breath. “Charity had fingernails!”

Josie nods as if he’s announced some relevant epiphany.

“The Cattle had fingernails, too. I had stripped down to my underwear so that I didn’t muddy up my clothes, and one of them clawed anywhere he could reach as I strangled him.” I turn to Josie. “You saw the state of me the next morning. I’d been in the brush all night, slaughtering and disposing of evidence, not fucking my mate’s plaything.”

Josie relaxes a bit, some of the fight gone from her eyes. She wants to believe me too.

I turn back to Ice Pick. “Did Blayne also tell you that she approached me? He was there. When he walked away, she invited me to the showers. Instead, I went to Chef’s bus after locking Josie in for the night.”

“Yeah, he did tell me. You were the one who waited this long to let me know my woman was running around behind my back.” Ice Pick groans and buries his face in his hands.

Well, I’ve made a right dog’s dinner of this entire fiasco. Let this be a lesson in the importance of immediate transparency. Now Blayne has convinced both Ice Pick and Josie to turn against me. Why in the hell would Chef lie like that?

“You two, follow me,” I say.

I slide out from behind the table and make my way to the front of the RV. Plopping down in the driver’s seat, I look at Josie and Ice Pick with my finger over my lips. When they nod, agreeing to remain silent, I raise the CB radio. After a few button mashes, I depress the side of the mic.

“RV There Yet to Burger Bus, over.”

I tap the steering wheel with my finger as static answers me. When I repeat the call a second time, he finally responds.

“I hate that stupid call sign. What do you want, King?”

“Rumor has it you decided to tell a little fib about where I was the night Charity cheated on Ice Pick. Why’d you do it, Chef?”

“Rumor has it someone other than Bennett has a food fetish, and once Blayne told me the truth, I felt no compunction to do the same. I lied and said that you weren’t killing the Cattle because I knew it would make you look guilty.”

“Blayne told you that I defiled the squash?” I ask, shocked. “How’d he come to know such a thing?”