Page 12 of Cold Hard Cash

“When you gonna see him again?” Maury asked.

“Tonight,” Jimmy said, unable to stop himself from grinning. “I’m gonna go get my rent settled up, try to look for a job—”

“Cold just gave you a job,” Maury protested, battling Jimmy for the last piece of pancake.

“Yeah, but ow, hey!” Jimmy shooed Maury’s fork away, getting a playful jab for his efforts, but still managed to triumphantly steal the last bite. “That money is just, like subtracted from what I owe him. He said that there might also be bonuses? Like if I do a really good job or something, but that gets taken from my debt, too. I think.”

“Then what the fuck is that in your pocket?”

“He said it was a tip,” Jimmy replied, “But I can’t count on that. I don’t know if he’s gonna be feeling that generous all the time.”

“Well, just make sure you do whatever you did last night, boom.”

Jimmy blushed, smiling shyly as he argued, “Come on, Maury, I need a real job. I’m not always gonna be whoring myself out to Boss Cold.”

“Fine,” Maury groaned. “Look, there’s a couple of places that might be willing to hire your skinny ass. There’s a new restaurant, Ingrid’s, they lookin’ for a—”

The store door opened, bell ringing loudly as someone walked in. Maury’s smile suddenly dropped, his eyes narrowed and glaring over Jimmy’s shoulder as he spat, “What the fuck do you want?”

Jimmy’s stomach lurched to see such a hateful look on his friend’s face, and he whirled around to see who it was that could have summoned such wrath. His breath got stuck in his throat, and he felt sick as soon as he saw him.

Detective Augustus Duplin.

This was the kind man who had adopted him after his father went to prison for his mother’s murder, the loving man who had tried to raise him as his son and take care of him.

But he was also the very same cop who had arrested his father, testified against him at the trial, and kept Jimmy from seeing him. Their relationship had been rocky and finally broke when Jimmy turned eighteen. He had demanded to see his father, and Augustus had again refused to let him. Jimmy ran away that night and never looked back.

“Figured I would find you here,” Augustus said, offering a strained smile. “Maury keepin’ you out of trouble, Jimmy?”

“I’m keepin’ him wherever the fuck he wants to be,” Maury snapped back. “Preferably as far away from you as fuckin’ possible.”

“I’m here to talk to Jimmy, not you,” Augustus said sternly, turning a pleading gaze toward Jimmy. “You look good, son.”

Jimmy was stiff, unsure of the warring emotions tearing away inside him. He hadn’t seen Augustus in several years. He had tried to visit Jimmy a few times to make amends, but they always fell back into the same argument that tore them apart in the first place.

Jimmy knew his father was innocent.

Augustus refused to believe him.

It was how Jimmy first started falling into debt, trying to pay a lawyer to look at his father’s case and get it reopened. Lawyers were expensive, and it didn’t take long to rack up a huge bill. When he ran out of money, he had started borrowing from Maury and ended up with the huge mess he was in now.

Of all the feelings Jimmy had racing through him, he settled on anger. He scowled, saying bitterly, “I’m not your son, Augustus.”

“Jimmy—”

“Why are you here?” Jimmy demanded. “What do you want?”

“I just wanna talk to you,” Augustus said, holding out his hands as he approached slowly.

“Oh, yeah?” Jimmy scoffed, his arms crossing defiantly over his chest. “About what? About how you left my father to rot in prison after you arrested him? How you kept me from seeing him for all those years, even when I cried? Even when I begged you?”

Augustus flinched, but didn’t deny a word.

Jimmy was feeling pretty confident. He’d slept with the most notorious crime boss in all of Strassen Springs, and he had over a thousand dollars in his pocket. He planted his hands on his hips, chin held high as he ranted on, “How about when it was his birthday, and you wouldn’t even let me send him a card? Or when he had to have surgery because his appendix almost burst, do you remember that? He almost died in prison, and you still wouldn’t let me go see him!”

“Fuckin’ scumbag,” Maury spat in support, giving Jimmy an approving nod.

Augustus took every jab with a regretful expression, letting Jimmy vent all he wanted.