The Subtle Art of Brutality

“You alone, Benny?”

“What?” He is. I know it. He gives all the tells.

I punch his face and hear his jaw crack, shut the door behind me.

16

I clamp Benny’s groin to the floor with my foot.

When he comes to, he doesn’t react well to being cock-pinned. He screams. Thrashes. Heels dig up carpet fibers and his fingers are nothing more than claws as they rake the floor. He loses a nail in the ridiculous ordeal.

Pointing the .44 Magnum at his face sobers him up.

“Where is Delilah Boothe?”

“What?”

“You’ve been sniffing around for her. Tell me where she is.”

“I mighta been sniffin’ but I ain’t fuckin’ found the bitch! Swear!” Good. I figured he’d lie about knowing her for just a minute or so; as long as he could take the searing heat crawling up from his balls into his abdomen. But him just spilling makes this easier.

“Why even look?”

“She rolled my homie on some dope! Jesus, my damn dick is turnin’ blue! Get your fuckin’ foot offa me!”

“No. What friend?”

“Oh, Jesus!”

“I doubt Jesus Christ is hunting Delilah Boothe over drugs.” I cock the hammer back. Benny’s eyes turn red and glisten at the sound.

“Nicky! She owes Nicky!”

“Spill the deal and I’ll let you keep your twig and berries. Otherwise I’ll start popping.”

“I don’t know much of anythin’! Swear! Nicky just said I could pay him back for fuckin’ up back in August—I got bounced for possession! I was ferretin’ for him! So I tried to pay him back! Fuck me, that’s it!” Mental note: get that report as well.

“How? How did you pay him back?”

“He said the bitch hosed him on a deal and I ain’t got no idea about the deal at all! None!”

He squirms. I lean in. He screams, cries.

“Get offa me motherfuc—”

My foot comes off. My heater swings so hard into his left knee I feel something give under the skin. My foot comes back down on his cock.

Rage: “Answer me, motherfucker! How did you pay up?”

Blabbering: “I went to some address! I asked for her and some douche told me she ain’t stayin’ there no more but I swear I saw her through the window so I told Nicky and he said get her so I went back but it wadden’t her and the douche shows up outta nowhere and fuckin’ decks me! Swear! Pigs swarmed the place! Swear!”

I lean off. His nuts have breathing room. He cuddles with his knee. Palms his junk. Digs his face in the carpet and tries to stop blubbering like a bitch. Consider this setting a scene. I’m working up to something here.

“Where is Nicky?”

“Over on 11th and Elm. Apartment 2B. Swear.”

A tell. Big time.