Page 64 of Dolly

“You have the other girls identified yet?” I ask, nodding toward his paper.

“There are so many.” His attention doesn’t waver away from my hand. “It could take me a while.”

“We don’t really have that much time.” I lift the gun in my hand, cradling it.

“Brian. Please.” The begging begins.

“If it weren’t for you, the taskforce could have found Dolly before I was even part of it. If it weren’t for you, countless girls wouldn’t be dead, wouldn’t have been tortured and raped for the masses to get off on.”

Another bead of sweat rolls down his temple.

“You sold out those girls. And how many more are out there? I doubt the deputy mayor took this girl for himself. He’s too high and mighty to do the dirty work himself. Either he had someone do it, or someone’s trying to send a message that he’s not squeaky clean.”

“We need to find out who ran the other house,” Dolly says calmly, like she’s adding a bag of apples to the grocery list.

“We will,” I promise as I stand from my chair.

“Brian.” Todd’s lip quivers. Tears run down his cheeks.

“You did good, Todd. And I don’t go back on my word. It won’t hurt.” I raise my gun.

“Please. Please, don’t do this. Please!” He turns to me, snot running over his lips. “Please. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. Please. Please,” he repeats, but it doesn’t change anything.

Never did for Dolly.

Didn’t for me.

And won’t for Todd.

Until all those involved in hurting Dolly are gone, there will be no mercy. There will be no second chances. There will be nothing but pain and death.

One squeeze of the trigger, and Todd falls back off the chair.

“Should we take all of this with us?” Dolly starts to close the laptops and gather the papers.

“No.” I stop her. “Leave it all here.”

“But—”

I point a finger. “Leave it. We leave this for Pierce. If he takes it and works the case, then we know he wasn’t part of it.”

“And if he doesn’t?” she argues. “What if he just buries it all?”

“Then we know we need to make a visit to his house after we speak with the deputy mayor.”

She glances over the table, the computers, the papers, the CDs with her father’s videos on them. “If he does nothing, these girls will still be out there.” She touches a CD that’s fallen off the stack.

I pick up her hands and bring them to my mouth, pressing my lips to her chilled knuckles. “If he does nothing, I’ll skin him alive.” I remember the look of confusion in Pierce’s eyes when he saw us at the motel. He had no idea we were there. He was looking for something else.

“Promise?” she asks softly.

“I swear it.” Pierce isn’t the bad guy here, though he might be thinking I am after seeing me at the motel.

“Okay.” She gives a little nod, pulling her hand away. “I trust you.” Her lips pull into a small smile, tearing at my heart. It’s not a light thing she’s said, and the weight of it lifts me up.

“Good. Get your knife and the bag.” I send her off on the errand while I get out another blank page and scribble a note for Pierce.

It’s simple.

---