Page 19 of Murder & Mayhem
I pressed the butt of the gun onto his balls, twisting it until Dan screamed. “I need more than that. Where was he dropping him off? With whom? Answer me.” I recognized the tone I had adopted and it scared me. I fought hard not to shut down and lose my emotions. It was never good when I did. But it was too late. I was working on muscle memory now, everything else pushed to the side until I got the information I needed.
“I-I don’t know! I swear to fuck, I don’t know! All he said was he had to go somewhere near the docks. And oh! Oh! He mentioned the name Slash. Told me to keep it on the down-low, that if I saw any of the Wraiths not to tell them because they’d never understand. That they thought too small, but he didn’t. That he was gonna make us rich. But that’s all I got.”
“You’re not going to get anything else from him,”Ari told me carefully, calmly. “I’ll start looking for anything near the docks that could be a hit and has a correlation with the name Slash. There are plenty of places over there that a kid could be stashed. End this, Nicky, and get Jamie outta there.”
Fuck. Jamie. He hadn’t said a word or made a sound since Dan had mentioned buying a kid.
I stood and put the gun in my belt. The guy nearly melted with relief. I went into my bag and pulled outanother vial. I didn’t bother getting a new needle, grabbing the one off the floor and stalking toward Dan.
“W-what are you doing? I told you everything! You said you wouldn’t hurt me.”
I tilted my head in confusion. “I never said that. You assumed. Now stay still. Let’s make this quick.”
He didn’t listen, but it didn’t matter in the end. Soon, he was dead and I was herding a shell-shocked Jamie out of the house.
He was still silent as I cleaned up all the evidence and got us out of there. He barely reacted to my hands on his shoulders as I guided him and then helped into the car. He made no effort to buckle himself, so I did it for him. He didn’t even fight me when I gently pried the knife out of his hand. I didn’t pocket it, putting it in the cupholder between us. I wanted it to be close for his security without him hurting himself.
By the time I got into the driver’s seat, Jamie had curled into a ball, his knees bent up to his chest, feet on the seat, and his arms wrapped around his knees. I wanted to say something, anything to make it better, but I had a feeling there were no words in the world that would accomplish that. I did the only thing I could think of: pulled out of the driveway and away from this hellhole.
Keeping half an eye on Jamie, I drove off, heading to one of the only two places I ever felt safe. I had no idea if it was the right move, but it was the only one I could think of now.
When Jamie was still silent, I switched Ari to the car speaker and pulled the earbud out of my ear.
“Ari, I got Jamie in the car with me. He can hear you,” I warned him, just in case.
Jamie lifted his head from his knees but otherwise didn’t say anything.
“Copy. I’m still working through that information to seewhat I can find. There are over one hundred warehouses that could be considered near the docks, and all could potentially hide a kidnapping victim. Not to mention shipping containers, abandoned homes, and countless other places. That is, if I’m even searching in the right place. I know most locals consider the shore the docks, so that’s where I’m working from for now, but that’s still a huge area and I could be wrong. I also already have a search running for the name Slash, but it’s going to be slow-going.”
It was expected, even if I wanted better news. “Okay, thanks, Ari. What about what he said about O’Malley working without the approval of the crew? Do you think that’s the case?”
“I don’t know yet, but I don’t think Dan lied. So either O’Malley went rogue or he lied to Dan. Either sounds possible.”
I pressed the heel of my hand to my temple. I was getting a fucking migraine. I needed meds and food. Who knew an easy hit would turn to this? “Keep me updated. I’m gonna take Jamie back to my place. I’m getting a migraine and we both need food and some rest. If you find out anything concrete, let me know.”
“I will. Also, I’m taking a rain check on the wings.” I laughed. Of course he was.
“Anytime.” I knew he understood why I wasn’t going back to the main house where Ari lived the majority of the time. Gid and I both had our own places as well. He had a cottage that was within walking distance of the school he taught at where he stayed most weekdays. The place was so un-Gideon like that Ari and I had teased him mercilessly when he’d bought it, but somehow it worked. He had the main house that was just outside city limits when he was tired ofsuburban life. My place was an apartment, but also closer to where I worked. Sometimes I considered getting a house in the suburbs like Gid, but I liked my apartment too much. I never brought my work back there—my after-hours work at any rate—so it was like my own little escape from all the horrors I saw day in and day out.
My conversation seemed to snap Jamie out of whatever had been going on in his head. He glared at me with so much indignation and audacity. It wasn’t meant to be adorable, and I managed not to smile so I didn’t insult him, but he was so fucking cute, even when he was angry.
“What do you mean you’re taking me back to your apartment? We have to go to the docks!”
I sighed, wishing I could have this conversation once we got to my place. “Jamie, Ari confirmed that as of now, we have nothing concrete. The general area that locals call the docks is over 50 miles, and with most of it being an industrial area, there are hundreds of places that could easily hide a kid. There’s no way for us to reasonably search through all that without any information. And that’s assuming Dan wasn’t lying or just plain wrong. He’s not exactly a reliable source.”
“So fucking what? Then we search everywhere until we find him.”
I guessed we were doing this now. Once we got through the light I was stopped at, I pulled into the first open space and put the car into park.
“Jamie—”
“No, don’t patronize me. I’m not a little kid. If you wanna stop helping me, fine. But I’m going.” He reached for the door handle, which thankfully I had locked.
He spun to me, fear and outrage warring in his pretty eyes. I didn’t want him to be afraid of me, but I also couldn’t risk him running off half-cocked.
“What the fuck, Dominic! Let me out now.”
“Not until you calm down and let me explain!”
