“Josh, you ever heard of the prisoner’s dilemma?”
“Thewhat?”
“How about the tit-for-tat strategy?”
Perry scrunched his nose.
“I mean, I heard of tit-for-tat, but I don’t know what it means. Like give and take?”
If this was an act, it was a fucking good one.
“Tell me about the game.”
“It was this thing with red and green buttons—”
“Start earlier. How did you hear about it?”
“Oh. I,uh, I got this flyer thing under my wiper when I was parked at a gas station. It—”
“Where?”
“Uh, the one on Belt Line Road. QuikTrip?”
Vaughn waited a beat, made sure that Delaney on the other side of the one-way glass overheard.
“What’d it say?”
“It was an ad for a TV show. Wanted players for a puzzle game to win some crypto—”
“You still have the ad?”
“Yeah, in my car.”
“Okay, so you got the ad, then what?”
“I called the number, but there was no answer. To be honest, I kinda forgot about it—thought it was a scam. Then I got a text the next day from the same number with a list of instructions.”
“Which were?”
“Like, go to this parking lot, leave your phone and wallet in the car. Don’t tell nobody, that kind of stuff.”
Darnell cleared his throat—a signal. Vaughn was tired of talking, tired in general, so he allowed his partner to say a few words. Sometimes—almost all the time—sitting and listening was the best approach. Not here, not now. As per his own admission, Perry, like Vaughn, was exhausted. They needed to keep peppering him, keep the man off balance.
“You didn’t think that was a little weird?”
“Of course, but I need the cash. Lost my job and I need the money, man.”
Vaughn nodded, trying to look understanding and sympathetic.
“Okay, so you get the instructions and then what? You drive to the parking lot?”
“Yep.”
“Which one?”
Joshua scratched his head. He had stubby fingernails that weren’t quite grimy but definitely weren’t clean.
“Stillwater Cafe.”
