Free The Extinct by Victor Methos Page A

glancing up. Eric claimed it was a road rage incident and gave a description of his attacker, describing Jason down to the last detail. The officer stated he would contact a detective and they would be in touch with him and left the hospital room, taking all of fifteen minutes.
    Eric stretched and took a Lortab without water before checking out of the ER. He walked outside. When he was on the sidewalk he pulled out a cell phone and dialed Jason’s number. He didn’t answer and Eric left a message. “I think I’m trouble Jas, I need to talk to you. Call me back as soon as you get this.”
    There was a small diner nearby and he walked in and sat in a booth by the window. He ordered pancakes and coffee and added up how much money he had: fifty in cash and six hundred on a credit card. As he swallowed the last drop of a second cup of coffee, his cell phone rang. It was Jason.
“I’m glad you called,” Eric said.
“Jesus Eric the police were here.”
Eric’s heart jumped. “Why?”
    “They wanted to talk to you. Said Jeff’s dead and they need to talk to you as soon as possible. Tell me you didn’t do anything stupid.”
    “Of course not.” Eric was suddenly unsure whether he could trust Jason fully. He’d been a good friend the entire time he’d known him, but things like this break loyalty and Jason’s was untested so far.
“Your message said you were in trouble.”
“I got a DUI.”
“Shit, really? Well I’ll cover for you at school.”
“Don’t worry about it; I’m withdrawing from this semester. I’ve already missed enough class to be kicked out.”
“If that’s what you want, I guess. So what’d ya think happened to Jeff?”
“He was a junkie. Probably some other junkie shot him.”
There was a slight pause before Jason spoke. “How’d you know he was shot, Eric?”
Eric panicked and then said, “I didn’t, I just guessed.”
“Oh,” Jason said.
“I gotta get goin’ Jas, but, I want you to know you’ve always been a good friend to me.”
Jason chuckled. “You sound like you’re dying. You’re a good friend too. You take care of yourself, all right?”
“If you see Wendy, tell her . . . well, tell her I love her.”
“I will. Bye Eric.”
“Bye.”
    Eric sat another hour in the diner, sipping coffee and watching the traffic out the window. More than anything else he wanted to see his mother and say good bye. But that was exactly the one thing he couldn’t do; the police would be waiting for him there. He thought about it and then dialed Jason’s number again.
“What’s up?”
“Did the cops leave a number for me to call?”
“Yeah, somewhere. As soon as I find it I’ll text it to you.”
“Thanks.”
    The text came in and Eric dialed the number. It rang twice before a gruff voice answered. “Concord Police Department, this is Detective Pregman.”
“Yeah, Detective, my name’s Eric Holden and my roommate just informed me that you wanted to talk to me.”
“Yes, we did. He actually told us you didn’t have a cell phone.”
Eric grinned. “I just use it for emergencies. What can I do for you?”
“Did your roommate tell you your stepfather’s dead?”
“Yeah, it’s crazy. I don’t know what to think.”
    “Well we have a few questions for you; I was hoping you could come down to the station and give us a statement. You know, if he had any enemies or anything like that.” The detective hesitated. “Why don’t you tell me where you are and I can just have someone come pick you up?”
    The hesitation was as loud as any words: he knew. “Actually I got a class in a couple hours so I’ll be around the campus all day. I’ll come up as soon as I’m done. How’s around three sound?”
“That’ll be fine. You know where the precinct is?”
“Yeah, do I just ask for you?”
“Yeah, me or my partner Detective Rodriguez.”
“Okay, I’ll see ya at three then.”
    Eric hung up and threw a ten dollar bill on the table before rushing out of the diner. It had started