Page 20 of Spiteful Heart

I finished up, leaving the kitchen spotless, although I figured it’d be dirtied up the next morning by whoever made breakfast. Lola had disappeared. I wanted to go, but before I did, I’d like to see her one last time, kiss her goodbye, all that good stuff, so I headed upstairs in search of her.

Lola was in her room, the door shut. I could tell she was in her room based on the light seeping out into the dark hall. Before going in, I heard mumbling, and I leaned my ear against the door to listen.

“I’m growing bored of you, Night Slayer. Did you like my presents? They were all for you. I didn’t know how long Sylvester would hide me from you, but it was longer than I thought. Congrats to him for lying to you.”

Right when I heard a muffled laugh, I knocked and walked in, and Lola paused the tape, glancing at me with a hard expression on her face. She sat on the edge of her bed, the tape player in her hand, her finger still on the button.

“You shouldn’t be listening to that,” I told her, slow to walk toward her and sit beside her on the bed. “It’ll only drive you mad, Lola.”

She let out a sigh. “I know, but… this is all I have of his.” She shut her eyes and shook her head. “The more I listen to it, the more I feel it in my bones, Sylvester. I’ve heard this voice before… I just can’t remember where.”

Even though I’d heard the tape in its entirety multiple times already, I whispered, “Play it.” I took her hand in mine, and together we listened.

“You can’t save anyone when you’re a killer, Lola. Don’t you know that by now? Everything you touch gets destroyed. Everything you touch dies.” The man on the tape breathed hard before adding, “I hate you. I hate you so much. I fucking hate you and every girl like you. You think you’re better than everyone else, but you’re not, and I’m going to show you that you’re not. This game between us will end soon, but for now, I hope you enjoy the bodies I’ll leave you.”

He breathed so hard it sounded like it was difficult, like he was half-dead already. He sounded like shit, frankly, his voice so rough and scratchy, so low it was almost demonic. I didn’t get the ringing familiarity that Lola did, but whoever it was, it definitely didn’t sound like Newton or Harvey.

Although, it could be another part of the game. Purposefully not sounding like themselves, or maybe someone hired to record the message for them. Who’s to say?

“Know that everything I do to them I’m going to do to you. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be nothing.” Metal scraped against metal, a bone-chilling sound, even through the tape. “None of your men will save you from me. Your days are numbered. Oh, and you should know little Tina screamed so hard she broke her voice box. What a fun day that was. Can’t wait to do that to you.”

The tape ended, and Lola was slow to pull her hand from mine. She got up, taking the player to her nightstand and putting it in the small drawer. With a jerk of her arm, she slammed it shut, hiding it from the world.

She kept it close because she liked to torture herself by listening to it over and over. I knew her too well, and I wished she’d let me take that damned tape and hide it from her. Listening to it wasn’t helping; it would only drive her crazy.

She returned to my side, sitting with a sigh. I decided to ask, “Why do you torture yourself like that?”

Her shoulders went up and down once. “I don’t know. I guess I’m hoping that I’ll hear something I didn’t hear before. Background noise or… something. Anything to point me in the right direction.” She ran a hand through her hair, her blue eyes turning to me, a hesitancy in their depths there usually wasn’t. “You really don’t recognize the voice at all?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m sorry, but I don’t.” Honestly, if you asked me whether I believed Lola recognized the voice herself, I’d say no, too. I think, if you listened to something so many times, if you had such firm beliefs, you’d think they were true no matter what. The guy on the tape could be a stranger, and she wouldn’t want to believe it.

Now, that wasn’t saying I believed our killer was a stranger. No. It was clear he knew how we operated, knew how to avoid the police. He knew how to dump bodies. I think we were correct in assuming he had connections to us, somehow.

“It doesn’t sound like Newton,” Lola said, heaving another sigh.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“You weren’t with him today, Sylvester. He acted…” She paused. “He just didn’t act right, okay? I’ve seen crazy guys, the ones who think they can get away with anything. I’ve killed a lot of them. So proud and so confident in themselves, right up until the end. I don’t trust Newton. There’s something about him I don’t like. He’s a scheming sleazebag who only sides with you if he thinks you’re going to be on top—and I’m pretty sure he’s got a thing for one of his acts.”

I didn’t care too much if Newton had a thing for one of his acts, but as for what she’d said prior to that… “Everyone in this city is scheming, one way or another. That’s a part of living here. The guy I met with? Vance Hawkins? You’d hate him.”

“So then why meet with him? Why back him for mayor?”

“He’s young. Well, younger than our current mayor—and he wasn’t around for the whole DeLuca feud. If we get him in, he’ll owe us.” And in case he tried to turn on us after getting the mayor’s seat, I’d have blackmail ready for him. You never could be too careful. “We could have the mayor truly in our pockets.” You didn’t get better than that when you were a family like ours.

Except getting the governor, or a state senator. But one thing at a time.

Lola stared at me, silence eating away at the room until she spoke again, “So, you don’t think it’s Newton? You think I’m barking up the wrong tree?” She smiled bitterly at that, her mood just as sour as her facial expression hinted.

“I think we need to keep our eyes peeled” was what I said. “It could be. He could’ve hired someone to tape that and send it to you. We both know he’s got many men under his thumb, men who’d do anything he ordered. It could very well be him. Or he could just be a typical power-hungry asshole. I don’t want to cross anyone’s name off the list just yet.”

I kept my suspicions about Harvey to myself, knowing Lola would freak if I even suggested it was Harvey again. She genuinely liked the guy, for whatever fucking reason—and maybe it was my jealousy talking, but I didn’t see it. If Harvey wasn’t hiding anything, and he really was that awkward and inept as a thirty-year-old man…

“You might not see as much of Viper and Big Mike,” I warned her. “I gave them each a job.” Once more, I took Lola’s hand in mine, squeezing it tightly as I brought it up to my mouth and kissed the back of it. “We’re going to find him, I promise you.”

Lola’s other hand went up my back, her fingers toying with the hair on the nape of my neck. She leaned into me, whispering, “Even if you’re just trying to make it up to me for hiding all those girls, I do appreciate you. Not every guy would want to help their girl nab herself a serial killer.”

“Not every guy is dating a serial killer,” I pointed out.

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