Elk looked at Moose who looked at Steinthal coldly.
Elk looked at Steinthal again and said, “Steinthal you are one of the most smart-mouthed son of a bitches I ever met. You know that?”
Steinthal half-smiled out of the left side of his mouth.
“Really?” he replied enthusiastically. “Thanks for saying. I feel like I never can really hear that enough so it’s always a lotta fun to know how that works when it does.”
Both hired men were quiet a moment. Too long for it to be just catch-up.
“You know it’s dangerous when it works like that too,” Moose said quietly.
“You don’t say,” Steinthal replied, also lowering his voice, but in a different way. “You guys are like Google without the built-in AI. A treasure house of old links running to nowhere. Maybe you should have come here with earpieces and implants instead of pre-programming.”
Elk and Moose’s eyes shifted subtly to Maugham who was watching Moose carefully. Very carefully.”
“You might also wanna know this smartass,” Elk said. “We’re both nearly as big as your man. But you’re not. Not even close.”
Then they both looked at Steinthal.
Steinthal half-smiled again but spoke directly at Elk.
“Well, since you’re obviously the smart one then there’s probably something you should know too.”
“Oh yeah?” asked Elk, shifting his weight heavily from one foot to another. “What’s that?”
Steinthal smiled again, but fully this time.
“He’s not ‘my man,’ so don’t fucking expect me to try and control him when you finally work up the manballs to start this thing.”
Suddenly a set of headlights went on up the street and a car engine turned over. The headlights were pointed in the direction of the four men. The engine was quiet and dropped immediately into an almost silent idle. But the headlights stayed bright.
Elk and Moose looked at each other frowning.
“You did bring the manballs to start this thing, right ladies?” Steinthal smiled pleasantly and it was easy to see his teeth in the backglow from the headlights. Then he thumbed back in the direction of the car. “If not I got some guys in the car with extra sets you can borrow. If you promise we can cut em back out again afterwards.”
Elk looked at Steinthal. Steinthal could see Elk’s breath streaming and steaming out of his nostrils, but he remained calm enough to not move. Muscle, sure, but professional enough to be something else too.
The four men stared at each other without speaking and without motion. Until Elk’s shoulders dropped a little.
“They’ll be another day Steinthal,” Elk replied. Then he looked at Moose and nodded almost imperceptibly. Both men started to turn but before they could Steinthal spoke.
“There always is boys. The question you gotta ask yourselves, though, is this; do you wanna risk it ending any other way than it did just now?”
Elk turned and looked at Steinthal again, then at Maugham. But neither man reacted. Moose just stared at Elk. Finally Elk turned away and started walking. Moose followed after a moment’s pause. Both their footfalls were heavy, massive even. But both sounded clumsy and loud to Steinthal. He could use that. He would use that.
When they disappeared into the dark and couldn’t be heard anymore Maugham stepped up beside Steinthal and spoke quietly.
“What now?” he asked.
Steinthal looked over at him.
“Now Maugham, it’s an Elk and Moose hunt. Wanna bag a coupla big ones?”
Maugham shrugged nonchalantly.
“I got nothing pressing at the moment,” Maugham replied.
“Good,” Steinthal replied nodding. “It’s always good to take em before they ever get back to the herd.”
Then Steinthal raised his hand and signaled for the car.
from The Detective Steinthal
I TRULY ENJOYED WRITING THIS SCENE. IT’S A FIRST DRAFT AND BEGINS IN MEDIA RES…
Wyrdwend 