“Yep.”
He grinned, his front teeth slightly crooked, turning him from cute to adorable. “So I’d be your informant. For real?”
“That’s right. I’ll add you to the list of my confidential informants. Now how about it? Food for info?”
He held out a hand. “You got a deal.”
Twenty minutes later,the boy had eaten her out of a solid thirty bucks. Jane had no idea where he was putting it, but he looked like he could use the protein. She’d missed lunch, so she did her best to eat something healthy. The molasses cookie had been a splurge, but she figured she’d earned it.
Christian sat back and patted his swollen stomach. “Ah. That hit the spot.”
“You sure? I think they still have some groceries left on the shelves.”
He snickered. “Hey, you said anything I wanted to eat.”
“I did.”
“Okay, boss. What do you want to know about Bandit?”
“How’d you get the dog?”
“I found him where me and my friends hang out.”
“Which is where?”
He nodded in the direction behind him, which meant anywhere.
“In the Greenbelt?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“You found him?”
Christian nodded.
“Did he have a leash? A collar? Did he look all right?”
“He had his collar on, which is how I knew his name was Bandit. He seemed a little scared. He was all alone, and it was kind of dark.”
Jane’s hopes for details on anything associated with her killer died a swift death—pun intended.
“But probably because his owner ditched him,” the boy continued. “The guy was nice about it though. It was weird.”
Jane caught her breath. “You saw him? Bandit’s owner?”
Christian nodded. “It was pretty dark. I couldn’t see much. But he was a tall white guy. He had big hands. I noticed that because he had gloves on, and it’s summer out.”
“What about his hair? Eyes? Could you describe him to a sketch artist?”
Christian polished off his remaining cola and gave a satisfied burp. “Nah. He was in the shadows, so I could see how tall he was and that he wasn’t fat. But he had on a long jacket and gloves.”
She had him describe as much as he could remember.
“Bandit didn’t seem scared of him, so I figured the guy couldn’t be too bad. But I wish people would stop dumping pets in the Greenbelt.” Christian scowled. “It’s mean. My mom doesn’t have a lot of money or anything, but she’d never dump me. She loves me.”
“Sounds like a good mom.”
Christian smiled. “She’s the best.”
