章 32: Chase

Bisceglia Pharmacy is a tiny, dusty relic tucked into a dying strip mall on the other side of the Kansas-Missouri state line. I see Liv’s doubt as we pull up to the pharmacy and there’s a dog chained up out front gnawing industriously on an old shoe.

"Uh," she says, stepping over the dog, who doesn’t stop his chewing to look up, "is this like...a licensed pharmacy?"

"We’re in Missouri now, princess. This is what shit looks like here."

Liv shoots me a look as we walk through the door—which is propped open with a rabbit-eared television set—and into the dimly lit pharmacy. "You know, it’s not nice to be geographically snobby."

"I lived on the Missouri side of Kansas City until Mom died," I tell her. "So I feel a little entitled to some trash talk. Also this place was my first job. So I’m double entitled."