Green Desert - Chapter 7.3.3 - Fírí

“Another Zhíno,” the detective muttered. “That’s going to cause a bit of confusion.” He cleared his throat. “And who are these friends you’re looking for?” Hands in his pockets, the old man stepped towards the seated men.

“Um, nobody.” “Just our friends.” Sévo and this second Zhíno squirmed under the cop’s gaze. “Who’s the other Zhíno?” asked Raíngozé.

“Do you know another Zhíno?”

Raíngozé drank long from his beer with a shaky hand, then jerked his flannel sleeve across his mouth. “Yeah, a few, yeah. Like that guy mentioned on the news.” His eyes darted around the room, not making eye contact with the cop. “This is the place, right?”

Raíngozé and Sévo weren’t businessmen. They weren’t importers. Whatever they were, they were freaked out by simple questions from a cop. These guys were criminals.

The detective took a hand from his pocket and smoothed his moustache. “Yes, this is the place. Why’d your friends come here?”

Neither of them moved. If their friends’ car was here, their suit-wearing friends must have gone to the gully. That’s where the action was. That’s where my Zhíno was. Criminals. Suits. Importers. Friends who probably weren’t friends. Gogzhuè’s goons.

“Detective, let me show you the chapel now. Where the Kılímos raped me.” I tugged his jacket sleeve. “Come on.”

Dark-haired Sévo’s jaw dropped. “They raped you?”

“Yes!”

“You got to arrest them, sir. How can you stand there calmly when this lady’s honor has been defiled?”