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They pushedme into a dimly lit room with plain grey walls and one of those two-way mirrors, and slammed me into a metal chair. My stomach gurgled. I wasstarving.

The chief inspectortook the seat across from me. “The only reason why I’m wasting my time with a piece of dog shit like you, is because of who you stole from. Feel lucky. Most trash don’t deal directly with the chief inspector. Now, do you have anything you want to tell me? Make this easy for us? Because we’re getting what we want, whether it’s now, orlater.”

“Some breakfast would be nice,”Isaid.

“Breakfast,huh? Right. Right, you must be hungry.” He pulled out a radio and spoke into it. “Everdeen, they still have breakfast up in themess?”

“Yes, sir,”the radiocrackled.

“Bring me a full plate.Everything. Lots ofbacon.”

My stomach growled noisilyat the mention of bacon, and a few minutes later the room filled with the thick aroma of eggs, sausage, sugary bacon, grilled tomatoes, and beans. The officer handed the plate to Burnside, who placed it on the table just out of my reach. I watched as he picked up a piece of the bacon, and took a bite out of it. It crunched loudly, and hesmiled.

“Good shit.I’ve already eaten, but can always go for more bacon, youknow?”

My mouth was watering.

“So,”he continued. “What’s yourname?”

Iclosedmy eyes and thought about Mom and Jennifer. I just needed to hold out. Give her as much time as possible to clean up any evidence she was working withme.

“Jack,”I said, eying the plate offood.

“Okay,”Burnside replied, with a smug smile. “Good. That wasn’t so hard. Your family name, and you can havebreakfast.”

“Inoff.”

The smile slowly disappeared. “Jack Inoff,”he muttered to himself, shaking his head. Then he burst to his feet and swiped the plate off the table. It hit the wall, exploding foodeverywhere.

“Listen,you little dog shit. I’m missing my kid’s race because I have to be here with you, so why don’t you justfucking—”

The door openedand an officer peeked his head inside. “Chief.”

“What!”he yelled, turning around. The officer flinched, like he was expecting to get a table thrown athim.

“Um,sorry, sir. Uh, he’s here again. He wants to see him.” He nodded towardsme.

“He?What, do you think I can read minds?Who?”

“Mr. Luna.”

Burnside groaned.“Hounds ofHell. He’s here rightnow?”

“Yes, sir.”

He turned backto me and pointed a fat finger in my face. “Stay.”