White Stripes

He was gone quite some time. Chad moved to his back on the bed, raised on his elbows, his feet flat on the floor at the foot of the bed, and facing the door to the bedroom, when the detective returned.

“It was quite a story that guy wove, Mr. Barnes. He says when he came back to his car in the garage, you had popped his trunk and were putting a body in it. He says you’re here willingly.”

“That’s bullshit,” Chad said. “He had the trunk open when I came up the ramp to find someplace to take a whizz, and he stuffed me in the trunk too. The guy in the trunk can tell you I didn’t put him in there.”

“The guy in the trunk’s going to be OK, but not for a while. It could be a couple of days before he can tell us anything. I figure this razor on the bed and finding him fucking you bound tells me all I need to know. You were away from your work detail, though. If you were up there even to just rip off that guy’s car, that would be a violation of your sentence. How much longer do you have to serve?”

“A week and a half.”

“If you’re written up for attempted theft, even if cleared of everything else here, you’ll be in for your full sentence. How much longer on that?”