Page 83 of Hell of a Mess
“All right, here is the thing…” He paused. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name. How rude of me.”
“Vessa, sir,” she said, then gulped in air.
“Vessa, do you know who Thaddeus Davidson is?”
She nodded. “Yes, sir. He’s been here many times.”
“Right, and do you know what he is?”
Her eyes darted around the room, and she looked like she might either pass out or throw up. “Yes,” she said softly. “I’ve heard the whispers and gossip, I mean. I don’t go spreading them though. Just heard them.”
Linc smiled as if they were having a friendly conversation. “Well, Vessa, the gossip is true. And I and the men with me, we are all part of that family.”
The fear in her eyes became full-blown terror.
“What I need from you is silence. Because, Vessa, I really don’t like to hurt innocent people. And as far as I know, you’re not part of why we are here. But I also protect mine. If you or any of the others here tonight feel the need to repeat what happens or what you see”—he paused and shook his head regretfully—“you’ll become an enemy, and then…well, you get the idea.”
She nodded frantically. “I won’t say anything. None of us will. We can leave.”
He shrugged. “Leave if you feel that you should, but don’t ever talk about it.”
“We won’t say anything, I swear it!”
“All right then. It was nice to meet you. I hope you have a lovely evening.”
She didn’t bother looking at anyone else before turning and fleeing the room.
“I think she might have shit her pants,” Forge said, scrunching his nose as if smelling something fowl.
Deep, fake laughter carried down the hallway.
“I don’t know what you mean, Thaddeus. You can’t expect me to just lie about my daughter. I’ve told you, like I told the Shephard man, that it is Dalia they are holding captive.”
Both men came into view, and it was clear from the expression on Alpheus’s face that he’d not been told we were all here. He tugged at his collar as he faltered in his steps.
“Oh, no, keep going,” Thaddeus told him.
I knew the moment his pistol was pressed to Alpheus’s back because the man tensed up and the first sign of fear glinted in his arrogant expression.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked as he continued intothe room, his eyes shifting nervously around as he mentally counted us.
There was thirteen, if you included Thaddeus.
“Thought it was time for a visit,” Linc said, stepping in front of the rest of us who had spread out around the room.
Forge had a miniature camera on the sunglasses he had sitting on his head, and Oz held one in his hand, not even trying to hide it, although you’d have to pay attention to realize what it was. They were each at a different angle in the room.
“Seeing as you keep threatening to bring in authorities to take Lace from us,” Linc finished.
“Whatever Dalia has told you is a lie. She’s a willful girl at times, and she wasn’t set on her marriage to Arun—”
“Dalia can’t speak. At least, when I visited her in her bedroom behind the bookcase the other night, she was silent. Comatose. But Lace? Now, she can talk,” I said, taking a step in his direction.
“We had our own man take her DNA and test it. The woman we have is not Dalia Halsten. Although you made her pretend to be. For what though? That’s really why we’re here. We want to know why,” Linc told him.
He let out a smug laugh, as if he had any upper hand in the situation. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Three of us were in Dalia’s room the other night,” Locke said. “We all saw her. Took photos. Videos even.”
