Beast had a foot over the threshold. “He’s with me, so yeah, heiscomin’ in here. You tell us the fuckin’ truth and keep your cool, you won’t have to worry about him hurting you.”
Brantley shot me a dirty look and Tundra and I went inside the unit.
On the far side of the room, there was a hallway. Beast walked to the mouth of the hallway and turned around. “You got anybody else here with you?”
“No,” Brantley said.
“We gonna believe him?” Tundra asked, standing at the walkway into the kitchen.
If I stayed where I was at the door, we had Brantley blocked from any exit.
Beast shook his head. “That’s a good point. Check that out for me, Tun.”
Brantley stepped forward. “He can’t go back there.”
Beast shot me a look and I pushed Brantley up against the wall.
He glared at me, then yelled over my shoulder, “There’s nobody else here, why would I lie about that?”
Tundra lumbered down the hall.
Beast smiled at Brantley, but it held no humor. “I don’t know, but my rule of thumb is never trust anyone who’s into drugs. Whether they sell or use.”
Tundra returned to the room and stationed himself in front of the kitchen. “Nobody else, here, man.”
I let go of Brantley and moved back to the front door.
“Who was the brains behind your drug sales? You or Ines?” Beast asked.
Brantley gave a short head shake, his lank hair grazing his shoulders. “What do you care? I thought you found the drugs?”
“Humor me, asshole. Who was in charge? You or Ines?”
“Ines,” Brantley hissed.
“How much of your sales were through Bitcoin?”
Brantley narrowed his eyes at Beast. “I didn’t keep track.”
Beast pulled in a breath. “A rough guess will work here. Half? More than that?”
“Yeah, definitely half, probably closer to three-quarters.”
“How’d you meet Ines?” Beast asked.
“I’m not telling you that.”
“Why not?”
Brantley’s chest rose as he took a deep breath. “She just passed on, man. I don’t feel like reliving that.”
“Did you meet her because of drugs?” Tundra asked.
He shook his head. “No. We went to the same gym. I was leaving and some asshole was giving her a hard time.”
Beast arched a brow. “What kind of asshole?”
Brantley twisted his hands up. “An asshole, it’s not like there’s different kinds.”
