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Jesse crosses his arms over his chest.
“I want to know about the letters,” Rhett says, cutting to the chase.
“What letters?”
“I’m not playing this game with you, boy.”
Jesse rolls his eyes. “I was paid to deliver them, that’s it.”
“Someonepaidyou to do it?” I ask and feel validated because this is exactly what I suggested had happened to the cops.
“Who paid you?” Rhett asks.
“I don’t know.”
Rhett grabs the kid by the collar, lifts him off his feet. I lunge backward, stumbling on a rock. My pulse skyrockets.
Jesse’s legs kick ineffectively as he gasps for air, eyes wild with fear.
“Who paid you to deliver the letters?” Rhett asks in a cool, calm tone that is somehow absolutely terrifying.
“Someone…” Jesse chokes out, “I never saw his face. I promise. They were wearing one of those ski mask things. I swear, man, I didn’t see their face. I’d tell you—I don’t give a shit.”
Rhett releases Jesse and he crumbles to the ground, clawing at his neck. He stumbles upright, gasping and spitting. This time, instead of puffing his chest, Jesse distances himself from us, eyeing the ex-con like a venomous snake.
“Keep going,” Rhett says.
Jesse rubs his neck where red streaks are already beginning to form. “I was approached in the alley behind the pool hall.”
“What pool hall?”
“Benji’s. You know, downtown. By the courthouse.”
I know Benji’s. Everyone does. It’s a place frequented by a certain crowd, one that you don’t want to be seen with after dark. I’m not surprised Jesse hangs out there.
“It was nighttime—I don’t know, maybe ten or eleven,” Jesse continues. “I was outside smoking a cigarette and somebody just came out of the shadows. Scared the shit out of me.”
“And you didn’t see their face?”
“No, to be honest, I almost jumped him. I thought I was getting mugged.”
“What were they wearing?”
“A black ski mask and black clothes.”
“How tall and heavy—was it a kid or an adult?”
“Honestly, dude, I don’t know. I was high. It wasn’t a cigarette, it was a joint I was smoking. I just know they were wearing a mask.”
“What did they say?”
“Nothing. Just handed me an envelope.”
“And you took it without asking anything?”
“Yeah, man, when somebody hands something to you, you take it.”
Rhett glances at me.
