Page 65 of Mile High Baby

"Will it hurt?" His voice quavered.

I looked at him with pity, hoping he saw someone who was showing sympathy toward him. "Well, it doesn't feel good. But really, that's the least of your troubles. When you shoot electricity through a person, there’s always a chance your heart will stop. Not that we want that. Because we don't, Tommy. All we want is information." I reached into the bag behind me, pulling out my shaving cream. "You've been a tough nut. I admire that." I depressed the top, squirting the foam on the tips of my fingers. "We’ve had some people who were able to still keep their mouths shut after all this. If you stay strong, Tommy, maybe you will too."

He shot up from his chair and rushed to the corner of the room, standing like a six-year-old boy in trouble by the teacher. "You can't do this. This is illegal. Help!"

I continued to sit on the edge of the table, shaking my head and tsk-tsking. "You should've thought about that before you went to work for your wife's uncle. Surely, you know about his questionable activities. You must be all right with it. This," I said, holding up the razor, "is the possible outcome of going into dirty business with George Pitney. He didn't tell you that when he recruited you? That doesn’t seem very nice.”

Tommy tried to hold his hands up in surrender, but they were still bound at the wrist. "I don't know anything about his business. I'm a salesman."

I cocked my head to the side. "What were you selling at two thirty in the morning on Riverside Drive?"

"N–n–nothing. I was just out for a walk."

I sighed. "Well, if you're going to stick with that story, I’m going to have to give you a shave.” I wished I had a pair of scissors in my bag so that I could cut his shirt open and smear the foam over his chest. It definitely would make him wet his pants. Maybe shit, too. Perhaps Walters needed to up the ante.

"It seems I forgot my scissors." I wiped the foam into his drinking glass. "Excuse me while I go get some."

"What do you need scissors for?" Tommy was about to hyperventilate, which wasn’t good. I couldn’t talk to people who passed out.

"Don't worry, Tommy. When you leave here, you will still have your manhood."

His hands shot down to cover his groin.

"But I need to cut open your shirt so I can shave you. For the electrodes. Remember?" I stood and headed to the door.

"No, no, no. Wait. George just asked me to go down and look around the house and see what sort of security it had."

"What house?" I moved back into the center of the room.

Tommy shrugged. "Some media guy. George doesn’t like what he's been publishing."

Now we were starting to get somewhere. "How many times have you done this?"

"Just once."

I figured he was telling the truth because certainly, our men would've seen him. "And what, specifically, were you supposed to report back to Uncle George?"

"Just about the security system. Oh, and count the number of men who could be there watching the house."

I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked my head to the side, wondering why George would send this kid down to do work he knew he'd get caught doing. George had to know we were there.

"And how many did you count?"

Tommy shrugged. "I don't know. I mean they were people, but I didn’t know if they were security or not. You know, like parked on the street. I didn't see anybody when I hopped the fence to go into the back until they grabbed me.”

"Why does George want this information?"

Tommy scraped his hands over his face. "I don't know, except that he's mad at him for printing all those stories."

I walked over to Tommy, who tensed as I approached. I rested my hand on the wall as I leaned into him. "Why did he pick you for this job? Clearly, this is not in your job description as a salesman."

Tommy looked at me, and I knew any second, he was definitely going to piss his pants. I shifted back a little bit. "I’ll ask you again, Tommy. Why would he pick you?"

He sighed. "I like to gamble and go to strip clubs. But I don't want my wife to know."

Now it made sense. "So George found out and told you he wouldn't say anything if you did this for him."

Tommy nodded. But it still didn't make any sense on why George would send someone totally inexperienced. He ran the risk of Tommy getting arrested. Tommy probably would've withstood the police interrogation, and maybe that was what George was counting on.