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—Shut up, dude.

—’Cause that’ll be next. They’ll find out who that thing is registered to, and his photo will be all over the place. After that? They start looking into his known associates. Did anybody see you when you hooked up in San Diego? Any of your old buds?

—Shut the fuck up, dude!

—Or what? Look at me, I’m a fucking mess. Go ahead, beat on me some more.

He clenches his fists and shakes them.

—Just tell me where the money is, dude.

—Duuuude, I told you, I don’t know where the money is.

He talks between gritted teeth.

—Tell. Me. Where. The. Money. Is.

—In. My. Ass.

He puts his hands on my neck, holds them there, shaking. Sid is leaning forward on the couch, watching closely. I could die here. This is another time that I could die. But I don’t. Rolf takes his hand away, walks to the couch, and kicks it five times, then sits down.

—Dude, just tell me where.

—Rolf. I don’t know.

I get myself off the floor.

—But someone else does.

I tell them the truth. Sort of. I tell them about Timmy and how I have a great lead on him. I tell them all I have to do is wait for a call that will tell me where he is, and then we can go get the money.

I don’t tell them about Dylan. If they find out about him, they’ll know there is no way in hell I will ever let them near the money that can save my parents’ lives.

And the story I tell them gives me time. Time for all of us to sit on the couch and watch TV and wait for a call that may never come, while I try to figure how to get them out of here before T comes home and chaos ensues.

My phone rings.

—WHO IS it, dude?

—I don’t know.

—Well, is it your connection or whatever?

—I don’t know.

Rolf grabs the phone and looks at the screen.

—Where’s your caller ID?

I take the phone back.

—I don’t think it has that.

—You bought a phone and didn’t get caller ID? Dude, ID is key.

The phone rings for the fifth time. What if it’s Dylan? I don’t want to talk to Dylan in front of these guys. It rings again.

—Well, answer it, dude.

I hit the green button.

—Hello?

—Wade?

My stomach lurches. Then I get it.

—Hey, Sandy, what happened to the party?

—Party? Oh, yeah, baby, we got it goin’ on. But. Hey, hey, baby, good news. I, we came back to my place, and there was a message from my boss, Terry.

—Yeah?

—He says he knows something.

—Yeah?

—Yeah.

—OK, well?

—Well, yeah, but, baby, he wants some money and says he won’t. You know?

—Wait. Does he know where Tim? Hey, is T there, can I talk to?

—He’s indisposed, baby, in the john. But my guy.

—Right, your guy. How much?

—Just five. He said a grand, but I told him you were nice so I got him to go five.

—Thanks.

—Sure. So, he says the money, he wants to get the money and then he’ll tell you.

—He knows where Tim is?

—I think. He said he has some info on him, so I think so, yeah.

—So when?

—Um, he’s gonna come over in like an hour? Is that? Over here? Can you?

—Yeah, I’m just not sure how I’m.

That’s when I hear a noise in the background. A noise I now realize has been there through this whole call.

—Uh, you know, Sandy, I don’t have a car or.

—Well.

—So it’ll take me awhile and I’m still pretty fucked-up, so later would be good.

—Well, he’s really.

—So have T call and tell me what time.

I hang up. She’ll get me a later meet. But it won’t be T who calls. I’m sure of these things because of the way I could hear Hitler barking in the background. Hitler, who never makes a noise except for a fart, barking mad and angry through the whole call.

T’s in trouble.

And I’m being set up.

I look at Rolf and Sid, waiting for me to tell them what the deal is. And I realize that being set up may be just what I need right now.

SID STILL hasn’t said a word to me. He sits as far from me as possible, his arms and legs crossed. I sit on the couch between the two of them and Rolf tells me what they’ve been up to.

He tells me how, after I left them, they drove down to Vegas. How they found T’s trailer and realized there was no way to stake it out without being seen by everyone in