Page 44 of Cold Hard Cash

“Why didn’t you?” Cold shot back with the maturity of a four-year-old and the indignant scowl to match.

“Hey, I tried! I tried telling you, but you wouldn’t let me!” Jimmy crossed his arms over his chest. “Remember?”

Cold snorted, walking to a large liquor cabinet. He opened it, and inside was a wet bar and a small ice machine. He wrapped a few cubes up in a small towel from the side of the sink, brought it to Jimmy, and pressed it against his swollen lip.

Jimmy winced but held the ice in place. He didn’t know if he should be trying to run or begging on his knees. Cold didn’t appear to be angry with him, and it wouldn’t make much sense to drag him to his personal bedroom if he was going to kill him.

Silently moving back to the bar, Cold poured himself something dark out of an expensive-looking bottle.

Jimmy readjusted the ice on his mouth where it was starting to ache from the cold. He kept waiting for Cold to speak, but no conversation seemed to be forthcoming. Several beats of silence passed before Jimmy couldn’t stand it any longer.

“So, was it before the second time?” he snapped. “Before the first time?”

“Mr. Poe, for a moment, pretend that I’m not half as stupid as you seem to think I am,” Cold retorted dryly. “I already knew everything about you before I ever stepped foot in your sorry little apartment.”

Jimmy’s heart dropped. “But why? I mean, I know I owe you a lot of money, but…” He was confused, his eyes narrowing at Cold in suspicion. “Why try to shake me down if you already knew Augustus was a cop?”

Cold chuckled over the rim of his glass. “Why indeed?”

Realization punched Jimmy right in the gut. “This wasn’t about me. This was about getting to him.”

“That was the plan.” Cold shrugged, not even having the decency to look like he felt guilty about it.

“What freakin’ plan exactly?” Jimmy demanded. He was far too angry to worry about pushing Cold too far.

“I wanted to make a deal. Pile on your debt, give you a good scare, send you crying to Duplin. When he came banging on my door, I’d offer to erase your debt in exchange for him backing the fuck off.” Cold tilted his head, lost in thought. “But then something happened.”

“What?”

“You,” Cold answered simply, his eyes flickering over to settle on Jimmy’s for several moments. “When Jules threatened you, you didn’t scream for your little cop daddy to come save you. Oh no. You offered yourself instead. Not what I was expecting, but with an offer like that… Who could possibly refuse?”

Jimmy felt sick and swallowed hard. “What about Augustus?”

“Why do you think I had you meet me at a very public, very popular hotel?” Cold drawled. “And then had you go right to the front desk to get a key? I did everything in order to ensure Duplin would find out that you were with me. If you wouldn’t go to him, I’d make sure he came to me.”

Jimmy’s face got hot, and he tried not to get upset. He couldn’t believe how he had been played. “That’s why you wouldn’t let me tell you about my family last night,” he realized, the pieces falling into place. “You wanted to keep this stupid charade up.”

“Correct,” Cold said with a small tilt of his head back the other way. “Mm. I wasn’t expecting Lorre or Corman to recognize you tonight though. A rare miscalculation on my part. I knew there was a chance Lorre might because of his history with Detective Duplin, but Corman surprised me.”

“But why? Why stop me from telling you about Augustus?”

“Plausible deniability.” Cold shrugged. “If you haven’t told me Duplin is your daddy, then you can’t upset our arrangement if I have to do something about him later. Killing a cop brings a lot of heat, but I’ll do what I have to.”

Jimmy dropped the ice and wrapped his arms tightly around himself, stunned speechless for a few moments.

Killing Augustus.

Cold was talking about killing him.

“Kill a cop,” Jimmy echoed. “You’d kill him?”

“I’m not going back to prison, Mr. Poe,” Cold replied shortly.

“So, I’m what? Your get out of jail free card?”

“Mmhmm.” Cold walked over to stand in front of Jimmy, positively smug. “All I have to do is wait, and Detective Duplin will come.”

“Well.” Jimmy huffed. “I don’t think your plan is going to work. Augustus already came to me trying to get to you, and I told him I didn’t want any fucking help from him.”