Page 57 of Wicked Love
A nervous shiver tickled through me.I’dnever interrogated anyone before. But I knew what I wanted to ask.
“You didn’t shut us down,” I said, glaring at Lindell. “And now we know so much more than we did before. What is your boss using this facility for? What was he having shipped here in the cold boxes from the seafood market? Viruses and bacteria? Experimental toxins?”
Lindell shook his head. His voice came out even harder than before. “I don’t know anything about that. This isn’t my part of the business.”
Beckett made a skeptical noise. “You’re his primary lieutenant in this metropolitan area, and you have no idea about major activities he was running here? Nice try. Why don’t you take another stab at answering properly?”
“He keeps some things separate. It’s his right to do that.”
“And Evan Silver?” Dexter spoke up abruptly. “Why have you been so focused on covering up his death?”
“Who?” Lindell asked, blank-faced, but this time I was sure it was an act.
“You know who,” I insisted. “The only thing we’ve been doing that could have pissed off your boss is trying to figure out why he was murdered. That’s what you’re covering up.”
My show of temper only seemed to make the lieutenant more confident. He shrugged. “You broke into properties under his purview. You were hassling people under him. It doesn’t matter to me why; it needed to stop.”
He was lying, but I didn’t know how to force him to cough up the truth. My hands balled at my sides.
He’d given us the story he wanted us to hear, and now he was shutting down, refusing to admit to anything else. He didn’t want to compromise his boss’s real decisions and secrets, after all.
Beckett flicked off the safety on his gun while leaving it pointed at the floor. “I’m going to need to hear a little more than that.”
“Well, that’s too bad, because that’s all I have to say.”
Lindell stared back at us as immovable as a statue, and my heart started to sink. He didn’t look like a man who’d break under pressure. He obviously didn’t shy away from the possibility of violence. What good did it do us if we battered him and broke his bones and still didn’t get any answers?
He had way stronger motivation to stay quiet, didn’t he? What would Doom’s Seed do to him if he found out his lieutenant had confessed?
I touched Beckett’s arm and caught his gaze. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
Beckett searched my eyes and motioned me toward the front room. He glanced at the Vigil guys. “Make sure he stays glued to that chair.”
Slade saluted him, and Logan nodded grimly.
We walked into the smaller room, Beckett shutting the door firmly behind us. The faint growl of a car passing on the road outside filtered through the shaded window.
Beckett rested his hand on my shoulder. “What’s going on, Maddie? Did you notice something you didn’t want to mention in front of him?”
My mouth twisted. I spoke in a low voice to make sure it wouldn’t travel to the other room. “I mean, I’m getting a strong impression that he’s making a cover story for Doom’s Seed and lying through his teeth, but that’s not very helpful. It’s starting to seem like he’s not going to admit to anything. Even if you… hurt him, or whatever you’d normally do.” I restrained a cringe.
A shadow crossed Beckett’s expression. “I actually agree, Maddie,” he said. “He wouldn’t have risen to the level of responsibility he has under the boss he’s got if he broke easily under pressure, and we don’t have much time. Which is why I made sure I’d have an ace up my sleeve if I got a chance to hash things out with Lindell. I think it might be enough to crack him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What?”
“I’d rather—” He let out a rough breath. “I’m going to have to say some things that I would never actually act on. But he has to believe that I would. So I’m going to be convincing about it, and it isn’t going to look pretty. I’m not going to tell you what you can handle, but I don’t love the idea of you seeing me like that. Are you sure you’re ready to witness how far I need to go sometimes to get the job done?”
My stomach lurched. “You want me to leave?”
“I’m not telling you to. I just want you to be prepared, if you do stay… and to know it might be better if you stepped outside and didn’t have to hear it.” He paused, holding my gaze, and something in his expression softened. “Hell, if you told me it isn’t worth it, that you don’t want me to even pretend to be a monster, I’d listen to you. But it could mean we lose our chance at getting the answers we need.”
I dragged in a breath, struggling to pull my whirling thoughts into order. Part of me recoiled at the thought of watching Beckett bring out the cruelest side of his criminal persona… but I knew that wasn’t really him, didn’t I? If he said he’d never act on what he was going to say, then I believed him. I knew he walked a difficult line doing his best to avoid unnecessary pain.
Being scary was part of how he got important things done—and this was the most important situation I’d ever faced. I had to be able to face every side of him, or how could I be with him? With any of the guys, really, considering they’d all gone to extreme lengths to see justice done in the past?
“I can handle it,” I whispered. “Do what you need to do, and I’ll be right here with you. I know what you stand for.”
A sheen of gratitude and relief flickered in Beckett’s eyes. He leaned in just for a second to claim a quick kiss.
