Page 106 of Spooked

“What are you planning to do? Torture him?”

“Do I detect a hint of disapproval? That’s rich coming from the man with a troupe of dominatrices in his basement. Is that the right plural? Or is it dominatrixes?”

“You can use either. And everything that happens in The Dark is consensual.”

“With each minute you delay, we’re potentially a step further from finding Meera. You really want to let this asshole sit in a police cell saying, ‘No comment, no comment, no comment,’ while the other motherfuckers burrow deeper underground?”

Wait a second…

“What motherfuckers? You don’t think Silvio was working alone?”

“No, I don’t. Because after we riled him up this morning, he fired off a message to a burner email address sayingBe careful, people are asking about the last girl. Then he deleted it from the ‘sent’ folder.”

“How do you—” Brax answered his own question. “Alexa.”

“We installed spyware on his computer last night.”

“Last night?”

“We also took a look in the storage room. Meera’s wasn’t the only suitcase in there. There are seven others, and five of them belong to women. Of those five women, three have since been reported missing.”

Four missing women.

Four families missing daughters, sisters, grandchildren, and a police force doing nothing at all. If the cops could be persuaded to get off their asses, did they have the chops for an investigation like this one? Brax was no legal expert, but judging by their performance so far, he’d have been surprised if they even managed to obtain a warrant to search the hostel, whereas Jerry and Tulsa had gone in the night they arrived in the city.

Could Meera be alive? Although he hadn’t mentioned his fears to Indi, he secretly suspected they’d be hunting for a body. Over a week with no communication whatsoever? A woman who’d left a job she loved and shunned her best friend?

And Jerry was right about one thing: Braxhadchanged. After seeing what Levi had done to Ruby, he’d realised that some of his fellow men were wolves in sheep’s clothing. He’d always wished that he could turn back the clock and do something, anything, to prevent what happened.

Now was his chance. Not with Ruby, but with another woman who’d fallen prey to the worst side of human nature.

“Do you really think you can get information from this piece of shit?”

“Sure,” Jerry said. “With the right incentive, every man will talk.”

“Where are those tranquillisers? Indi’s a light sleeper, and I donotwant her waking in the middle of this. Do the others know what you’re doing?”

“Priest and Chase, yes, of course. Dawson, maybe. Priest filled him in on some of the details. Ari, not exactly, but she’s smart. She has an idea, but Alexa reckons she’ll keep out of the way.” Jerry picked up Silvio’s spare arm. “Can you get the door to the cellar? And we’ll also need the cigar cutter in the top drawer beside the stove.”

“I’m assuming you haven’t taken up smoking?”

Now Jerry grinned, and the effect was somewhat chilling.

“Welcome to the dark side, Brax.”

* * *

Either Jerry was into bondage, or she’d had experience with this type of interrogation. She trussed Silvio up like a rope bottom and attached him securely to a wine rack, all before he regained consciousness. Lastly, she removed his footwear and stuffed a sock in his mouth. A poor substitute for a ball gag, but needs must.

Brax watched from the shadows as the man’s eyes flickered open, saw the confusion that turned to fear when Tulsa stepped forward. The women were both wearing ski masks now, and Jerry had made Brax tie a scarf around his face, hiding everything but his eyes. Was this an indication that they intended to release the man at some point? Or merely standard operating procedure?

Tulsa did the talking, and although Brax didn’t understand Portuguese, he recognised the man’s tone. Belligerent.

“His attitude changed when he realised she was a woman,” Jerry whispered. “Did you see?”

“Yes.”

Silvio thought she wouldn’t follow through on whatever threats she was making, that somehow, he still had the upper hand because of his dick.

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