Where the Truth Lies by Anna Bailey

Author:Anna Bailey [Bailey, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf, mobi
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2021-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

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Gains leans back against the desk and crosses his arms. “You speak very good English, Mr. Lăcustă. You pick all that up in America?”

The kid’s a strange one, he thinks. Laughs like a buzz-saw even though he’s got a bag full of evidence sitting right across from him and he’s not even wearing shoes.

“We had Cartoon Network in Romania,” Rat says, like he’s sucking on something sour.

“Is that right? And you learned it all watching Powerpuff Girls, did you? Now that is impressive.”

“Why does it matter where I learned English? I thought you wanted to ask me about the gun.”

“Son, we don’t get a lot of strangers settling in Whistling Ridge, but this spring you roll into town and a short while later your gun turns out to be a match for the shell casing we found at the scene of a young girl’s disappearance. Nobody knows anything about you. That makes people nervous, you understand? Folks are going to find something to pin on you one way or another. That’s just how it works around here. But see, me, I don’t think you have much of a motive to shoot Abigail Blake, whether the gun’s yours or not, and I’m willing to run with that, so help me out. Who are you, kid? What’re you doing here?”

Rat toys absently with the wolf fang dangling from his earlobe. “My parents lived under Ceauşescu. You can play Good Cop all you want but I know about police.”

Gains sighs. “Well, that’s a start, I guess.”

Rat’s fingers relocate to the tabletop, drumming in a restless way that Gains recognizes.

“Look, kid, the sooner you start being upfront with me, the sooner you can get out of here, and the sooner we can both have a smoke.”

The whole room feels like the underside of a bandage, and the prospect of nicotine seems to do the trick.

“I learned English in England.” Rat doesn’t look at Gains but stares at the wood grain on the table, tracing it with a bitten-down thumbnail. “I used to live there. For a while.”

“How did you end up in America?”

“I just did, la naiba. It’s all we ever heard about growing up – America this, America that. Figured it was worth a look, to see if it lived up to the hype.”

“And does it?”

“It’s about what I expected, sure. Full of little men who think they’re the real shit because they talk above a certain decibel and carry a gun.” Rat looks up at him from under his eyelashes. “Scenery’s not bad, though.”

“You carry a gun, Mr. Lăcustă.”

“Well, there you go. Just trying to fit in.”

“Tell me about the gun.” Gains circles around the desk so that he can sit opposite him. “When we picked you up, you told us it had been stolen. If that’s the case, why didn’t you report it missing?”

“I don’t know, stuff came up, I got distracted. There’s a lot of distractions up here. And, like I said, I don’t set too much store by law enforcement.

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