Lethal Misfits ✅

Lethal Misfits (17)

Lethal Misfits - 17

Johnny

It took me twenty minutes and two hundred pounds to get the man talking. Iris just let me do the work silently; I guess she was too overwhelmed and surprised to react properly. The man was called Phil and he accepted to come with us at a café nearby. I wanted to be able to ask him questions in a much peaceful and less shady place than the apartment building which reeked of all kind of odors.  

The café was definitely a better environment; it was cleaner and filled with laughing and chatting people.

Iris eyed the place suspiciously, ''shouldn't we find a quieter place?'' she whispered after we settled down in one corner.

''The louder it is, its better. No one will pay attention to us.'' I told her and sat between Phil and Iris. The man was acting pricey at first but after giving him money, he had clamed down and agreed to open his mouth.

After what he said at the building, I decided not to reach any conclusions before knowing the whole matter first. I had to be aware of what was going on to remove my confusion and think straight. Iris was kind of shaken as well but I could see she was trying hard to contain her excitement and intrigue. The questions were shining on her face but she restrained herself from speaking and left the talking to me. I was glad she trusted me with this.

''So, what do you guys want to know about James?'' Phil asked us; a little time ago he had looked so impatient as if he was in a hurry and had an urgent task to attend. Now, he was carefree and calm as if he had all the time in the world.

''We are relatives of a guy called Steve Bradley but we can't find him here. All we know is, he used to live here and -''

He clicked his tongue and leaned back, ''What are you saying dude? Your information is screwed up. Relatives? Are you telling the truth? Because if you are related you are suppose to know his face.'' I exchanged glances with Iris.

''We've never met him, we just know his name.'' I lied, it seemed to work and Phil relaxed a little.

''Yeah that's the case. And we need to know why you are calling him James.'' Iris asked urging him to continue, a streak of desperation hanging on her voice.

''Steve Bradley didn't live there,'' Phil stated flatly, ''the one who lived there was James, just like I said. He's the guy in the picture you showed me.'' Wow, this was more messed up than I had imagined. What was going on? Where did this new name jumped up from? Was he using it all along? Even so, then who was the Steve that Phil had mentioned back then? Damn this was confusing.  

''I don't get you!'' Iris took out her phone again and practically shoved the picture on his face, ''this guy is Steve Bradley, my relative. I-

''You guys gone nuts or what? I told you twice already, this person is James. He's been coming over to my apartment since I was a kid. He was my fathers drinking buddy. His son used to be in a same school as me. I know that because kids always teased him for being a fatty.''

I put my hand on her elbow, ''Iris, please calm down. We're getting there.'' She nodded and pulled back her cell phone again, looking disappointed now, but the anticipation was still intact on her face.

''Okay, so he is James. But you said you know Steve Bradley as well, what does that mean?'' I asked trying to play the nice guy card. I didn't want Phil to get annoyed with us and leave us hanging. There was no point of getting angry on him.

''Yeah, Steve lived uptown in that nice house, he was such an arrogant bastard...'' Something clicked in my mind, I recalled Iris doubts when we had located the apartment building in Crescent Ville, and she had said that the place didn't suit Steve's background. But the house Phil mentioned fixed in the puzzle that was slowly coming together.