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The lie was so bad even Tean could hear it, and when he tried to catch Kristin’s eye, she ducked her head. He glanced at Jem, who shrugged.
“Trying to steal my shit,” Rod gasped, hand clutching his Death Angel shirt. “And that’s assault, you stupid son of a bitch.”
“I may be stupid,” Jem said, “and I may be a son of a bitch, but if you get up again, I’ll put you back down. And I’ll use my belt, which Tean would not like, mostly because I’m not wearing underwear. God damn it, and now you made me tell him, and I said not until he bought me a drink.”
Rod rubbed his chest, blinking watery eyes.
“Technically, I did buy you a drink,” Tean said. “If it makes you feel better.”
“Oh.” Jem scratched his beard. “Yeah. Ok.”
A nervous giggle escaped Kristin.
“I think you both need to tell us what’s going on,” Tean said. “Whatever it is, it looked serious. Yesenia is missing, and Missy is in jail, and something messed up is happening.”
“I want to go,” Kristin said.
“Too bad,” Jem said.
But Kristin wrenched her arm from Tean and took a step back. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I wasn’t doing anything. I was looking around, and he—he grabbed me.”
“Kristin,” Tean said, “I don’t think you’re telling us everything—”
“I’m going to go,” she said, her voice taking on a strangely artificial tone, as though everything were all right—or would be, if she could just make herself sound chipper enough. “I’m going back to the party. You can’t stop me.”
“Interesting theory—” Jem began.
But he cut off when Tean shook his head.
Kristin pranced backward, and a moment later, she spun and darted around the side of the building.
“Great fucking job,” Rod wheezed. “You let her get away.”
“Don’t worry about her,” Jem said. “Worry about me.”
Rod made a hacking noise, and it took a moment for Tean to recognize the sound as a laugh. Sitting up, Rod did something with his head, flopping his mullet into place. Then he took a longer, deeper breath. “Well, son, you fucked up, you surely did.”
“I’d like you to tell us about Yesenia,” Tean said. “About your relationship with her, when you last saw her, about the parks.”
“You aren’t going to like prison, buddy boy.” Rod looked up at Jem. His thin lips peeled back to expose small white teeth. “A fancy guy like you, they’ll turn your asshole inside out.”
Jem glanced at Tean.
“What was your relationship with Yesenia?” Tean asked again.
“My relationship.” He hocked a wad of brownish spit onto the ground. “You know something? You came onto my land. You were invited. And then you assaulted me.”
“You were threatening a woman,” Tean said. “You became aggressive when we attempted to defuse the situation. My husband was defending himself, and his use of force was reasonable. I don’t think the police will see any need to charge him. You, on the other hand, have more to worry about.”
“I wasn’t hurting her.”
“Bullshit,” Jem said.
“What was your relationship with Yesenia?”
“What’s it matter? They arrested someone, that’s what I hear. Case closed.”
“No, not case closed. Not when the police learn about Yesenia’s plan to build a second park in Osage Beach. That’s not far from here. Not when they realize that put you in competition, and what that might mean for your business. I think when they learn about that, they’re going to take a long, hard look at you. They’ll forget all about Missy.”
