Page 46 of Barrett

“But… But…”

“Name or Jordan takes his knife and drives it into your skull.” Even if the man gave up his friend, Jordan was going to kill him. “You’re well aware of who he is. I saw it the moment you recognized him when we entered.”

“He hangs around the outskirts where there aren’t many houses. He supplies me, and I was supposed to sell what I had, but I didn’t. He never said his name.”

Nodding, Sheldon asked, “How many lies have you told me? I’m not sure what to believe.” I didn’t know how he stayed even-tempered. I hadn’t said a word and wanted to rip this motherfucker’s head from his shoulders for what he did to that woman. There was no telling who he sold to or how many people had already bought from him. I didn’t want to think about other women he could have raped.

“I’m not lying.”

“Sure, you’re not. Detective North, did you find a phone on him?”

“Still in his pocket. The battery died though.”

“It’s okay. We’ll charge it and inflict pain on whoever he was meeting.”

The man cried harder, begging. There was something about a wife. About how he needed the money for this or that. So many words fell from his tongue there was no way to know what was the truth or not. In the end, it didn’t matter. He had to pay for his crimes. One less piece of shit on the streets, the better.

“How many others?” Jordan asked, the knife digging in, a trickle of blood running down the blade to the hilt. It would seep into his suit. This was why Albert had new clothes ready for him when he was through here. “How many other women have you raped? How many people have you sold drugs to?”

“None, I swear. Please don’t kill me.”

Jordan pulled the knife away and brought it below the man’s ear. “You did things in my city that would have meant you went to prison. But that’s too good a place for you. Once you were free, and we all know you’d eventually get out, especially if the woman never came forward, you’d do this again. You’d hurt people, the people in my city,” he ground out. “You’ll never walk again. You won’t get to prey on anyone. Not while I’m here to be your judge, jury, and executioner.”

Holding the knife steady, Jordan cut from one side of the man’s neck to the other. Then he went to the thigh and stabbed him before roughly dragging the knife across his flesh. The man tried to scream, but all he could do was jerk and thrash where he hung on the steel beam. This warehouse was good for that. It was probably why Barrett brought him here. It was easy for the blood to go down the drain in the floor.

Jordan handed me his bloody knife. It wasn’t the first time he’d done so, and it wouldn’t be the last. Reaching into his pocket, Sheldon pulled out a glove, knowing what Jordan was going to do next. Jordan put it on and picked up the knife on the cement floor. He twirled it between his fingers for a second before stabbing it into the man’s throat and leaving it there.

We stood and watched as life bled from him, and he stopped breathing. Only then did Jordan call for Albert, who came in with new clothes and two gallons of water. Jordan stripped in front of us, leaving his clothes in a pile before he rinsed the blood off. It would have to do for now. Once we were home, he’d use the clean room to remove all evidence of blood. Vincent was at the door, phone to his ear as he called for cleanup. Jordan had people for every requirement. They’d take his clothes and stage the body. This would appear to be a jilted ex-lover or someone out for revenge.

Barrett nodded to us before walking out of the building and getting into his car. He came in and did what Jordan would have wanted, delivered a piece of shit that was hurting the people of his city. Jordan would pay him for it. Now, I knew Barrett would save it for a just-in-case scenario.

The thought of him never coming home was a punch to my chest, but I stayed upright. I kept breathing as I rinsed Jordan’s knife and put it in my pocket to be sanitized when we were home. This was just another day in the office, except the man I was falling for—had been falling for—was one of the people involved, and I watched him leave without a second glance at me.

21

BARRETT

My skin felt weird, and when I said that in my head, it made no sense. Something about it just felt like it shouldn’t. Like a buzz vibrating inside me.

I could blame the asshole in charge at work for chewing me and others out about not solving the case yet, but that wasn’t it. I had to refrain from walking out of the room when he started in on his tirade. Instead of helping us, instead of doing something besides sitting around and kissing ass, he yelled at us. What I wouldn’t have given to tell him to go to hell. God, I hated him.

It wasn’t him that had me feeling this way. It was something else. Something bigger.

“Fuck,” I muttered as I got out of my car and locked it. Jordan had given me a free dinner at his steakhouse, so I was using it tonight. Marshall was in his studio. He needed quiet. Granted, I could be quiet at home. With this weirdness going on in me, I would have ended up pacing and annoying him.

I pulled open the door to the restaurant, the lights low inside as soft conversation floated to me. It wasn’t busy being a Wednesday night. There was no line waiting for a table, although at least three-quarters of them were full. My eyes quickly scanned the room, always looking for something out of the ordinary.

Absently, I started rubbing my chest through my shirt. Fuck’s sake.

A woman stepped up to the hostess stand, a smile on her pink lips. Her hair was pulled back in a fierce bun and her skirt and blouse didn’t have a wrinkle on them. I wondered if she had a gun behind that little stand. This was Jordan’s place. I wouldn’t put anything past him. “Can I help you, Detective North?” Of course, she knew who I was. Jordan probably had a shared drive with photos and names on it.

“I’d like a table, please.”

She glanced down at the tablet in front of her. “For one?”

“Yes.” It didn’t bother me to eat alone. I’d gotten over that a long time ago.

She lifted a menu. Where restaurants were going digital, Jordan kept it old school with menus against leather with golden metal edges. “Follow me.”

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