21. Mal
“Explain,” Mal demanded.
“Is it not self-explanatory?” Frankie asked. “I am my brother’s keeper. I’ve been tasked with babysitting him ever since my father went to prison.”
“How so?” Nico asked, sitting forward, literally on the edge of his seat. “We need details. This is important.”
Mal watched as Frankie seemed to war with himself. “You’ve already told us this much. You might as well just get it all out there.”
It was clear Frankie wanted to talk. Mal could see the resentment in him, the anger. Mal didn’t blame him for it.
“My brother was never really…normal. Or maybe he would have been if we’d been born to different parents. But my father was a bad man. He worked for the previous Dai Lo, who was far less civilized than his son.”
“That’s…ominous,” Nico said, shifting uneasily in his seat.
Frankie nodded. “My father thought nothing of breaking people’s arms or severing their fingers right in front of us. He called it ‘learning the family business.’ I learned how to compartmentalize. But Jason…he ate it up. He loved it. The more depraved, the better. My father doted on him because of it.”
“And your mother?” Nico asked.
Frankie’s face softened. “She’s a very gentle person who was forced into a marriage with a bad man. What was she going to do? It’s not like she could leave. We were here in the States. She didn’t speak a word of English. She’s never held a job. She was trapped, exactly how my father liked her. She was essentially a house slave and he treated her like one. Jason thought nothing of doing the same.”
“He abused your mother?” Nico asked.
“He didn’t hit her or anything, but my brother is very good at terrorizing people without having to hurt them. He just also enjoys hurting them. After my father went to prison, my mother was spared the physical abuse but not the emotional torment.”
Mal pondered this new information. “How did your brother react to your father’s crime? The one that got him thrown in prison.”
Frankie’s expression grew dark. “You still don’t get it. My father didn’t kill that girl. Jason did.”
“What?” Nico blurted.
Frankie nodded. “When my brother was seventeen, he became obsessed with this freshman cheerleader, Lori. Probably because she wouldn’t give him the time of day. He asked her out and she rejected him…publicly. Loudly.”
Something soured in Mal’s stomach. It was like watching a sad movie where you already knew the ending.
“He was so humiliated, he lost it, started tearing the house apart. Swore he’d make her pay. My father told him to calm down and to use his head. That there were other ways to get a woman to fall in line.”
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Nico muttered.
“The next day, my brother started flirting with her little sister. Her thirteen-year-old sister. He showed Lori how easy it was for him to manipulate the girl, said he’d only stop if she agreed to date him and do everything he wanted. If she didn’t, he’d make sure he ruined her little sister in every conceivable way.”
History was repeating itself. Jason blackmailed Lori by threatening her sister and he’d blackmailed Amy by threatening her daughter.
“And your parents did nothing?”
“The opposite, actually,” Frankie said, disgusted. “My father encouraged it. My mother wasn’t really in a position to do anything. Neither was I, really. Lori agreed to date him. He used her like his own personal sex slave and punching bag, and she was too afraid for her little sister to say no. When she turned up pregnant, she asked for money for an abortion. Instead, he strangled her and tossed her body on her parent’s front porch.”
“Didn’t he care about getting caught?” Nico asked, shaking his head like he couldn’t fathom it. Mal couldn’t really, either. Micah was a homicidal maniac, but he’d been meticulous about covering his tracks.
“Jason had no sense of self-preservation back then. He would be too blinded by his rage. In our freshman year, a kid turned him in for cheating, so Jason killed his cat. That’s just how he was. It was no different with Lori. He was so furious over her demanding anything from him, even if he would have forced her to have an abortion anyway. He snapped. But killing her wasn’t enough. He needed her whole family to suffer. He gets off on it.”
“Jesus,” Nico muttered.
“He came home and confessed everything. Bragged about it, even. He couldn’t stop talking about how her face looked as she died.”
Frankie’s eyes had a sort of far-away look like he was right back in that moment.
“My mother begged my father to turn him in, and, for a second, I thought he might actually do it.” He huffed out a bitter laugh. “But as soon as it hit the news, my father changed his mind. He said Jason had his whole life ahead of him. That one girl shouldn’t ruin everything. He went to the police and confessed to everything an hour later.”
“And they just accepted it?” Nico asked. “There was no investigation?”
Frankie scoffed. “My father was a career criminal who’d made evading the police into a game. They all but rolled out the red carpet for him. You’d think that him showing up at a police station and confessing would raise red flags, but no. They made no attempt to corroborate his story. There wasn’t even a trial. He didn’t even ask for a lesser sentence for confessing.”
“That’s…selfless,” Nico mused.
Frankie shrugged. “He died a few years later of terminal lung cancer. I think he knew he didn’t have much time left. Or maybe not. Maybe he really thought Jason’s life was worth trading for his own,” he said.
“You’re disgusted with your dad, but you just called yourself your brother’s keeper. How many murders have you helped cover up for him?” Nico asked.
Frankie shook his head, looking flummoxed. “Look, after we returned to Hong Kong, Jason got…better.”
“Better?” Nico barked. “Like he was just magically cured?”
Frankie made a frustrated sound. “It wasn’t like that. After we came back, the previous Dai Lo stepped down, and his son took his place. That man took an interest in us not only because of my father, but because we were close to Leo. Well, Jason was close to Leo.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Mal asked.
“Jason is cruel. I’m not saying he isn’t. But the new Dai Lo took care of us and our mom financially and basically turned Jason into an enforcer. That gave him plenty of outlets for his ugly temper, all under the guise of just doing his job. He knew that if he brought any unwanted attention to the Red Lotus, the Dai Lo would have him put down like a stray dog. So, he became two people.”
“Two people?” Mal prompted.
“Whenever others were around, he’d be an angel. Calm. Collected. Charming, even. Anytime anything bad happened, my brother would subtly hint that it was my doing, not his. But as far as I know, he hasn’t hurt anyone. At least, without their permission.”
“Do you think he killed Amy? We know she tried to reject his advances and he threatened her daughter. She was blackmailing Leo, trying to get him to keep Jason off her by threatening to tell the Dai Lo about your business.”
“What?” Frankie asked, his confusion evident. “How do you know that?”
Fuck it. “Amy had a journal. She referred to you guys by your zodiacs, but she said that not only was Jason assaulting her, he was threatening her daughter. Apparently, Leo knew about it, too.”
Frankie shrugged. “That makes sense. Leo’s weak. Jason has him terrorized. He knows my brother would rat him out to the Dai Lo without thinking twice. He’s already poisoned him against Leo, just like he did me.”
“And you…let him?” Nico asked. “You don’t look like someone who’s easily pushed around.”
Frankie’s jaw clenched, hands fisting beside him. “Lori wasn’t the only one my brother blackmailed. Jason knows I’m gay. If that were to get out, my lifespan would be shortened considerably. I have to be discreet.”
“He’d even sell you out?” Nico asked.
Frankie snorted. “My brother doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He’s a narcissist and a sociopath. He will do whatever he has to do to get what he wants, when he wants, and woe betide the creature who gets in his way. I have no intention of getting in his way.”
“So, you let him slap around his girlfriends and then blame it all on you?” Nico said, like the notion was unfathomable.
“As I said before, up until you people showed up, I didn’t know anything about any girls. At least, not specifically. We don’t talk about personal shit. Just work stuff. If anyone knows the real him, it’s Leo. Maybe he can help you. But I have nothing else to say.”
Mal nodded. “Let’s go.”
Nico stood, putting his gun away. Mal did the same, watching his boyfriend move on auto-pilot. He was deep in thought, but Mal wasn’t sure what was on his mind.
He found out a moment later when they were standing at the door.
“Hey, one more question before we leave,” Nico asked.
Frankie eyed them warily. “What?”
Nico’s cheeks turned pink. “We kind of had a look around your house before you came home.”
Frankie stiffened. “Yeah?” he asked, tone hardening.
This time, it was Mal who stiffened. Where the hell was Nico going with this?
“We found your…c-collection in the closet,” Nico stammered.
Frankie’s expression darkened. “Are you trying to blackmail me now, too?”
Nico’s eyes went wide. “What? No. I just… I just wanted to know where you got that case? It seems really handy.”
Frankie stared at him in disbelief, then huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. “The Pink Pussycat on 3rd Avenue. They’re designed for people who host home sex toy parties to cart around samples.”
Nico balked. “That’s a thing?”
“Yes. Is that all?” Frankie asked. “I’d like to get my dog out of the bathtub.”
“I do have one more question,” Nico said. “What do you do with all that lu?—”
Mal slapped his hand over Nico’s mouth. “We’re leaving. Do us a favor and don’t mention this to Jason or anyone else.”
Frankie looked at him like he was insane. “Yeah, that’s not a problem.”