“Fuck, man,” he cried out. “What did I do?”
“Get in the garage,” Erik said. He turned and looked at Jack. “Come on, get up, asshole. Let’s move.”
Erik showed his gun and Jack hurried to his feet. He wiped the blood from his nose and face. The two men stood side by side and Erik wanted nothing more than to fight both of them. He’d put his gun down right now and go fist for fist with both of them. Whether they deserved it for the bombing or not, he did not care, because their intentions toward this woman were obvious and it pissed him off.
“I have a few questions,” Erik said.
“Yeah, sure,” Jack said. “Christ, man, we’re all good here. You don’t need to come in swinging at us.”
“We weren’t going to hurt that woman,” Willy said. “I swear on it. We were trying to help her and she locked the door.”
“Look at you two,” Erik said. “I’d lock my door too.”
“Can I have a smoke?” Willy asked. “I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack.”
“Sure,” Erik said. “Smoke up.”
The two men lit fresh cigarettes and Willy leaned against a car. Jack touched his nose and winced.
“If you don’t want trouble, then don’t lie to me,” Erik said.
“Why would we lie?” Willy asked. He laughed. “Fuck, man, I used to ride back in my day. Before I hurt my back.”
“Ride?” Erik asked. He stepped forward, lumbering over Willy. “See my face? You think that’s from riding?”
“Shit. No.”
“That’s from living. Now, tell me about the last auction you were at.”
“Auction?” Jack asked. “That was… why?”
“You’re going to question me?” Erik asked.
“Shit. Sorry. I mean, uh, we bought two junkers.”
“Cleaned them up and sold them,” Willy said. “We made a few bucks. Didn’t do… much wrong.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the cars you sell,” Erik said. “I want to know if you saw someone there.”
“There’s a lot of people at those auctions,” Jack said.
“You know what happened over where I work?” Erik asked. “Why my face got fucked up?”
“Bomb,” Willy said. Jack looked at Willy. “Heard some guys talking about it at a bar.”
“Yeah, a bomb,” Erik said. “I need to know who put that bomb in the car. My good friend picked the car up that day. I think someone from the auction did it.”
“How would we…” Jack started to say.
“Did you know the car?” Erik asked Willy.
“Black beauty,” Willy said. “I remember her. Was wondering what she was doing at an auction. I figured something was wrong with it. Sometimes those cars can be big projects, you know?”
“Who was looking at it?”
“Lots of people.”
“Who?”
Willy swallowed. He took a deep drag and dropped his cigarette. He stepped on it and crossed his arms, deep in thought.
“Suit and tie,” Jack said. “Shit, I got it now.”
“Got what?” Erik asked.
“I, uh, I was busy with something… but there was a black car with a guy…”
“What were you doing?” Willy asked.
“Nothing.”
Erik grabbed Jack by the shirt and he screamed. “I want every detail.”
“Fuck,” Jack said. “I was with Wanda.”
“Wanda?” Willy asked. “My…”
“Who is Wanda?” Erik asked.
“My fucking ex-wife,” Willy yelled.
“What were you doing with Wanda?” Erik asked.
“Fuck,” Jack said again. “Look, I’m sorry, man. She was… she was going down on me. Behind the bathrooms. It’s a thing we have.”
“A thing you have?” Willy asked. “You sorry son of a bitch.”
Willy lunged at Jack and hit him right in the nose. Jack cried out as his nose opened once again, bleeding everywhere. Erik stepped back and watched the two idiot cousins wrestle around for a few seconds before they broke apart, both out of breath.
“I hate you,” Willy said.
“I’m sorry,” Jack said. “We don't do it all the time. Just once in a while. She misses you, man. She tells me by doing that to me it's like doing it to you. She thinks of you when she does it. I swear.”
“That's fucked up,” Erik said.
“Does she still do the tongue thing?” Willy asked. “With the swirl…”
Jack nodded. “Yeah. And then with her hand…”
“Shut up!” Erik yelled. “You two can deal with this family mess later. Tell me about the black car.”