Page 29 of Identify

“I tried to warn you.”

“I don’t have that kind of information. Fuck.” He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and holds it to his face, trying to staunch the blood flow.

“Tilt your head back,” I tell him.

“Fuck you.”

This time I shrug. In my defense, I tried to help. “You going to tell me what I need to know?”

“I don’t know anything. I’m just the delivery guy.”

“Well, notjust. Isn’t that right, David? You’re also the guy that gets to go on the date with a pretty girl, sometimes maybe a little more happens than just drinks, then you drug her. Who knows what happens between the time you drug her and drop her off? Would anyone really know if you serviced your own needs?”

“You’re sick.”

I remain silent, waiting to see if he’ll continue.

He does. “I would never. I have a beautiful fiancée who I love. Why would I want to be with someone who’s drugged? That’s disgusting.”

“Tell me about Quinn Foster,” I say. Daria looks up and catches my eye in the rearview mirror. She wasn’t expecting this, and I can tell it puts her on edge.

“What about her?” David shrugs as though it’s no big deal.

“Wasn’t she one of the first girls you abducted? Or at least tried to?”

“No. She was just someone I dated.”

“Really? So, that she tripped and sprained her ankle on your first date didn’t deter you at all from drugging her and bringing her to your boss?”

“He’s not my boss,” David says sourly.

“What is he then?”

“He’s just a guy.”

“A guy you owe a favor to?”

David shrugs again.

“Look, I can’t help you unless you help me.”

“Help me, help you?” David sneers. “Is that it? Are you quoting movie lines now?”

“If it means you understand how this going down, sure.”

David says nothing. I fake a punch to his nose, happy when he flinches.

“Okay, okay,” he says. “He’s just a guy I owe some money to. I don’t even know his real name.”

“So, what? You know his fake name?”

“He’s a money guy. They call himBlack Diamond.”

I nod even though I’ve not heard of the guy. “How much do you owe him?”

“Just over two,” David mumbles.

“Two? Two what? Hundred? Thousand?”