Page 75 of Tangled
“And you never met her?” she asked.
Again, he shook her head. “Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here…”
His voice faded as she brought out another phone. She tapped a few buttons, then slid the device across the table to him. “I’ve muted it so as not to scare the other patrons,” she said.
Rathwell studied her, a shadow of doubt easing its way into his gaze. Then his eyes dropped to her phone. Where the video of his assault played out before him.
His preservation instincts kicked in and he grabbed the device. He frantically started pressing buttons, no doubt trying to erase the file again.
She watched for a second, then laughed. “Go ahead and erase it the same way you erased the one on Gracie’s phone. I have copies. So many copies.”
Sweat broke out on his brow, and his breathing grew shallow. “What do you want?” he said, shoving the phone back at her. “Money? Is that it? The same thing your whore of a friend wanted?”
Scarlett pocketed the phone and tipped her head, as if considering her answer. “Maybe,” she finally said, then again, she let the silence stretch before adding, “I also want to know how you got into her apartment and where you got the fentanyl. If your solution to blackmail is to kill the blackmailer, I should better understand how you tick, Officer Rathwell. And itis‘officer,’ right? Not ‘detective’?”
His jaw clenched so tight that she wondered if he cracked any teeth. Contrary to Jessica’s initial report, Ava had discovered that hehadtaken the detective’s exam. Twice in the past year. And failed both times. Something the arrogant prick wouldn’t want anyone to know. Sure, she was poking the bear. But if any man ever deserved to be played with, to be toyed with, it was him.
“Or I could tell you and you could let me know if I’m right. Let me know if I’ve figured you out,” she suggested, leaning forward a bit. His eyes darted up to hers, and she smiled. “You’re not complex, Rathwell. Men like you? Men who prey on the weak and vulnerable because it gives you a sense of power when in reality, you have none? You’re a dime a dozen in the world I grew up in. You may wear a uniform, but I assure you, you’re not that different from the street thugs and gang members Gracie and I grew up around. You have a huge ego and nothing to back it up, so you go after those who can’t fight back. And when someone like Tabitha Henderson, someone withrealpower, comes along and pulls you into their circle, you feel important. Like you’ve finally made it. It validates what you’ve known about yourself all along, that youarepowerful. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come to you, right?”
A young couple walked by, and she stopped talking as they passed. The smell of their coffee had her stomach turning, but she managed to breathe through it again. When they took a seat several tables away, she continued.
“But the thing is, you’re an open book to people like Tabby. She doesn’tneedyou. She never did. But she sure as shit coulduseyou. All she had to do was give you a tiny crumb, an illusion of power, and in your weakness, you’d grab on to it and claim it a victory.” Scarlett paused, knowing she needed to get the conversation back on track. Back to the point where he’d talk. But she couldn’t help adding one last thing. “She didn’t pick you because you’re powerful, Rathwell, she picked you because you’re weak.”
“I was stronger than your fucking friend,” he shot back.
Scarlett scoffed. “Were you, though?”
He narrowed his eyes. “She’s not here now,” he countered.
“She’s not,” Scarlett agreed. “Because my ‘whore of a friend’ made you feel so threatened that you had to kill her. Is thatreally strength—or power? When someone like Gracie, a Latina woman with no connections and who grew up with nothing, could make you lash out and get reckless, well, it makes me thinkshewas the one with the power. She had power and you hated it.”
“She had shit,” he spat. “She thought she could blackmail me. She was wrong.”
“She might have been a little naive in how she went about it—which, frankly, knowing Gracie, surprises me—but that doesn’t mean she didn’t, thatI don’t, have the power,” she countered, tapping her pocket with the phone in it.
“Then you better be careful with thatpowerbecause it killed your friend.”
Scarlett tipped her head again. “No,youkilled my friend.”
Rathwell studied her, and she let him. After a long beat, a smile flickered across his features, one that held a sinister shadow. “Like the cockroach she was,” he said, casually leaning back in his seat and picking up his coffee for the first time. “It’s amazing how easy it is to take the trash out when you know the right people.”
“People who can get you fentanyl—”
“Lifting a bag from a corner dealer is child’s play.”
“Especially if it’s in exchange for not arresting him.”
He smiled in response. “And the joy of it is, he’ll never talk. Not if he wants to stay out of jail.”
Meaning, Rathwell wasn’t worried about her finding the dealer and getting him to testify. She agreed with him on that point—it would probably never happen, although she wasn’t going to count Jessica out.
“And so easy to threaten a mentally unstable woman,” she said.
He shrugged. “Luz Lopez doesn’t know what day it is, let alone when or if she ever met me.”
“Or if she ever gave you the key to Gracie’s apartment,” she said, knowing that the others listening in would note that he’d known exactly who Gracie’s sister was without her ever saying anything.
“Even if she did remember, she’s not the sort who, as the lawyers say, is a credible witness.” He took another sip of coffee, his eyes never leaving her. When he set it down, he spoke again. “So, knowing what you know now, are you sure you want to take the same path your friend did? Are you sure you want to risk ending up dead like she did? Is it really worth it?”
