Small Steps - Louis Sachar [47]
“What was your arrangement with him?”
“We split all the profits, fifty-fifty. He was there with me for every sale.”
“Do you know his last name?”
“No.”
“Where does he live?”
“I have no idea.”
“Do you know his phone number?”
“No.”
“I’m getting tired of this, Rex.”
“I swear. I’m not lying!”
“Then how would you get in touch with him?”
“I’d call Felix. Then Felix would call Armpit, and we’d meet at H-E-B.”
“Who kept the tickets?”
“He kept six, I kept six. To be honest, I thought he was going to rip me off, but he never did.”
Detective Newberg set her briefcase on the table and unlatched the clasps.
“Look, I’m sorry for not being totally straight with you earlier,” X-Ray said. “Armpit scares the bejesus out of me. But now I told you the truth, so everything’s cool, right?” He smiled. “No harm, no foul?”
Detective Newberg suddenly turned and seemed to stare right at Armpit, although he knew she couldn’t see him.
She looked away, then removed two photographs from her briefcase. “Is this Felix?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
She showed X-Ray a photo of Moses. “Is this Armpit?”
X-Ray took his time studying the photo. “No, Armpit’s got dark skin. And he didn’t wear a cowboy hat. He wore one of those things, what are they called, a turban? I think he might be part Iranian.”
“Did he have a mustache?”
X-Ray thought a moment.
Armpit couldn’t remember if he told X-Ray he’d said Habib had a mustache.
“He might have. The guy was so hairy it was kind of hard to tell. He’s the kind of guy who has to shave three times a day, if you know what I mean.”
“How old was he?”
“Maybe twenty-five. Hard to say because of the turban.”
Detective Newberg sighed. “Thank you for your cooperation,” she said. She handed him her card and told him if he ever heard from Armpit again to call her.
“I can go?”
She nodded.
A uniformed officer came in and escorted X-Ray out of the room.
Armpit watched Detective Newberg place the photographs back in her briefcase. She shook her head, then walked out of the room.
A moment later the door to his room opened.
“So what does my expert criminal psychologist think?” She smiled, and her cheeks turned pink.
“I think he told the truth.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I mean, not at first, but then you scared him and I think he told you the truth after that.”
Detective Newberg shook her head. “Now I understand how Armpit managed to sell you those phony tickets. You are way too gullible.”
Armpit shrugged.
She smiled. “It’s because you’re honest. Oh, you didn’t eat your pizza.”
He’d lost his appetite.
“Well, even if X-Ray won’t tell us how to find Habib, it shouldn’t be all that hard to find someone whose name is Armpit. We could probably smell him a mile away.”
She laughed at her own joke.
“He didn’t smell bad to me,” Armpit said. “I mean, that might have nothing to do with his name. Maybe a wasp stung him on the armpit or something like that.”
He just had to get that in.
24
It had never felt so good to be digging and sweating in the hot sun. He didn’t have to think about anything except dirt and shrubs.
Detective Newberg ended up driving him to work, which was just as well since she drove a normal car and he didn’t have to explain about showing up in a black-and-white. He did his best to back up what X-Ray had said. He confirmed that Habib wore a turban.
X-Ray called him later and told him he’d had a nice chat with Debbie Newberg and that everything was cool now, but just in case, it might be a good idea if they stayed away from each other for a while.
Armpit didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d seen and heard the whole thing. Instead, he told X-Ray about Kaira’s letter.
“You dog! If you end up marrying that chick, you owe me at least a half a million dollars.”
The phone rang the second he hung up with X-Ray.
“Okay, I just want to warn you that you’re going to get a really,