Page 50 of Liberating Mia
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Finn strode into the hotel, anticipation lightening his step. The pain meds they’d administered to suture the wound had long since kicked in, and he was certainly feeling no pain. Rather, the anticipation of finally closing this case had him feeling positively euphoric.
He spotted Larry standing at the back of the briefing room talking to Desai. Perfect. The exact two people he was looking for. He expected his boss to give him schtick for being there, but he had no intention of sitting this one out. Too much of his time and soul had gone into this, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be cheated out of seeing it through.
“How much did I miss?” he asked as he reached them.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on sick leave?”
“Come on, Boss. Don’t do me like that. I accept I can’t be out in the field, but please don’t shut me out of the investigation. Surely it can’t hurt to allow me to interrogate our suspect?”
“You hopped up on meds, Finn?”
He grinned. “Yes, sir.”
“Yeah, I thought so.” Larry silent appraised him. Finally, he said, “I guess you’ve earned it. You get to interrogate the suspect. That’s it. I’ll see how generous I’m feeling after that.”
“Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.” Focusing on Desai, Finn asked, “Shall we, partner?”
“Yeah, we shall.”
Despite a shiner already beginning to develop over his left eye, Finn recognized the handcuffed suspect the minute he opened the conference room door.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Hunt. Welcome to our humble offices.”
“Yeah, fuck you too, you murdering bastard.”
“Yeah? Who am I supposed to have murdered?”
“You killed Dylan. I saw you.”
“Ah, now it makes sense. So you thought you’d first put a knife and then a bullet in me? Not very effective as an assassin, are you, Mason?”
“I don’t intend missing next time.”
“Sadly for you, my friend, there won’t be a next time. I’m afraid your freedom is about to be seriously curtailed. But have no fear, you can make new friends in prison. With that pretty face, they’re going to love you there,” Desai spoke up.
“Are we going to do things the easy way or the hard way today? Player’s choice,” Finn asked.
“I’m not telling you anything.”
“Ah, so the hard way it is then.”
For a solid three hours, Finn and Desai tag-teamed Mason until, when they least expected it, he broke.
“He was all I had, and you took him from me.”
Finn hadn’t anticipated feeling sympathy for a man he had less than no respect for. But looking at the heartbroken man, he felt a pang. He knew how he would feel if anything were to ever happen to his sister.
“Listen up, Hunt. I’m only going to say this once more. I did not kill your brother. The shot fired was not from my weapon. We have yet to determine whose bullet ended your brother’s life, but it wasn’t mine. Your brother had a price on his head. You wanna tell me who he pissed off enough to want him dead?”
For long minutes, Mason stared at Finn. The room so silent the only thing that could be heard was their breathing. He could see the wheels turning as the man weighed up options in his head. He had no idea what they were, but whatever it was, he seemed to come to a decision at last.
“Jensen Sullivan.”
The name dropped into the room with the same impact as a ship slamming into an iceberg.
“I’m sorry. Come again.”
