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Chapter 10-1-3

"Huh?" frowned Billy. "What for?"

"Black gold," muttered Dave, shaking his head. "Somebody told Fred I was taking it."

"What?" exclaimed Billy. "You're kiddin'!"

"Nope," sighed Dave. "Someone told him I've been drinking the chocolate milk."

"Holy s**t," jolted Billy, grimacing with disbelief. "Who? Who told him?"

"Beats the hell outta' me," shrugged Dave. "Fred wouldn't say."

"Man! What'd you tell him?"

"I admitted it," said Dave.

"Why'd you do that?" snapped Billy.

"I don't know. I thought it might be better if I told him the truth."

"If he didn't catch you in the act, he had no way of pinning it on you!" Billy whispered fervently. "All he knew was what somebody told him, and he can't do anything to you based on that! You should've denied it!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't," mumbled Dave. "It doesn't matter, because he didn't do anything to me, anyway. He said he wasn't going to punish me. He just wants me to stop taking milks, and he wants me to pass it along to everybody that he's gonna' be on the lookout for anyone else taking them."

"Geez," said Billy, wagging his head. "You got lucky."

"Tell me about it," said Dave. "He said if he catches anybody, they'll be out the door."

"Son of a b***h," muttered Billy, angrily clicking his tongs together. "You have any idea who went to Fred?"

"Nope," Dave answered with a sigh.

"Have you really pissed anybody off lately?" asked Billy.

"I don't know," replied Dave, raising his hands in frustration, then letting them fall heavily against his sides. "I mean, I can't think of anyone in particular."

"What about Cindy? She was pretty bent outta' shape over those rolls."

"I don't think so," Dave said as he considered the possibility. "She hasn't been here that long, y'know? I doubt she even knows I ever took any chocolate milks."

"Hm," grunted Billy. "I'm gonna' have to find out who it was."

"Yeah," nodded Dave. "I'd like to know who the jerk is, too."

"Whoever it is," said Billy, shooting a glance over his shoulder at the broiler, "they sure screwed things up for everyone. Fred and Tom'll be watching the stock like hawks from now on."

"A lot of people are gonna' be mad, all right," agreed Dave.

"I'll find out who it was," Billy said assuringly, clapping Dave's shoulder.

"You know what's funny?" said Dave. "Just last night, we were sitting around talking about how no one would ever turn anyone in. I mean, we were saying how it would never happen, and now it has."

"We jinxed ourselves, I guess. We should've kept our mouths shut."

"Larry said we should watch it," recounted Dave. "He was right, but I didn't listen."

"I wonder if he knew," said Billy. "I wonder if he heard something, and was trying to clue us in."

"Nah," negated Dave, frowning thoughtfully. "He would've just told us flat-out, wouldn't he?"

"Who knows? Maybe he was even the one who told Fred."

"I don't think so. If he wanted to bust us for Fred, he wouldn't have tried to warn us. Anyway, I don't think he's the kind of guy who'd do the managers' dirty work. I don't know exactly why, but I think we can trust him."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Billy said pensively. "He seems like an okay guy." Pausing for a moment, Billy stared past Dave at the door of the office, then clicked his tongs loudly against his leg. "Well, I'm gonna' find out who the asshole is, anyway. I'm gonna' get his number, man."

With that, he turned back to the broiler and resumed his cooking. As Dave slouched past on his way to the fry station, he noticed that several steaks on the broiler had burned black.