“That stuff you were selling, it had a bear stamp, yes?” I ask.
He bows his head, sucking in air and trying to calm himself.
I don’t have time for this shit.
I kick the chair again, harder. “Think, Percy. Did the shit you sell have a bear stamp on it?”
He nods; tears drip from his face and roll down his neck, over the faded Polish flag tattooed on his neck.
“You’ve been in the market for a while, what does that stamp mean, Percy?”
He sucks in more air. “It’s the Romanov stamp.”
“That’s right. And are you a fucking Romanov, Percy?” I demand.
He’s shaking his head faster now. “N-no.”
“And have you been given permission by the Romanovs to sell Romanov product, Percy?”
“N-no.” He sniffles and looks up at me again. “I swear, I bought it. I didn’t steal it. I didn’t… it was stupid.”
“Yeah, Percy, it was,” I nod. “Who did you buy it from?”
“I don’t know,” he whines. “I swear to God I don’t know. My guy wasn’t there when I went to pick up my shit, this other guy was and he gave me the bag full of the pills. I don’t know his name.”
“Where did you meet him? If you were meeting your usual guy, you must have a regular spot?”
He shakes his head more, panic washing over him. “No, we switch it up all the time. Rarely the same place twice.” He pauses to swallow again. “I was so high. I don’t remember.” He’s pretty damn high right now, too. I’m sure that’s causing problems for him.
He can’t be more than twenty. And it doesn’t look like he’s eaten a full meal in a year. None of this is my problem.
“My guys are going to come back in and ask you a few more questions. And then they are going to take you somewhere. You are going to stay where they put you until they come back for you.” I tap his shoe with my toe until he looks back up at me. “Because if you don’t, and we have to go looking for you, it’s gonna be bad for you, Percy. Real bad.” I touch my gun and he nods right away. Ah, good, so he can think.
“O-okay, yeah.”
“Good.” I leave him and step back into the hall after shutting the door again.
“See if you can get any sort of description from him about the guy he bought from. How he looks, talks, whatever he can tell you. And then dump him off at Wellbridge.”
“Wellbridge? That’s an hour and a half away.” Yogi frowns.
“So?”
“Nothing,” he sighs. “You sure you wanna dump him at a rehab?”
I nod. “Pay cash, and the extra fee for making sure he stays put. If he tries to leave, I want to be the first call they make. If anyone comes trying to visit him, I want to know about it while the visitor is there.”
“You got it.”
I check my watch. Viktor should have taken Charlotte back home already. Once I know she’s safe and sound, I’ll make a run to my father’s townhouse on the way home.
“Clean him up before you take him,” I say then leave them to their job.
* * *
* * *
My father’sbellowing signals me to his whereabouts when I enter his townhouse an hour later. He’s in the living room standing in front of his television set cursing at the baseball game playing on the screen. Ivan sits comfortably on the couch laughing.