Page 88 of Coup De Grâce
“Are you tailing him?”
“Well, I was. But then he stopped at a hotel, and I really didn’t want to sleep in the car.”
“Fox,” she sighed. “Please tell me you aren’t still at the hotel.”
That made me laugh. “Seriously? What kind of psychopath do you take me for? No, I climbed into bed with him and watched a musical while I waited for him to wake up.Oklahomawasn’t on.”
“That’s sad.”
“I know. You’re taking care of my girl, right?”
“She’s taking care of herself. Don’t worry about her.”
“Good,” I grinned, proud that she was holding it together. “Alright, get me what you can and let me know.”
“Sure thing. And Fox?”
“Yep!”
“Try not to boil him before we get the information we need.”
That struck me as funny. “How did you know I was going to boil him?”
“Because it’s your signature move. Seriously, if the police ever catch on to you, they’ll always know when you have a fresh kill.”
I scoffed at the ridiculousness that anyone could ever catch me. I was too good. “Yeah, like I would ever leave enough evidence for anyone to catch me.”
“It’s been known to happen to great men.”
“Well, that’ll be the day.”
I hung up and pocketed my phone. “Now, where were we?”
He didn’t answer. Not even a peep. I thought maybe he would want to chat before we got started, but he just stared at me. Like he was bored. It was insulting.
“Would you like me to bring the spiders back in? I can do that if it would help you loosen up. You’re way too…blah.”
“Blah? You have me hoisted up like a turkey!”
I cocked my head, studying the way he was dangling. “No. This is definitely not how I would string up a turkey. I think you have them mistaken with cows. Or maybe deer, though I never kill animals unnecessarily. I reserve my killing for people. I find that killing animals only makes me queasy.
“Though, if I’m in the wilderness and feel a little snacky, I’ve been known to take out a squirrel or two. A little gamey, not very much meat, but when you need sustenance…”
I shrugged, but again, got nothing from the man. I really didn’t get it. It was like he didn’t want to talk to me.
“Well, then I guess we should get this show on the road. I was going to have a little bit of chatting time, but since you don’t feel the need to talk to me, we can do this another way.”
I grabbed the fork jack and hauled the pallet with the vat over to where he hung. After getting that in position, I installed the mirrors around the outside, pointing them down toward the base of the vat. I wanted to be sure that he could see his skinpeeling from his body and his bones melting as I lowered him inside.
When I glanced at him, he still didn’t look all that intimidated, but when I started adding the acid to the vat, the first signs of fear streaked across his face. With every second that passed, sweat coated his skin, finally drawing a reaction from him.
“I see you’re finally getting a better idea of how this is going to happen. I have to say, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the reaction I wanted. It would be such a waste to just drop you inside and not enjoy any of it.”
“You’re fucking crazy,” he whispered.
I grinned broadly at him, my chest puffing out with pride at the compliment. “Why, thank you! It’s nice to see someone appreciates me for who I am.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
