Cut Loose

I’d been cut loose. I’d expected the Nod to show up any night now, but now even the Paladins had stopped trusting me. “Mills, I’m too close to finishing this for you to knock my head over something you don’t understand,” I said. There was a pause and I could hear him breathing on the other end. “Did you kill the kid?” he asked. “NO!” I shout back. A little too much emotion showed. “Have you found the Book yet?” Mills asked. I look down at my side and study the newspaper packaging. “No. But I will tonight. There’s going to be a meeting at The Montreat. Room 176. You let me handle that and I can get your Book back,” I say. Malvolio had said the meeting time was midnight but my Uncle rang out in my mind. Don’t tell them everything. “Not good enough. What’s to keep you from running off? Or using the Book to bargain with us?” Mills shoots back. I turn the volume down on my cell phone, his voice is so loud. “You’re picking a funny time to quit trusting me Mills. The Montreat. Room 176. Tonight. I’ll send word about the time to show. And bring the calvalry,” I say as I hang up. Things were going too fast, too soon. Now I had to deal with the Nod freaks and the Paladins tonight. I had the book, but there wasn’t a friendly note explaining what had happened to the kid with it. Had Dingo murdered him? If he had, justice had been done with extra to spare. I didn’t want to think that about my friend but he was capable of it. Hell, I’d seen him kill before and even helped a few times. What had gotten the kid out of the car and down that fucking alley except following Dingo? I picked up the book, still wrapped, and headed back to my apartment. I had to know. Before the Paladins lit the place up and finally got their precious Book back, I had to know. Who had killed the kid?