They were at the police station most of the night. Detectives Lender and Swinney took turns asking Theo the same questions over and over again, until the answers started to run together in his head. Swinney was all right, based on Theo’s previous, limited experience with her. She had her hair buzzed except for a few longer, reddish-blond strands at the front, and she had the hard look of a woman who had seen too much. The problem was that she was partnered with Lender. Lender reminded Theo of a squirrel, with his big bushy mustache and his huge glasses and the invisible aura that suggested he carried a pocket protector. He was a dirty cop, and the year before, he had threatened Auggie, Theo, and Theo’s daughter in an effort to find and destroy evidence of his corrupt dealings.
When Theo finally stumbled into his house, it was past five, and he barely had the strength to get himself upstairs and into bed. His last thought before sleep was Auggie. The police had separated them, and when they had released Theo, a uniformed officer had told him that Auggie had gone home hours ago.
He woke a few minutes before noon, his head pounding, his knee on fire from the way he had moved when he had kicked the guy at Maniacs, and his mouth tasting like he’d been eating cat litter. Theo limped downstairs, drank a few glasses of water, and took ibuprofen. He stretched his knee as best he could. Then he hobbled into the shower and cleaned up.
Wednesday meant no classes; he only had to TA for Wagner on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he had scheduled his own courses for the same days. In theory, having Monday, Wednesday, and Friday free meant that Theo could do readings and work for his classes, grade papers for Wagner, and make progress on his thesis. In practice, it meant that he stretched out on the couch in his boxers and fell asleep again almost immediately.
A knock woke him. The shadows in the house had shifted, and when he looked at the clock, he was surprised to see that it was almost three. His stomach grumbled, and Theo tried to remember when he had eaten last—the peanut butter sandwich the day before, when Auggie had surprised him?
Another, longer knock came at the door.
Theo got up, grateful to find that his knee, aside from being extra stiff, was already feeling better. He made his way to the door and opened it.
Auggie and Orlando were standing there.
“I know you’re probably still mad at me,” Auggie said, “but nipples.”
Theo shut the door.
“It’s ok,” he heard Auggie say on the other side of the door. “That’s actually a good sign.”
Theo limped upstairs, found shorts and a t-shirt that smelled clean, and dressed. When he got back downstairs, he opened the door again.
“See?” Auggie whispered.
Orlando didn’t look convinced. He was red eyed, and he sniffled without seeming to realize it.
“I’m sorry about your brother,” Theo said.
Orlando nodded. “Thanks for finding him. I don’t think my family—I mean, nobody else even tried. The police tracked down Cal’s Mustang this morning; it was at an abandoned warehouse, that old place that used to be Sexten Motors.”
Theo grunted. “A Mustang, and he ditched it at an abandoned industrial park.” Then, to Auggie, “Why do you smell like meatballs?”
Auggie elbowed Orlando, and Orlando retrieved a paper bag from the steps and held it out.
“From Mighty Street,” Auggie said. “I know you like their food, and I figured you hadn’t eaten.”
Theo’s stomach gave an ominous rumble.
“And I wanted to apologize of course,” Auggie said.
“Of course.”
“So I’m apologizing. I apologize. I’m really, really sorry about what happened last night. You’re the bravest, smartest, strongest professor in the whole wide world, and you kick ass like Chuck Norris.”
“Try a soft open,” Theo said, snatching the bag from Orlando. “You do the same thing in your papers: you start off too strong.”
Carrying the sandwich, he headed to the kitchen.
“I got a 98.5% in your class,” Auggie shouted after him.
“98.5%. Not 100%,” Theo said without looking back.
“He’s just grumpy because he hasn’t eaten,” Auggie said. “Those meatballs are going to soften him right up.”
Theo had left the door open—by this point, he wasn’t sure anything less than an airtight concrete vault could keep Auggie out—and sure enough, Auggie and Orlando appeared in the kitchen while Theo was unwrapping the sandwich. The meatballs were still steaming, and the bread was soft, with a good crust—in other words, a perfect meatball sandwich. Theo opened a White Rascal, took a bite of sandwich, gulped beer, and sighed.
“Orlando’s fine with water,” Auggie said, reaching for the fridge door, “but a beer sounds pretty good to me.”
“I will stab the peanut-butter knife through your hand,” Theo informed him.
“You know what? Water sounds good too.”
The kids sat at the table with their water while Theo ate. Between sips of beer, he tried to figure out how bad it was going to be. Pretty bad, he guessed. Auggie normally would have stayed away for a while and then come back when he knew Theo had cooled off—or when an emergency made it impossible to avoid him any longer. The thought made the meatballs sink to the bottom of Theo’s stomach. Maybe that’s what this was. Another emergency driving Auggie to his door.
“Spit it out,” Theo said as he balled up the butcher paper.
Auggie winced and looked at Orlando.
“Um,” Orlando said, looking first at Auggie and then at Theo. “So, my parents.”
Auggie nodded encouragingly.
“They want to hire you.”
“No,” Theo said.
“You haven’t even heard him out,” Auggie said.
“Fine. What do they want to hire me to do?”
“Us,” Auggie said. “They want to hire us.”
“The police are saying Cal’s death is drug related. There’s no way.”
“Orlando,” Theo said, trying to gentle his voice, “we saw the drugs. You and Auggie found them in his apartment. You knew he was using when you asked Auggie to help you find him.”
“I know,” Orlando said. He shot out of his seat and began pacing the kitchen. “I know, ok? I know. But there’s no way someone killed him because of drugs. No way.”
“A lot of deals happen at that rest stop. That’s why we went to Maniacs. I asked around, and people I know, people who didn’t have any reason to lie to me, they told me Cal used to go there sometimes to buy.”
“Why? There are plenty of people who sell drugs in Wahredua. Why would Cal drive all the way out to that rest stop?”
“Better prices,” Theo said. “Or a personal connection.”
“Someone he trusted,” Auggie said. “Or the opposite, someone he thought he could take advantage of.”
Orlando shot a hurt look at Auggie.
“I’m just saying he could have had a reason,” Auggie said.
“And this is a police investigation now,” Theo said. “They’ll figure out what happened.”
“Like last year?” Orlando said.
“I think—”
“I don’t care what you think.” Orlando paused, as though shocked by his own words, but then he said, “All my family cares about is . . . is making this look better. I want you to find the truth. If it was drugs, fine. If that’s the truth, then fine. But the police are going to sweep this under the rug. They don’t care what happened because they think they already know. They think Cal was just some stupid user who got himself killed because he tried to steal from his dealer or because he couldn’t pay up. My parents will pay you a lot more than two thousand dollars to come up with something better. I want the truth; you get paid. Everybody wins.”
“What you’re talking about, sweeping Cal’s death under the rug, that’s not how the police work.”
“Don’t do that!” Orlando’s voice broke. “Don’t pretend that last year didn’t happen!”
Theo scratched his beard and looked at Auggie.
“Orlando, will you give us a minute?” Auggie said.
Wiping his cheeks, Orlando nodded and made his way out of the room. A moment later, the front door shut behind him.
“No,” Theo said.
“Please.”
“No, Auggie.”
Auggie slid out of the chair onto his knees. He was faster than Theo, and he caught Theo’s legs when Theo tried to back up. “Please, Theo. I’m begging you.”
“This is ridiculous. Will you get up, please? And let go of me.”
“Please. Please. I will literally do everything you tell me. I won’t question you. I won’t do stupid things like I did last night. I swear to God, Theo.”
He was staring up at Theo, his dark eyes bright, lips parted, the hollow of his throat exposed. Theo couldn’t help the thoughts. Theo couldn’t even hate himself for thinking them, even though he knew they made him a very, very bad man.
“Why do you care?”
“I want to help Orlando.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me.”
Auggie bit his lip. His fingers were warm and surprisingly firm at the back of Theo’s thighs. “I need the money. I didn’t take the two thousand; I couldn’t take money from them, not after we found Cal dead. But—but I can take money for this, for helping them find the truth. And I do want to help Orlando. He’s a total nutjob, but he’s—he’s actually kind of sweet once he’s not a psycho stalker, and you saw how his family treats him.”
“You can get a job at Dairy Queen. Hell, you can get a job doing jerkoff videos.” And where in the world had that idea come from? “You can make money a million ways, Auggie. I don’t want you involved in this.”
“I can’t do it without you. They won’t hire just me; I already asked.”
Theo opened his mouth to tell Auggie no.
Auggie’s eyes were very soft and very brown.
“Not until I talk to Cart.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m not saying yes.”
“Oh my God, thank you, Theo. Thank you.” Auggie was trying to hug him around the legs, and Theo had his hand on Auggie’s head, pushing him away, because he was pretty sure he was heartbeats away from popping a life-ending boner.
When Theo finally broke free of Auggie’s grip, he said, “And you don’t do anything until I tell you what I learned from Cart.”
“Of course.”
“Swear it, Auggie.”
“I swear.”
“And you do exactly what I say. When I say it. No arguments.”
“Obviously. Of course. Exactly what you tell me to do.”
He was giving Theo crazily big, innocent eyes.
“Auggie.”
“What? I said I’ll do it. Whatever you say.”
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“This is just me. It’s just my normal way of looking.”
If anything, his eyes got bigger.
“I hate undergrads. I hate them. You and the rest of them. You all think you’re so goddamn funny.”
Auggie fell back on the floor, laughing.
“Go away,” Theo said. “I need more beer to deal with this shit.”