dramatically. “What the fuck?” he said, but it had a kind of a swollen sound to it from still waking up.
Charlie looked back and forth between the two men. “Okay, guys, here’s the deal. I need a few answers, and then I’ll leave you to your, uh…business. What I do before I leave is going to depend entirely on how willing you are to cooperate. I didn’t bother to gag you because I’m hoping this’ll go smoothly, but if you yell, I’ll change my mind.”
“What the fuck do you want?” Clarence asked; it seemed to be a requirement that he swore every time he spoke.
“This girl,” Charlie said, holding up Kay’s picture again. “I want you guys to tell me if you’ve seen her before and where.”
Dick kind of groaned in the way a guy waking up with a hangover might, but Clarence must have thought he was going to say something, because he cursed again and swore he’d kill Dick if he said anything.
Charlie took it as a roundabout, polite way of the man telling him exactly what he needed to know. He walked over to Clarence and looked down. “So you have seen her,” Charlie said. “That’s good. That means you can tell me where and who you’ve seen her with, so I can move on.”
Clarence cursed and spat at Charlie.
All Charlie could really muster at the moment was a sigh in lieu of what he really wanted to do, which he knew would come eventually anyway. He calmly walked over to Dick and gently tapped him on the cheek. “Dick, are you awake?”
“Uh…yeah,” Dick said.
“Good. I want you to look at this picture again and tell me where you’ve seen her and who you saw her with. Take your time. I’m sorry I hit you on the head and am now expecting you to remember something, poor planning on my behalf,” Charlie said.
Unfortunately, Clarence didn’t take the time to let Dick think and decided to do some more yelling. “Who are you to be in here making demands, you fucking punk?”
Charlie walked over and put a strip of duct tape over Clarence’s mouth, frustrated that things weren’t going as smoothly as he’d hoped. “Okay, fellas, here’s the deal,” Charlie said, taking off his hat and setting it on the counter. “I’m not much one for prying information out of people. Plenty of guys in my line of work are very good at it and pretty damn inventive. Water-boarding is surprisingly gentle by comparison to some of the shit I’ve seen these guys cook up. I prefer to punch people, call it poor upbringing, since it doesn’t always get the best results.” Charlie sighed again, groaned, and sat down at the table next to Dick, who had started to struggle a little against his restraints.
Charlie cracked his knuckles one by one and looked down at the scars that checkered his fists. “You know, I’m a big fan of those old kung fu movies and I have this friend who knows a thing or two about physics. You know what he told me?”
Dick shook his head weakly, terrified to say a word.
“He said that regardless of what you’ve seen in movies, it’s impossible to pull a man’s heart out of his chest. He said the closest you can get is to punch the chest over and over and over again until the ribs break and splinter and puncture the skin and surrounding tissue, and eventually, you could kind of spoon out what’s left.” Charlie took a moment to look back and forth between Dick and Clarence, both of whom were finally paying attention. “Gentlemen, the girl in the picture is someone that was very near and dear to me, and I’m pretty pissed that she’s dead—even more so that she was found in the gutter, high on that junk you boys cook up in here. Still, I’m gonna make you a deal. There are two of you in here, and I’m gonna kill the man who refuses to tell me what I want to hear. I’m gonna hit that man in the chest so many times that I’m gonna be able to scoop out his heart, whether he’s still alive or not.”
Neither man said anything, but Dick’s eyes opened wide in
Charlie looked back and forth between the two men. “Okay, guys, here’s the deal. I need a few answers, and then I’ll leave you to your, uh…business. What I do before I leave is going to depend entirely on how willing you are to cooperate. I didn’t bother to gag you because I’m hoping this’ll go smoothly, but if you yell, I’ll change my mind.”
“What the fuck do you want?” Clarence asked; it seemed to be a requirement that he swore every time he spoke.
“This girl,” Charlie said, holding up Kay’s picture again. “I want you guys to tell me if you’ve seen her before and where.”
Dick kind of groaned in the way a guy waking up with a hangover might, but Clarence must have thought he was going to say something, because he cursed again and swore he’d kill Dick if he said anything.
Charlie took it as a roundabout, polite way of the man telling him exactly what he needed to know. He walked over to Clarence and looked down. “So you have seen her,” Charlie said. “That’s good. That means you can tell me where and who you’ve seen her with, so I can move on.”
Clarence cursed and spat at Charlie.
All Charlie could really muster at the moment was a sigh in lieu of what he really wanted to do, which he knew would come eventually anyway. He calmly walked over to Dick and gently tapped him on the cheek. “Dick, are you awake?”
“Uh…yeah,” Dick said.
“Good. I want you to look at this picture again and tell me where you’ve seen her and who you saw her with. Take your time. I’m sorry I hit you on the head and am now expecting you to remember something, poor planning on my behalf,” Charlie said.
Unfortunately, Clarence didn’t take the time to let Dick think and decided to do some more yelling. “Who are you to be in here making demands, you fucking punk?”
Charlie walked over and put a strip of duct tape over Clarence’s mouth, frustrated that things weren’t going as smoothly as he’d hoped. “Okay, fellas, here’s the deal,” Charlie said, taking off his hat and setting it on the counter. “I’m not much one for prying information out of people. Plenty of guys in my line of work are very good at it and pretty damn inventive. Water-boarding is surprisingly gentle by comparison to some of the shit I’ve seen these guys cook up. I prefer to punch people, call it poor upbringing, since it doesn’t always get the best results.” Charlie sighed again, groaned, and sat down at the table next to Dick, who had started to struggle a little against his restraints.
Charlie cracked his knuckles one by one and looked down at the scars that checkered his fists. “You know, I’m a big fan of those old kung fu movies and I have this friend who knows a thing or two about physics. You know what he told me?”
Dick shook his head weakly, terrified to say a word.
“He said that regardless of what you’ve seen in movies, it’s impossible to pull a man’s heart out of his chest. He said the closest you can get is to punch the chest over and over and over again until the ribs break and splinter and puncture the skin and surrounding tissue, and eventually, you could kind of spoon out what’s left.” Charlie took a moment to look back and forth between Dick and Clarence, both of whom were finally paying attention. “Gentlemen, the girl in the picture is someone that was very near and dear to me, and I’m pretty pissed that she’s dead—even more so that she was found in the gutter, high on that junk you boys cook up in here. Still, I’m gonna make you a deal. There are two of you in here, and I’m gonna kill the man who refuses to tell me what I want to hear. I’m gonna hit that man in the chest so many times that I’m gonna be able to scoop out his heart, whether he’s still alive or not.”
Neither man said anything, but Dick’s eyes opened wide in
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