Page 89 of Nuts

“I just fucking told you where he is. I mean, not exactly, but pretty much.”

His eyes shot wide. “You’re serious?”

“Serious as a dose of cock cancer.”

“You know where he is?”

I chuckled. “You know where he is. Now.”

“I fucking knew it,” he exclaimed. “You’ve been bullshitting me for two months about this. I knew that prick didn’t just disappear--”

“I never lied to you. Not once.”

“Don’t doubt that a bit, ‘Nut. Never have, and I’m sure you never will. But you skate around the truth when you don’t want to give an answer.”

“Maybe you ought to learn how to ask questions.”

“Maybe you ought to learn how to answer ‘em.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Is he dead?”

“Not sure. Haven’t been there in two days. Could be, I suppose. If he ain’t dead, he’s probably pretty thirsty.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. But he was alive two days ago?”

“When I left, yeah. Him and a couple tarantulas.”

His eyes thinned. “What in the fuck?”

“Trying to decide what to do with him.”

“He’s in a box?”

“Big fucker. One of them storage containers. Like the construction companies use.”

He let out a laugh. “You’ve got him in a metal container in middle of the fucking desert?”

“Not in the middle, no. Kind of on the edge.”

“What have you been doing with him?”

“Just fucking with him, kind of like you do the monkeys at the zoo. Questioned him for a few weeks. Then I started making my plan to do something with him. Just can’t decide what that’s going to be.”

“What are your options?”

“Suppose there’s two. Killing him, or keeping him.”

“He’s not a fucking puppy,” he said. “You can’t keep him forever. They’ll come looking for him sooner or later. Surprised they haven’t yet.”

“Been sending ‘em texts and emails. They think he’s on the lam.”

“You’ve been sending who texts and emails?”

“His wife. And, the feds.”

“You’re out of your fucking mind. God damn, ’Nut. Where do you come up with this shit? You’ve got an ATF agent in a metal container in the desert, and you’ve been fucking with him for 2 months?”

“Pretty much. Yep.”

“And they think he’s run off or something?”