Page 143 of Maddy's Justice

“East End,” Maddy said in reply to Evan’s London accent. “Name the time and place, I’ll be there East End.”

“I’ll have the cook fix breakfast for you,” Odessa said. “We’ll check on you in a while.”

Maddy came out of the bathroom having showered and wearing the clothes she was given. An army green cotton blend pullover top and pajama–type pants. They fit and were clean and comfortable. Waiting for her was a tray filled with breakfast offerings. Famished, she ate almost all of it.

The aperture in the door slid open and a different voice politely asked her to sit on the bed. Three men came in, all dressed in black like the guards she had seen with the two twin girls earlier. The guy from the East End of London had not been dressed like them.

Must be some type of supervisor, Maddy thought.

While one of them held a gun on her, the other two attached Velcro, neoprene cuffs to her wrists behind her back. Then one of them covered her head with a black hood.

They led her up two sets of stairs and into another room. The two men who had secured her hands led her to a couch and gently sat her down. Maddy did not know it, but she was in the soundproof, lower-level room, where business meetings were held.

“You can go,” she heard a man say. Probably their boss. A tickle in the back of Maddy’s brain seemed to indicate the voice was somehow familiar.

When the last of the three guards closed the door behind him, Evan’s boss flipped his right hand upward. Evan had been standing behind Maddy. He reached over, grabbed the hood, and roughly yanked it off her head.

The lighting in the room was quite bright. Maddy quickly closed her eyes and tilted her head down. She slowly opened her eyes, blinked several times and after about ten seconds looked up. She found herself sitting on an almost round, obviously expensive, white couch. Standing behind her and to her left, was East End, the man from earlier in her room. Seated across from her, dressed in expensive tan slacks, brown Italian loafers and a light blue pullover, his arms spread on the back of the couch was another man. This one was older.

Maddy’s attention was drawn first to Evan. She looked at him without saying a word.

“Hello, again, lassie,” Evan said.

Ignoring him, she turned her head and looked at the silent man sitting directly opposite her. He looked very familiar but somehow different. He smiled at her knowing she was trying to place him.

“Hello, Madeline. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see you again. As beautiful as ever, also.”

It was when he smiled that the light of recognition went on in her head. There had been some plastic surgery. A nip and a tuck here and there. But, like the eyes, there was little cosmetic surgery could do about a smile. Or a voice.

“You sonofabitch,” Maddy quietly said. “You’re supposed to be dead, you bastard. Your own daughter had you killed on a beach in Costa Rica. Calvin Simpson.”

Maddy’s statement caused Evan to look directly at his boss with a surprised expression. This was news to him.

“I’d ask you why you’re not dead but what’s the point? Here you are. Of course, this gives me another chance to do you myself.”

FORTY-SIX

After an hour and a half of probing questions and evasiveness from Troy McGovern, they took a break. Troy was allowed to use the basement toilet, but Sorenson went with him. Their pet singing canary needed watching.

Fifteen minutes later, Sorenson had Troy strapped to the chair again. Carvelli pulled his chair so close to him their knees were almost touching. With his arms resting on his legs, Carvelli leaned forward until his nose was barely two inches from Troy’s.

“I’ve had enough, you whiny little shit. I’m all done dealing with this tap-dance you’ve been trying. Let me make you understand something. You are a significant member…”

“No, I’m not. I did as I was told,” Troy started to complain.

Whap! The sound alone of Carvelli’s open-hand slap across Troy’s face was enough to bring tears and a terrified look.

“You are a significant member of an international drug running, money-laundering conspiracy. Likely there are any number of murders involved, but that’s not your biggest problem.”

Still staring Troy directly in his eyes from just a few inches, Carvelli paused before continuing.

“I love Maddy Rivers like she could be my daughter. You know where she is. If anything happens to her, you won’t have to worry about prison. I’ll hunt you down and you will die a painful death.”

“And I’ll help him,” Sorenson said.

“I don’t know anything…”

Whap! Another quick hard slap stopped him.

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