George (Seven)

Glanced at Broken Nose, still napping. Looked at Skinny Punk. Promised him no one would hear if he told me where their leader went. About this time, some random slob rounded the corner with a cup of coffee and a folded paper under his arm. I glared at him, told him the lockers were under repair. He looked at all of us, backed away right quick.

Skinny Punk said the key was his. I looked at his twitching eyelids. He was lying. Problem was, I never saw the slob's face when he was running from me that night. Didn't know if he was lying about being there.

I picked him up and turned him around. He looked too skinny to be the guy. Turned him back, told him that he could help me, or take his chances when the cops got there. He got real confused, asked if I was a cop. I told him I worked for a living.

Broken Nose started blinking and wheezing. Skinny Punk told him to keep his fat mouth shut, cause I was just a bounty hunter or something, wasn't official. Broken Nose couldn't believe they had bounties on their heads. They hit the big time.

I asked Broken Nose about the money in the satchel. He glared at me, then at Skinny Punk, asked if there was really money in there. Skinny Punk told Broken nose to shut up again. Neither of em said nothing till the cops rolled up half an hour later, all late to the dance.

It was Grayson and Tarver showed up. Soon as they saw me, Tarver sighed and shook his head. Grayson pulled his multitool and slit the zip ties, told me I couldn't keep binding people against their wills.

I told em as much of the story as they needed, but the cops weren't paying attention, just looking everywhere like poor old Grandpa lost his mind. Course, when they started interrogating Broken Nose and Skinny Punk, the two slobs were all “Sir” and “Thank you” and all that. Then them slobs started talking for real. But they didn't say nothing about the flush in the locker. At least with me, they had a chance to get it back.

Grayson took me aside while Tarver took the slobs to the squad car. Shook his head, told me I was getting too old for this, needed to stop playing their game. I told him once they started doing their job, I could stop doing it and retire.