Pride, however, was the reason he was telling this story. Red, a guy like Hayes looking at an assault charge along with some public drunkenness, had thrown out his best dead body story and Hayes felt like topping him just so he could have beat him at something. The fact that he actually had a good story to toss out—better than Red stumbling onto an overdose in a parking garage— made it hard to resist.

“How exactly did a body get in your trunk without you knowing it?” Diaz, a young guy looking to face a judge for breaking and entering, asked.

“It wasn’t my car.”

“Then whose car was it?”

“Hell if I know. I don’t want to know either, that shit was bad. I mean, like, psycho-killer bad.”

“How do you not know whose car it was?”

“I stole it.”

Hearing about theft seemed to get Diaz’s attention. “You a car thief?”

“Not as a general rule, but this one fell into my lap. The dude left the keys inside while he went to pay for his gas. I happen to be walking by and the opportunity was too good to pass up.”

“I’m calling bullshit again,” Red told him. “Why didn’t he just pay at the pump like a normal person?”

“He had a body in the trunk, moron,” Diaz shot back. “He paid cash, so he didn’t leave a trail. Don’t you know anything about crime?”

“No, because I’m not a criminal.”

“You’re in here, you’re a criminal.”

“No, I just got drunk and got in a fight.”

“Which is a crime.”

“No shit.”

“So, you’re a criminal.”

“Give Red a break, Diaz, he just had a bad day. I know the feeling.”

“So,” Diaz said as he dealt another hand, “you took a car…”

“Not just any car, one of those new Camaros, a yellow one.”

“Why would anyone get a yellow car?” Red asked.

“It looked good, trust me. Anyway, I’m in the thing and I’ve started it up when I see the owner—or at least the guy that stole it first—coming out of the store. He’s a big dude, like terminator big, not fat, and he’s wearing a hat, not a baseball cap but like those old hats people used to wear that kids started wearing again.”

“A fedora?”

“Yeah, but with a wider brim. Anyway, he’s got head down and the brim pulled down so I can’t see his face.”

“He didn’t want the camera inside to see anything useful,” Diaz chipped in. “Sounds like a pro.”

“Yeah, except hearing his engine roar to life made him look up.”

“You saw his face?”

“Yep. He had that blonde hair that almost looks white and a big block of a head with a scar on his lip. I was thinking I should get out and walk away, but instead, I peeled out of there. I thought he might chase after me, but I swear he smiled and waved. He didn’t seem pissed off at all. I figured he had insurance.”

“I have insurance,” Red said, “but I still would have been pissed. Insurance doesn’t mean I don’t have to walk home.”

“I agree, but that’s what he did. Whatever he was thinking, I didn’t figure I had a lot of time to drive that thing around before there was a police report.”

“You should have known there would be a police report even if he didn’t see you. It’s not like he would think his car left on its own,” Red said.

Hayes laughed. “Yeah, I guess I don’t always think things through. Anyway, I figured I’d take it across town and drop it off in a public lot then head over to this bar I like to go to. Since I’ve only got it for a short time, I’m driving it like a motherfucker. The thing had balls. I can tell you that much. I e-brake around a corner and hear this thump in the back. It probably wasn’t the first one, but I’ve got the stereo cranking and this one just timed out so it thumped between songs.”

“So, you’re thinking there’s a body back there?”

“Hell no. I’m thinking it’s too loud for groceries but a dead guy is the furthest thing from my mind. I’m starting to wonder if it’s something valuable though. I start wondering if by driving like I’m auditioning for NASCAR if I’m fucking it up, so I pull into this parking lot and get out to take a look. Only when I reach the trunk, I hear this sound like a muffled scream and even though the car is stopped, something is banging on the lid.”

“I thought you said you found a dead body?”

“I’m getting there. You’re right though, he wasn’t dead when I opened the trunk. He was plenty fucked up though. He was covered in blood and was missing both his eyes. He was trying to scream, but his lips were like sewed together with wire. Given how fucked up he was, he shouldn’t have been alive.”

“Bullshit,” Red said.

“You think I could make that up?”

“So, did you kill him?” Diaz asked.

“No way. I wouldn’t be telling you guys if I did.”

“You leave him there?”

“No, I’m no angel, but I’m not a monster either. I drove straight to the hospital. Did it fast too, though I didn’t ebrake around any corners or anything like that. I figured he’d suffered enough. I pulled up planning to dump him by the emergency room door and then get the Hell out of there. Only when I opened the trunk to drop him off, it was pretty clear there wasn’t anything they could do to help him. I could see myself getting blamed for it so I decided since it wasn’t going to matter to him at this point. I needed to hit the road.”

“You should have dropped him off. You’re not a doctor, how do you know he was dead?”

“Living people breathe. This dude wasn’t.”

“So, what did you do? Go to the parking lot and then hit the bar?”

“No, I took it to a bad neighborhood and then took the bus home. Actually, I took it to the bar. I left the keys on the seat, just like they were when I stole the thing. I figured somebody else would steal it and then it could be their problem.”

“You should have just dumped the body and kept the car. It’s not like the guy with the scar on his lip was going to call the cops.”

“After what I saw, I didn’t want to be anywhere near that thing.”

“Anyone ever find the car or the body?”

“Not that I ever heard. Trust me, I was listening too. I was nervous as Hell for a few weeks especially when I saw the article on this missing man. It was hard to tell since it was dark and even if he had his eyes the picture was taken when he was having a better day, to say the least, but I would have sworn it was him.”

“If he was missing that would mean they hadn’t found him though. As long as they never found him, you’d be safe.”

“Yeah, but the fact they were writing about in the newspapers meant they weren’t going to quit looking any time soon.”

“They ever find him?”

“As far as I know, they’re still looking.”

“You think the guy with the scarred lip killed him?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“You saw him, do you think he’s looking for you?”

“I saw him, but the windows were tinted. He never saw me.”

“At least, you hope he didn’t.”

“You got that right.”

Diaz started to deal another hand but stopped. “You know, that dude who you stole the car from? He sounds familiar.”

“You think you know him?”

“No, not like personally. I just heard a story about a guy like that.”

“You heard a story?”

“Yeah, kind of like this, just some dudes hanging around bullshitting and this dude starts talking about this dude they call ‘The Boog.’”

“The Boog?”

“Short for Boogieman and to be honest, he was just about as believable. I figured the dude was full of shit talking about some hitman with white hair and a scar on his lip who kept his victim’s eyes but made the rest of them disappear.”

“You mean you don’t think Hayes is full of shit right now?” Red said.

“Not any more than you are.”

“If I was making it up, I’d come up with a better story,” Hayes said, “one where I got laid in the end.”

“Then we’d know you were full of shit.”

“All I’ve got to say is if the stories this guy was telling are even half true, I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of him.”

“If that’s the case, thank God for tinted windows.”

They played cards for another two hours; there wasn’t anything better to do. Then Hayes’ turn to see a judge came up. He was lined up in irons when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned his head, thinking it was a guard, but it was another inmate. A big guy with thick white hair. He was looking at the ground.

“I heard you have an interesting story,” he said without looking up.

“What do you mean?” Hayes asked. After two hours of losing more, thankfully, theoretical money, he’d forgotten he’d told the story about the dead body.

The man looked up. Hayes saw the scar on his lip.

“You’re going to have to tell it to me sometime.”

Hayes wasn’t sure what to say. He was having a hard time not peeing his pants.

“It’s Hayes, right?”

Hayes didn’t answer.

“They call me Boog.”

Again Hayes didn’t reply. He was glad when they started moving.

As they started marching the prisoners off to the van that would take him to the courthouse, the man with the scar waved.

Unlike the last time, Hayes saw him wave, this time he could hear him too.

“See you soon, Evan Hayes. That is, unless one of my friends sees you first. I have lots of friends, Mr. Hayes.”