Page 80 of Coach
“Well, not anymore.”
“You did steal it,” Konstantin, trying to keep up, said.
“Nope. Not me.”
“Who then?”
“Why should I tell you? I mean, you have to kill me now, right? You justkidnappedme. I can’t live to tell that story, can I?”
Mikhail took a step forward, everything about him menacing. And I remembered that therewereworse things than death. Namely, the kind of pain that made you wish you were dead. That was what they could do to me. To make me talk. To punish me for not just readily giving them the information they wanted.
I didn’t want to die.
I didn’t want to be tortured to death a little bit more.
“Okay. If you won’t torture me and you promise to make sure my dog doesn’t die, I will tell you.”
All I got from Konstantin was a flick of his wrist.
Taking that as agreement—since I didn’t really have much choice in the matter anyway—I sucked in a deep breath.
“It’s Irina.” There. It was out. Though neither brother showed any sign of what they thought of that. “Well, I guess, it’s partly Irina. I mean, I don’t think she actually stole it herself. Just enabled it. Or planned it. I guess it was the guy who did the actual stealing and hiding. And, tonight, retrieving.”
“What guy?” Mikhail asked.
“I don’t know his name. The guy who had the job before me. At least that was what Irina said.”
“How do you know this?” Konstantin asked.
“Because I heard it. While hiding in the walk-in.”
“When?”
“Tonight. I was about to leave and I heard someone coming in. I thought it was maybe you two again,” I added, sighing. “But, nope. It was the two of them, talking about hiding the moneyand getting it out. Once they were in the front trying to open the vent, I ran out the back. I thought you guys were them.”
There was complete silence following my words. I wasn’t sure if that was because of disbelief or if they were processing, adjusting.
“Don’t you have cameras?”
Mikhail looked at me for a long second. “They can be turned off remotely.”
Right.
Because of all the kidnapping, maiming, and murdering. Couldn’t let a pesky security camera get in the way of all that fun.
“And Irina has access.”
“She must. There have been… gaps.”
“Yeah, well, that certainly wasn’t me. I don’t even have a key.”
The brothers shared a look.
“So, my dog,” I said again. “Really just prop open the back door. She can go in and out as she pleases, get food and water. Eventually, Saul will figure out that she is all alone.”
“Saul.” Konstantin’s posture—already freakishly proper—went ramrod straight.
“Yeah, Saul. Garza. Oh, well, I guess everyone around here knows him by his road name: Coach. Coach will realize she is alone and take her for me. He promised.”
