Page 92 of Savage Justice

Mulligan lets out a frenzied shriek and writhes furiously on the table. “No, not me eyes. Please, ye cannae…”

Ethan takes the large pair of garden shears that Tony hands him. He opens and closes them with an ominous scraping sound.

“Not especially sharp, but we’ll manage.”

“Please, please…” Mulligan sobs. “It were… I were just, I wanted tae get oot o’ there. He’d seen me…”

“Had you seen him, Nico?”

“If I’d seen him, he wouldn’t have had the chance to do this,” I growl.

“No. Thought not. So, he’s lying. Again.”

Mulligan launches into more frantic wriggling and pleading. “I’m no’ lyin’, I swear. I thought… I were sure…”

“Where were you hiding?” I demand. “We searched the place.”

“I were under the desk, in Ellison’s office.”

I shake my head, berating myself. Schoolboy error.

Ethan scratches his chin. “So, as I see it, you’ve cost me two decent employees, and it could easily have been a third.”

“Strictly speaking, the girl worked for him, not you,” Jack reminds him.

“It’s not like you to split hairs, Jack.”

Jack shrugs. “Just saying.”

“So, as I said, three lives. But this miserable piece of scum only has one to give in exchange, and even that’s a pretty pathetic excuse for an existence from where I’m standing.”

“He’ll be dead in an hour or two anyway by the look of that blood on the floor,” is Tony’s pensive contribution.

“Hmm. Him dying can make up for Nico, but what about the others?”

“There’s still his eyes and ears,” I suggest.

“Or his fingers. Two for each woman he murdered.” Ethan shifts his gaze from me to Tony, then Jack. “Does that sound fair?”

Mulligan wails quietly while we deliberate.

“I say we let him decide,” Jack suggests. “Let him choose.”

Ethan nods slowly. “Excellent plan. So, Albert, what’s it to be? Do I take off four of your fingers with these shears, or would you prefer me to slice off your ears and nose with them? Either way, assuming you survive the next few minutes, you’ll bleed out soon enough.”

“No, no…” he moans. “Just let me die.”

“I will, you have my word. But it’s a matter of justice, you see. We owe it to Elsie, and her kids. And Agnes. And to all the other girls who work for me. A few pics circulated, a warning about what happens if anyone sees fit to damage my business assets. Or steal from me. I think things will run more smoothly after that. Don’t you?”

“Please, I ne’er…”

“Just choose, or I’ll choose for you. If you go for the fingers, I’ll even let you decide which hand. Can’t say fairer than that.”

“Please…”

“Choose. Now.”

“Nooooo,” he wails.

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