Page 76
Tamerlane grabbed an empty champagne bucket and shoved it at Jimmy. “Here.”
“Thanks,” Jimmy mumbled and immediately shoved his face into it. The metal felt cool against his overheated skin, and he swallowed back a streak of bile trying to crawl up his throat.
“You’re Doc’s kid.”
“Who?”
“David Poe,” Tamerlane replied. “The Doc.”
“You… you know my dad?” Jimmy belched loudly and cringed. He coughed, mumbling, “Sorry.”
Tamerlane didn’t seem to mind. “Yeah. Doc takes care of most of the guys in Westchester when they’re fucked up. They’re too afraid of the infirmary staff, those pricks are fuckin’ butchers. But not your old man. Stubbed toe, shanked, whatever. Inmates go to him.”
“Did he ever help you?” Jimmy curiously peeked up from his bucket.
“Nah, but I did send him a lot of business while I was in,” he replied with a dark chuckle.
Jimmy felt sick again.
“Doc is a good man,” Tamerlane said, his expression one of admiration.
“I’m trying to get him out.” Jimmy sighed back into the bucket. “He doesn’t belong there.”
With people like you, he thought, but he didn’t dare say it out loud.
“Only innocent man in Westchester,” Tamerlane agreed.
“You think he’s innocent?”
“I know he is. Trust me, kid. I know what a killer looks like. Your old man? Ain’t got what it takes.”
“Thanks.” Jimmy found the comment oddly reassuring.
If only a judge would accept Tamerlane’s instincts as admissible evidence.
Jimmy closed his eyes and tried not to vomit any more, letting Rowena’s long fingernails dragging across his scalp relax him.
“You okay?” Tamerlane asked, speaking to Rowena.
“I’m good,” she replied softly, as if she thought Jimmy might be asleep.
“Your bar tab says otherwise.”
“You got a problem, Tamerlane?”
“No problem, just concerned.”
“Thanks, but I’m good.”
They didn’t say another word until they got back to Cold’s estate.
“Wakey wakey, drunky drunk,” Rowena chirped as she rubbed Jimmy’s shoulder. “Let’s get you inside and get you all better.”
Jimmy whined. “Fuck, I am never drinking again.”
“Lies.” Rowena giggled, helping him sit up and then stumble out of the limo with Tamerlane’s assistance.
They came through the front door, each with an arm around Jimmy. They dragged him through the foyer and into a small parlor. Propping him in a chair, Rowena patted his head and said, “Just stay put, sweetie. We’re gonna go check in with Roddy, okay?”
