Page 123 of Cold Hard Cash

He looked like a king preparing to hold court.

If he was in any pain, he certainly did not show it.

Jimmy clumsily plopped down on the sofa next to him, and he was surprisingly nervous. He and Augustus hadn’t parted on the best of terms, and while he knew Cold had special ways of being persuasive, he still didn’t think Cold would be able to convince Augustus to help them.

They only had to wait a few more minutes before Augustus arrived, looking around the room with a sneer. He didn’t seem to want to touch anything, as if the very furniture was covered in a thin veil of slime. Looking between Jimmy and Cold, he snapped, “Well. I’m here.”

“Thank you for coming,” Cold purred graciously, gesturing for Augustus to have a seat across from him.

“You said Jimmy needed help,” Augustus said shortly, getting right to the point. He hesitated but sat down. “That’s the only reason I came.”

“I’d like to make a deal, Detective.”

“Ha, you mean like the one you have with Jimmy?”

“Hmm, know about that, do you?”

“Yeah, Anna told me all about your sick little arrangement,” Augustus said, his tone dripping with disgust. “What you did to Jimmy because you wanted to get me to drop the investigation.”

“Mm, did she now?” Cold cut his eyes at Jimmy.

Okay, so maybe he shouldn’t have told Anna, Jimmy conceded with a grimace. He should have known she would tell Augustus what they had talked about. He wanted to explain that there wasn’t technically any deal anymore, that he and Cold were really a couple now, but he kept his teeth together.

“Yeah,” Augustus spat heatedly. “And you know what? I’ve got a deal for you, Legrand. Let Jimmy go, let him walk away from this, and I won’t bring you up on prostitution charges. How’s that?”

Cold looked thoughtful again, his lips curling into a calculating pout, as he uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “No.”

“No?” Augustus scoffed.

“I have a much better idea. How about you drop your little murder investigation, and I get to keep Jimmy and continue doing whatever I want to him. In exchange, I don’t turn you in to the authorities for tampering with evidence. I think that would be much more helpful to Jimmy, plus you get to avoid several felonies.”

“What evidence?” Augustus demanded. His eyes were narrowed, but Jimmy could see a twinkle of fear.

“Before I met Jimmy, I took the time to do my research,” Cold replied calmly. “I never do anything without being fully prepared. Background check, known associates, the works. I also read the case file that’s currently on record with the SSPD for Eliza Poe’s murder. Read every detail. Funny though. The official report says he was asleep at the time of his mother’s murder. Imagine my surprise when Jimmy told me he saw the whole thing. How curious.”

Sweat beaded up on Augustus’ brow, but he said nothing.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of Geemaw,” Cold went on. “Very lovely lady, fabulous baker. Did you know she made copies of every file she ever transcribed for the SSPD while she worked there? Wasn’t hard to get a copy of the original report. You know, the report that’s in your handwriting that includes Jimmy’s original testimony and eyewitness account of his mother’s tragic death.”

Augustus’ jaw tightened.

“And yet.” Cold gasped, clicking his tongue as he spread the file out across the table between them. “You went on and filed the report a second time, but this time your story had changed. All trace of Jimmy witnessing the crime had been removed.”

“I was trying to protect Jimmy,” Augustus said quietly, glaring at Cold.

“Oh, one second.” Cold reached into the box next to him. “See, I thought you might say that.” He brought out a stack of files, a dozen at least, dropping them down on the table with a loud slam. “Were you trying to protect Jimmy when you altered all of these reports too?”

“You motherfucker…” Augustus fell back in his chair.

Cold’s grin was triumphant as he taunted, “I decided to stop at nineteen, seemed like a good number.” He smiled over at Jimmy before turning his icy stare back on Augustus. “In at least nineteen cases, I can prove that you altered evidence to make arrests.”

“Every single one of those men were guilty,” Augustus challenged. “They were lowlife scumbags, just like you, who had managed to beat the system over and over again. Everything I did was to ensure justice would be served.”

“And David Poe? He was another scumbag? And you just had to make sure that justice would be carried out? Or did you have some additional motivation?”

“What are you implying?” Augustus snapped.

“Back in the day, the Luchesi family made several, hmm, contributions to the Strassen Springs Police Department.” Cold chuckled fondly. “Some of the names in those files looked awfully familiar to me. I began to notice a rather distinct pattern.”