by Keri Lake
No, not my Nicoleta. Not my girl.
The only fucking ray of sunlight in my life, eclipsed by a lie. A crime so heartbreaking, it was a wonder she hadn’t been locked up for insanity.
A cold black rage palmed the back of my skull, and my hand balled into a fist at my side. An ache blossomed deep inside my chest, and rubbing my hand over it did little to abate the numbing effect that spread to my limbs.
I opened my mouth and let the fury rip through my chest on a string of curses, in a voice that didn’t sound like my own.
Fury for Nicoleta.
Fury for the men who’d violated her and left her for dead.
I dropped the phone and punched the brick wall, wishing both those bastards were in front of me right then. Blood stained the bricks as I punched and punched, while slivers of pain shot up into my knuckles.
Adrenaline pumped through me in bullets, whispering temptations in my ear. The devil, no doubt, asking me to sell whatever was left of my soul to kill the only man left alive who’d hurt her. Down, down, deep into the darkness I fell, letting those thoughts pull me under with the waves of misery that hooked my stomach. The same darkness that’d once sent me on a bloody rampage after Livvie’s murderer.
I’d sever every finger that’d touched Nicoleta, and make him pay in ways that no god would find redeemable.
I paced back and forth, rubbing my skull, until the only answer I could come up with was to kill Kenny Robichaux myself.
A dog barked off in the distance somewhere, as I climbed through the window, just as I had earlier in the night, to the dark bedroom inside. Scanning to my right brought Daniel into view, where he sat on the bed, his sister nowhere in sight.
“Hey, Daniel, remember me?”
Tucking his knees into his chest, he nodded, before lowering his head. “Yew da boogie man.”
“I’m not. I promise I’m not going to hurt you. Can you tell me where your daddy is?”
“Him sleeping in my sistew’s woom. I’m not allowed to seep in der when him sleeping wif her.”
Spasms of pain struck my skull as I gnashed my teeth and swallowed back violent waves pulsing through me begging to unleash hell. “I’m going to go talk to him.”
“Him won’t wake up.”
Fucker better not have died in his drunkenness. I’d just have to torture what was left. “I’m gonna go have a look, okay?”
The boy nodded and followed me down the hall, to the room with the closed door. With slow and careful steps, I set my hand on the hilt of my gun and cracked the door open. On a small mattress, Kenny lay passed out, curled up beside a little girl, who couldn’t have been more than five, or six. Her light brown hair lay matted and snarled, like it hadn’t been brushed in months.
Only Kenny wore a pair of browning underwear, while the girl lay naked. The scene stirred another round of vomit that I choked back, gripping the doorframe to keep from losing my shit.
The little girl sat up on the bed, her big blue eyes flitting between mine and the boy’s.
I turned to Daniel and knelt down, setting my hand on his shoulder. “I want you and your sister to get dressed, okay? I’m going to take your daddy to the hospital, and I know someone who can look after you while I do.”
“Okay,” he said, and toddled across the room to grab his sister’s hand.
I looked away as she stood up from the bed, and the two rustled around in the drawers across the room. Within minutes, they were dressed, and Daniel led his sister back to where I stood.
The little girl’s lips turned downward, and she dropped her gaze from mine. “Are you gonna tell the lady I was bad?”
“What lady, sweetheart?”
“The lady that comes to our house and asks my daddy questions. I don’t want to go to jail.”
I reached out to stroke her hair, and when she flinched, telling she’d undoubtedly been hit before, another twinge of anger scorched my blood. “Nobody’s gonna put you in jail. What’s your name, princess?”
She glanced at her brother and picked at her nails. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
“I’m here to help you. I promise I won’t hurt you.”
Her gaze fell from mine, and she wiped her finger across her nose. “Larissa.”
“I called hew Lala.”
“You’re not bad, okay? Nobody’s going to put you in jail.” No doubt the rotten cocksucker must’ve told her someone would take her away, if she’d told anyone about the abuse. “I’m gonna grab your dad here and take him to the hospital, to make sure he’s okay. You guys are going to stay with a really nice lady I know.”
“Is she—”
“Not the lady who asks questions. A nicer lady, I promise.”
One who wouldn’t have been duped by a few practiced responses.
I strode across the room and hoisted the fat fuck off the bed, slipping my arms beneath his. Bastard probably only stood about five eight, which put him at about two-twenty- or- thirty deadweight in my arms.
I transported him out of the room and down the staircase. The two kids followed behind me, as I carried his half naked ass across the yard, to where I’d parked my ‘Cuda behind the adjacent bushes.
“You two hop in the backseat.”
Kenny groaned, when I dragged him around the vehicle to the trunk, popped the lid of it, and shoved him inside. Turned out he wasn’t dead. Yet.
Good.
I slammed the trunk shut and tugged my phone from my pocket. Yeah, it was late, but I didn’t have any choice.
Gina’s number remained at the top of my recent calls, and I dialed it, feeling like shit for calling in the middle of the night.
“Dax?” Her groggy voice carried a hint of irritation and small bit of concern. “It’s almost two in the morning. What’s going on?”
“Found two kids. They’re young. Maybe six and three. They don’t have a place to stay tonight.”
She cleared her throat and swallowed. “Bring them over. They can stay here tonight.”
“Sorry for calling so late, Gin. I didn’t know where else to take them.”
“It’s okay. Five years, and you’ve never let me return the favor. I’m happy to do this for you.”
Five years ago, I’d been exploring an abandoned building downtown with my buddies, Xavier and Rhys, when I’d stumbled upon a woman who’d O.D.’d on drugs. Got her to the hospital, where she’d been placed in detox, got clean, and then I’d hooked her up with a buddy of mine. They’d married soon after, and she’d opened up her own shelter for kids—teens, mostly—that specialized in drug abuse.
I made my way to the driver’s seat, and stared into the rearview mirror at the two kids who were going to be fatherless by night’s end.
Too fucking bad. The little girl might not have known better at her age, but someday she’d be a woman. One who’d go through life feeling different from the other kids. She’d feel inadequate, and never fully connect with anyone because she’d forever be unable to trust people. She’d blame herself and start ripping apart her best pieces. And every time she’d look at a man, she’d see that piece of shit’s face.
“Why’d you put him in the trunk?” she asked, as I fired up the engine and drove away from the house.
“Don’t want anyone to see him in his birthday suit, right?”
“Birfday suit.” Daniel echoed my words on a giggle.
“It means naked, stupid,” Larissa snapped back, slapping her brother on the head.
“Ow! I not stupid! You stupid!” He swatted at her face, and she jerked her head, missing the slap.
“Hey, hey. You two need to be good to one another. Stick together and take care of one another. Okay?”
Both kids nodded, their expressions souring to sadness, as both bowed their heads.
“Is my daddy dead?” The boy picked at a scab on his knee, but didn’t seem tearful asking the question.
“Your daddy’s very sick.” Sharp slivers of bone scraped across my tongue as I ran it over my
back teeth. “But we’re gonna fix that tonight.”
“Okay.” He huffed and stared out the passenger window.
Twenty minutes passed before we arrived at the same building I’d dropped off the other girl, Isabel. Gina, my old friend, stood at the back door with her arms crossed, smoking a cigarette.
“You guys give me a minute, all right? Just sit tight.” I clambered out of the vehicle and walked up to the building, biting back all the rage still festering inside of me.
She looked past me, as I approached. “Three within a week, Dax. Where the hell are you finding these kids?”
“Look, I know you don’t take in young ones, but they … their dad … he left ‘em alone. Got drunk. Think he’s been abusing the girl.”
“These bastards.” She tossed the cigarette onto the pavement, grinding it with her untied boot. “Where is he now?”
“Haven’t seen him.” I stuffed my hands in my pockets, glancing around at the slumbering neighborhood. “And as far as anyone else is concerned, you didn’t see me tonight.”
“You in trouble, Dax?”
“Nah. The usual, you know? Just trying to keep a low profile these days.”
“Okay, let’s get ‘em in and get ‘em settled. We’ll get in touch with a social worker who can place them until we find out what’s going on with the dad. Is the mom in the picture?”
“No. She skipped town on ‘em. It’s just the two kids.” I rubbed the back of my skull and caught a glimpse of them still waiting in the backseat. “Listen, any chance you can keep them together? They only have each other. I’m pretty sure they sleep together, in the same bed, and everything.”
“I can’t guarantee anything, but keeping them together is always our first choice.”
“If they ask about their dad, I don’t think it’s a good idea to allow contact. I told them he left them to go to the hospital because he’s sick.”
“Don’t worry, Dax. They’re in good hands.” She winked and gave a light squeeze to my arm, though it failed to put my coiling stomach at ease.
I signaled for the kids to get out of the car, and as they approached the two of us, I heard Gina mutter, “Jesus Christ,” under her breath.
Both kids wore dirty, ragged clothes, and the girl’s looked two sizes too small, clinging to her body and riding high on her limbs.
Setting a hand on their shoulders, Gina gently guided them inside the building.
Daniel looked back and broke away, running to wrap his little arms around my legs. “Will my daddy come to get us?”
I exchanged a look with Gina and brushed my hand over Daniel’s messy hair that felt stiff and greasy. “He’s going to the hospital, remember? You’re gonna be okay, Daniel. I promise you.”
His eyes flickered with moisture, and when he blinked, two large tears slipped down his cheek.
Gina took his hand, and the three of them disappeared inside.
My hands flexed and balled into tight fists, as I made my way back toward the ‘Cuda. About sixty miles north, in Ortonville, was a wild boar hunting preserve.
31
Dax
If I thought about it, it made sense why she’d lied to me. Why she’d distanced herself from the crime. Not that I was mad at her for it. Fuck, how else would a person walk away from something like that?
Kenny sat tied to a tree, his bald head slung forward, as I stuffed his tooth inside a plastic baggy, where it clacked beside the others I’d already pulled. I’d propped a flashlight against a small rock to offer some light in the pitch-blackness of the forest. Enough to make out the ruined contours of his scarred face, where he must’ve been burned at one time.
With a groan, he raised his head, eyes squinting, and took three deep breaths. Arm twitching in his binds, he shot his eyes open and frowned. “Where am I?” He dipped his chin, perhaps checking out the ropes securing him tightly to the tree. A wet sound and sucking followed, and with the shift of his jaw, his brow furrowed deeper.
“Da thuck?” His tongue moved beneath his top lip like a wave, crossing over his toothless gums. Realization dawned on his face, his eyes locked on mine, wide and brimming with the kind of fear that made me want to laugh.
I raised the coated-in-blood bag that held the teeth I’d extracted from him while he’d remained passed out. “Hey, pig, piggy pig.”
“I … I know you! Fum Fanks pokuh games.” The slur of his words, even with the missing teeth, told me some of the alcohol still swam through his veins.
“And I know you.” I removed one of the gloves I’d donned earlier, since coated in his blood, and pulled out my cellphone, opening it to the video I couldn’t stand to watch twice.
Something flickered in his eyes as the video played, but he shook his head. “Wathen’t me.”
Lying little cocksucker.
“Wasn’t you? That wasn’t you raping and torturing an innocent young girl?”
“Nuh-uh. I thwear.”
“That’s weird. I could’ve sworn it was you. No matter,” I said, stuffing my phone back into my pocket. “I know for a fact it was you lying naked beside your own little girl.”
His eyes widened even more, if that were possible, and he shook his head again. “I got dunk. Thought it wath my bed, ith all.”
“Which would make sense. If she wasn’t naked, too.”
“Ith jus a game, man. Ath all.”
“Well, I’ve got a game for you, too.” I donned the glove again and lowered myself back down to his level. “See, the girl in that video you just watched? She wanted to kill you herself. In fact, she’ll be pissed to know I did the honors on her behalf.”
His head rolled to the side with his drunkenness, his eyes back to half-mast and squinting with his frown. “The’s dead.”
Well, how the fuck would he had known that? Considering I’d only shown him a small clip of the video.
A smile stretched across my face at the same time his shrank. “I caught you in a lie, Kenny. You lose this round.” From the ground beside me, I nabbed the bolt cutters I’d used to remove his teeth—same cutters I’d used to snip the chain link fence around the property earlier—and holding the tip of his big toe, I sliced right through it.
His scream echoed through the woods as the steel glided easily across his bone. Popped right off his foot.
I tossed the severed toe into the woods. “This little piggy went to market.”
Head back against the tree, he breathed hard, his chest rising and falling in rapid contractions.
“Now, did you murder the girl in the video?”
“No. I tol you. Wathen’t me.”
I rubbed my nose across the non-bloody portion of my arm and shook my head. “’Fuck sake, man.” Without warning, I nabbed his second toe and snipped through it before he could so much as flinch.
A second cry reverberated through the trees.
I chucked the digit out into the surroundings. “This little piggy stayed home.” Even in the dim light, I could see his skin had turned pallid, a slowly dying shade of white. “You raped her. Tortured her. And drowned her. Well, you thought you did, anyway. Isn’t that right?”
His head rocked back and forth, then fell forward like a bowling ball propped on a toothpick.
Through an incredulous grin, I stared back, trying to wrap my head around the lies tumbling from his mouth, like little devils taunting me to hurt the pitiful bastard. “Are you shitting me?”
Nabbing hold of his third toe, I positioned the cutters again, but he jerked.
“Wait! Yeth. Yeth, it was me.”
“It was you. In the video. You tried to kill her.” I studied his eyes—dark, soulless orbs bearing no sign of remorse, as if he hadn’t thought about it a single day since. An observation that made me want to rip them right out of his skull so I didn’t have to look at them right then.
“The’s not what you think. That girl ith crazy. Fucking thyco.”
“Thyco?” I snickered and sighed. “You know what’s psycho, Kenny? Me. Af
ter watching that video.” I crunched the cutters through his flesh, cutting off his next toe, which I chucked with the others. “This little piggy ate roast beef.”
A gurgling scream ended on a deep-belly cough, and he turned to spit a wad of frothy red blood. “Pleath! Pleath, thop! I’ll do whatever you want.”
“What I want is to watch you bleed. And then, eventually, I want to see you consumed by your own kind.” I lifted the cutters, twisting them around in front of him. “D’you know, pigs’ll eat bone? They’re like land carp. Nothing goes to waste.”
Shifting inside the too-tight binds, Kenny whimpered. “I’m thorry. For everything I did to her. I’m tho thorry.”
“No. I don’t think you are, Kenny. I think you’re lying again.” He jerked his leg, as I slammed my palm against the top of his foot and sliced through his fourth toe, though that one took a bit more effort than the first three.
His cries turned hoarse, his throat probably as dry as cotton from shock and loss of blood.
“This little piggy had none.” Without taking my eyes off him, I threw the toe over my shoulder and smiled. “Baiting the swine.”
The rise and fall of his chest grew frantic, and he rolled his head against the tree, moaning. If I had to guess, the alcohol’s numbing effect had begun to wane.
“Jasper’s dead, in case you might be wondering where this is headed.”
“I wanted to thcare her, ith all. Dathper wanted her dead. He thed the’d go to the cops.”
“Did someone commission this video?” As I gripped his pinky toe, his face pinched with misery, and a sob tore through his chest. One sharp yank silenced his sobbing. “No lies, Kenny.”
“Yeah. It wath.”
“By whom?”
“Pleath. Don’t. Don’t.”
I ran the snipper blades over his toe, not yet pressing into it.
“I don’t know. I thwear I don’t know.” Head rolling against the bark, he squirmed in his binds, his fight growing weaker by the minute. “Dathper thed it wath commithioned. He never thed who paid him.”
“But the request came through Tesarik?”
