Page 107 of I Will Ruin You

I tried to think back to what had been going on after the police arrived. It was all something of a blur. I was in shock. I remembered that at one point we moved outside, all of us, and that there was a TV news crew out on the street beyond the yellow police tape. I did remember one thing for sure. I remember Ronny was out there, being more or less interrogated by Trent about that goddamn door not shutting properly.

“Yeah, so, whatever,” Stuart said. “That’s why they put erasers on pencils, right? And, you know, you killing Billy, makes me think it all works out in the end.”

“I told you. I didn’t do it. It was those two people who came earlier.” And even though I probably knew the answer, I had to ask: “Why’d you do it in the first place? Blackmail me?”

Stuart looked at me like I was an idiot. “Uh, the money? Fucking Billy was making out like a bandit doing his thing. I had to find some action of my own.”

“I could have known it wasn’t you. Remembered Billy from school.”

“Thought about that,” Stuart said. “But it had been a few years, and we both kind of looked alike, you know. Lucy, Billy’s wife? She called us two peas in a pod.”

“Boyle!”

Herb, out in the hall, calling my name. He must have missed seeing us duck into this classroom and was hunting me down.

“Look,” I said, trying to sound reasonable, “we’re done, okay? I didn’t do it, you had the wrong guy.”

“I didn’t get to the bad news yet,” Stuart said. “Although, depending on how you look at it, it’s good news, too.”

I waited.

“I’m willing to, like you say, be done with all this. I just have one favor I’d like you to do for me before we go our separate ways.”

“A favor.”

He nodded.

“Nothing big. I need you to deliver something for me. Do an exchange. Not a big deal. A few minutes and you’re done.”

“You got something to return at Walmart?”

Stuart smiled. “That’s funny. You’re a funny guy, Mr. Boyle. No, what I need you to do is just a little more complicated.”

My stomach began turning over. I had an inkling where this was going. That man and woman who came to Billy’s. They’d been looking for something, and they appeared to have left empty-handed. Why did I have a feeling Stuart had it? And, given that he didn’t care about my ten thousand dollars anymore, was willing to exchange it for a significant amount of money?

Why didn’t he want to do the deal himself? I had a pretty good idea. He could end up dead.

“I don’t want any part of this,” I said. “Get yourself somebody else. Make your anonymous call to the police. I’ll take my chances.”

“I was afraid you might see it that way,” Stuart said. He reached behind his back for something tucked under his jacket.

A gun.

“This change your mind?”

He took a step back so there was room to point it right at me.

“Christ, put that away,” I said. Would he shoot me right here in the school? Maybe. I couldn’t make a run for it. I’d have a bullet in my back before I got to the door.

“So. Willing to do a guy a solid?”

“Okay,” I said. “Whatever you want.”

“That’s good, that’s good. So we’re going to walk out of here and head out the main door. My truck’s out there. I’m gonna give you the keys”—and he dug into his pocket and handed them to me—“so you can do the driving.”

I took them.

“And don’t do anything crazy on the way, because I might just lose it and start firing, you know.”