But Not For Lust by BJ Bourg (comprehension books .txt) 📕

Nikia apparently couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“He pulled a Lorena Bobbitt on Ty,” I said grimly, the anger starting to burn to the surface. “And you stood idly by and watched—or you helped.” I glared at him. “Did you help?”

“No!” He threw his arms up in a defensive posture. “I swear, I didn’t do nothing except help him carry Ty to the field. My buddy did everything.”

“You could’ve done something to save Ty,” I said accusingly, “but you didn’t. Why didn’t you stop your friend? Why didn’t you run away and get help?”

“I…I was scared.” He lowered his arms and his shoulders drooped almost to his waist. “I knew I hurt his mom and I knew I’d be in trouble if I went to the police, so I just…I mean, I guess that’s why I didn’t say nothing.”

“What happened next?”

“He…he hit Ty over the head with this short wooden bat that has a leather strap tied to the handle.” Nikia snapped his fingers. “He called it a tire something or other—said he got it from his dad, who used to be a truck driver.”

“A tire thumper?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s it!”

“Where is it now?”

“I don’t know.” Nikia shook his head from side to side. “After we left the field, he drove me home and told me to keep my mouth shut or he would do to me what he did to Ty.”

“Was that the last time you saw him?”

He nodded. “He went back offshore Sunday night and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Was that the last time you spoke to him?”

“Yeah.”

“If you knew Ty had been murdered in that field west of town,” I began slowly, leaning across the table, “then why’d you send us on a wild goose chase on the east side of town? You wasted a lot of our time.”

Nikia melted into his chair. “My buddy told me to do that.”

“Your buddy’s been offshore since Sunday night,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, he called me from work and told me he was hearing things.”

“What kind of things?”

“He was hearing that search parties were breaking out all over town,” Nikia explained. “He knew it would only be a matter of time before y’all found Ty, so he wanted time to move the body deeper into the swamps. He asked me to do it, but I wasn’t about to go back there.”

I studied him for a long moment. “What’s your buddy’s name?”

  CHAPTER 52

Nikia hesitated.

“I need your buddy’s name,” I said impatiently. “If you can’t provide a name, I’ve got to assume you did everything you attributed to this imaginary friend.”

“Dillon Watts.”

He said the name so suddenly that I wasn’t sure if I’d heard him correctly. “What was that?”

“Dillon Watts,” he repeated.

Susan and I both looked at each other. I turned back to Nikia and asked, “Aren’t you screwing his wife?”

He lowered his head and nodded shamefully.

“So, you’re the one sleeping with Dillon’s wife, but he kills Ty instead of you?” I asked skeptically. “That doesn’t make much sense. Why didn’t he kill you?”

“I don’t know!” Nikia threw up his hands. “When he came to my house all pissed off, I did think he was there to kill me. He was supposed to be offshore until this coming weekend. I was shocked to see him. I thought my reaction gave me away.”

“Were you screwing Betty Friday night?” I asked pointedly.

“Yeah.”

“Where’d y’all hook up?”

“At Phoebe’s house in the back of Ty’s street.”

“Were you with her when she almost ran over Ty?”

Nikia scowled. “Huh?”

“She almost plowed over Ty on Friday night when she was leaving her sister’s house,” I explained. “That would’ve been after y’all hooked up. Were you with her then?”

“No.” He shook his head for emphasis. “I left Phoebe’s house first and walked home. I didn’t even know nothing about that.”

“But you had to have gotten in her car at some point, because your prints were on the passenger’s side door.”

“She picked me up on the way to her sister’s house,” he explained, “but I walked home. She brings me home sometimes, but that night I walked.”

“Did you see Ty when you walked past his house?”

“No.”

I was thoughtful. “You were screwing Betty, so why didn’t she tell you about almost running over Ty?”

“She normally would have.” He scowled. “I haven’t talked to her since Friday. I tried calling her on her hide-away phone Sunday morning to find out what the hell happened with Dillon and why he barged into my house, but it went straight to the message saying she doesn’t have a voicemail set up.”

“What hide-away phone?” I asked.

“Oh, she keeps this second phone hidden in a hole behind the toilet so Dillon doesn’t find it.” He grunted. “She had it long before we started talking, so I guess she’s been messing around on him for a while. I asked her about it a few times, but she said I was the first person she ever messed around on Dillon with.”

I leaned back and considered this revelation. We had checked Ty’s phone and it had only communicated with one number—his mom’s—so there was no way Betty was talking to him from her throwaway phone.

“Do you think Ty was messing around with Betty?” I finally asked, realizing how absurd the question sounded. In his state of mind leading up to his murder, Ty had been in no condition to have a relationship.

Nikia scoffed. “Hell, no. She wouldn’t look twice at Ty.”

“And why’s that?” I fixed him with stern eyes. “What makes you so much better than Ty?”

He recognized something in my tone and decided not to answer. He simply lowered his head and whimpered.

“Well?” I pressed. “What makes your ugly ass so special? Why would someone