Lights Out by Nate Southard Page A

can be a real asshole sometimes.”
    Timms flashed him a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hey. All part of my charm.”

 
     
     
    Two
     
     
    “Missing?”
    “Yeah.”
    “No.”
    “I’m serious. They’re searching for them now. Doing it in teams.”
    “You’re shitting me.”
    “I got no reason to do that.”
    “Bullshitters don’t need a reason. I think we both know that.”
    “Wait for it to come through the grapevine, you don’t believe me.”
    “Maybe I’ll do that; maybe I won’t. I’ll let you know when I decide.”
    “You seem to want me to wait on you a lot.”
    “Of course. That’s the way this arrangement works.”
    “Right.”
    “So, three bodies go missing. Seems to be happening a lot lately.”
    “You don’t mind my asking; you have anything to do with it?”
    “What?”
    “One of ‘em belonged to you. I thought maybe--”
    “You thought wrong. Pull your fuckin’ head out of your ass.”
    “Did I touch a nerve?”
    “You’re goddamn right, you did. Maybe I should remind you that pissing me off is not something you want to do. I don’t forgive shit like that so easy.”
    “Sooner we find those bodies; the sooner lockdown ends.”
    “Who gives a shit? I didn’t have a thing to do with this.”
    “Fine. Sorry.”
    “That’s better. Tell me, you make your deliveries?”
    “Most of them.”
    “Most? You do what you’re told. Got me? I didn’t tell you to make most of your goddamn deliveries. I told you to make all of them.”
    “I’m not sure if you noticed, but dropping this shit off isn’t the easiest thing to do in the middle of a lockdown.”
    “Not my concern. I collect money; I distribute product. That’s the beginning, middle, and end of my responsibilities. Your responsibility is to deliver that product to whoever the fuck I tell you. If you can’t manage to pull that off, I’ll find somebody who can. You don’t want to get replaced in this operation, my friend. Termination doesn’t come with a severance package. Now, as soon as we’re done here, what are you going to do?
    “Well?”
    “I’m going to make my deliveries.”
    “Good. Gimme the roll you got so far.”
    “Sure.”
    “Not bad. Looks like you got the heavy doses, at least. Good boy. Now get out there. Engage in some goddamn commerce.”
    “Okay.”
    “That’s what I like to hear, Officer Morrow. That’s what I like to hear.”
     
    ***
     
    “God?
    “It’s me again, man. It’s funny shit, I guess. I used to be all ‘Fuck you,’ and now here I am, talkin’ to you twice in less than a day.
    “Yeah, I know it’s bullshit, a banger askin’ you for help. I feel like I need it, though. You get that shit, right? Gotta tell yo ass, when I asked you for help last night, I thought you was just gonna laugh right in my fuckin’ face. But you didn’t.
    “I’m still scared, though. Usually, I can handle anything, but that thing I saw, man… That shit’s got me spooked like you won’t believe. And I don’t care what the hacks try to tell me. I know what I saw, and that thing wasn’t human.
    “It’s just...Shit. I don’t even deserve your help. I know that. I’m really fucked up. It’s all I’ve ever....
    “Damn.
    “I... I killed a little girl once. It was a whole family--one of the East Side guys and his girl, their kid. She was so small. Diggs wanted me to handle her, so I did. Didn’t even argue.
    “It was so fucked up, man. This little girl--maybe four or five years old--she’s looking up at me and screaming and crying, just fucking begging me not to do it. ‘Please don’t,’ she kept saying. Over and over again.
    “I laughed at her before I did it.
    “Holy shit. I laughed at her. She didn’t even look like a person after. Her face was just...It was fucking gone .
    “But I kept laughing. I just couldn’t stop laughing. What kind of piece of shit does that? How the hell could--
    “ Motherfuck!
    “I’m sorry! I’m just so goddamn