Buck said, his gray eyes turned to ice, as hard and cold as either of them had ever seen. He was staring at Wayne but Marcus could feel the anger roll out over him as well. “What the fuck was goin’ on in there?” Buck took a second to look back around the door at the man and the lady on the cot. It was a second Wayne needed to gather his voice, lower his fear, and swallow some of his embarrassment so he would not bring more of it onto himself. “She said she was a cop, man. She said it right to my face, Buck, and she wasn’t talkin’ about no back in the day either,” he said, his voice quiet but direct. Direct enough for Buck to listen. “Why?” he said. The boy looked at him. “What made her decide to tell you she was a cop?” He hesitated. “She wanted her necklace back,” he said, just as quiet, just as direct. Marcus let a rush of disgust escape through his teeth and Wayne cut his eyes at him. It was Buck’s turn to hesitate. “You gonna fill me in on that one?”
