Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
BECKETT
"So tell me. How do you want to play this?" Sylvia asked as we walked together to the interview room at the prison.
"Follow my lead, but be ready to jump in and take over if it seems like Mason is responding to you better."
I wasn't going to let ego get in my way. Not when it came to this case. If Mason wanted to cooperate with my partner, then I would leave her in charge. At the end of the day, all I cared about was taking the Dunkin family down.
"Works for me. I can turn on the charm if it comes to that." Sylvia flashed me a smirk and wiggled her eyebrows. I couldn't help but snicker at her playfulness. The job was never boring when she was around.
The guard showed us into the room. "The prisoner will be with you in a minute."
"Well, he seems like a cheery fellow." Sylvia barely waited for the guard to close the door before she spoke.
"I'm sure working in this place brings out the warm and fuzzies of his personality."
Sylvia snorted as she took a seat at the metal table. "I'm not sure that burly guy knows what the words warm and fuzzy mean."
She was probably right. The guard––who didn't say his name––looked more like a grizzly bear with a thorn in his paw. I would even hedge a bet that the frown lines on his face were permanently etched there.
I waited until another guard shuffled Mason into the room before I took a seat next to Sylvia.
"I see you brought a friend this time." Mason held out his arms so the guard could cuff him to the table. "I haven't changed my mind, so this little visit is a waste of time."
"That's not why I'm here. I have some news to share with you." I watched the guard leave before turning my attention back to Mason. He didn't look the least bit interested in being here with us.
"Oh yeah. Did you finally get your head out of your ass and decide to stop wasting your time with me?"
"I never waste my time. Not then and not now. I still believe the two options I gave you were fair."
Mason scoffed, "Right. Because the options to either testify against my family and enter witness protection or go to prison are every man's dream. And you wonder why I made my own option."
I raised an unamused brow. "And how did that work out for you?"
"Pretty damn good for seven years and I would've made it longer if it weren't for the stupid taillight."
I shook my head. "It's always the little things that bring criminals down. But like I said. That's not why I'm here."
"Fine. Then how about you tell me why you are here." Mason didn't take his eyes off me. Except for a quick glance when he first walked in, he had yet to give Sylvia a lick of attention.
"Local PD is waiting for DNA confirmation, but early reports look like your brother was murdered."
I watched Mason closely for any reaction. I had to give the man credit; he either learned to hide his emotions over the years, or his brother's death didn't mean shit to him.
"Sucks for him. Pops is going to be pissed."
"That's all you're going to say? Pops is going to be pissed?"
Mason lifted his shoulder slightly. "What do you want me to say? We both know there’s no love between me and my brother. Or me and my pops for that matter. They both hated me and vice versa."
"True, but Lex's death means you're next in line to take over the Dunkin family?"
Mason threw his head back and laughed hysterically.
It was several long moments before he was able to get himself under control enough to answer.
"You really think my father is going to let me take over after the shit I pulled?
I ran for a reason. I want nothing to do with that life, and the only thing my father sees in me is disappointment. "
I leaned over the table. "So, then, testify. Bring your father down and get rid of the Dunkin crime family for good."
For a few seconds, it looked like Mason was actually considering it, but then he shook his head. "No. Cutting the head off the snake won't do any good. Another snake will just take his place, and there will always be someone worried that I'll come back to take my rightful place."
Leaning back in the chair, I crossed my arms over my chest. "So you're going to what? Spend the rest of your life behind bars?"
"I never said that." Mason had a smirk on his face that I didn't like. The man was up to something. I just had yet to figure out what it was.
I decided to switch up the topic. "Anita paid me a visit. She wants to talk to you." Mason's smirk fell off his face fast, and the satisfaction I felt knowing I did that was probably unhealthy. "You remember Anita, right? Slightly unhinged woman and Nova's best friend."
"Yes, I remember her." I couldn't tell if the disdain in his voice was for me or Anita, but I was about to find out.
"What's Anita's last name again?" I figured if anyone knew it, Mason would. He and Nova dated for years before her disappearance.
"I can't recall her ever telling me." His smirk was back.
"Are you sure? Anita was Nova's best friend. Almost like sisters from what I remember. You expect me to believe you didn't know everything about the one person who was closest to your girl?"
Mason didn't break eye contact. "I don't give a shit what you believe. I don't know a damn thing about Anita, and I think our time here is done." He tapped his knuckles on the table. "Guard."
I was forced to keep my anger in check despite the fact that I wanted to force Mason to stay and tell me what he knew. I wasn't stupid enough to believe the lies he was spewing.
"Did that go how you thought it would?" I turned my head to find Sylvia raising her brow at me. I almost forgot, for a few minutes there, she was in the room with us. She had kept quiet, and I had been so zoned in on Mason that everything else fell to the wayside.
"Pretty much. I knew he wouldn't cooperate." I pushed the chair back and stood up. "Let's get the hell out of here."
I waited until we were back in the vehicle to say, "He knows a hell of a lot more than he's letting on."
"I agree." Sylvia turned so she was burning a hole in the side of my head with her stare. "Who the hell is Anita, and when were you going to tell me she paid you a visit?"
Shit!
I forgot she didn't know about that. Cat was out of the bag now. "She was Nova's best friend and highly involved in my case seven years ago."
"So why am I just hearing about her now?"
That was a good damn question. One I didn't have the answer to. I don't really know why I kept that information to myself. "There wasn't much to say. Other than her being Nova's friend, I don't know much about her."
"We're the FB fucking I. How do you not know much about someone who's involved in a case?"
Oh right. This was why I kept the information to myself. I didn't like being questioned.
"We might be the FBI, but even we have limitations. Somehow Anita knows her way around the system because there's nothing on her."
"Give me her information, and I'll find something. We both know I'm better at technology."
My partner wasn't going to like what I had to say. "As far as I know, she doesn't have a last name."
Yup, her bugged-out eyes were enough to tell me I hit that one on the head. "What do you mean she doesn't have one? Everyone has one."
"Apparently not Anita. Her driver's license only has a first name and no record. She's also not in any database. Fingerprints. DNA. Nothing. And believe me I've looked."
Sylvia huffed. "Well, now I'm intrigued. I love a good mystery, and something tells me this one is juicy."
I didn't know if juicy was the word I would've used, but if Sylvia wanted to dig, then so be it. My partner was like a dog with a bone. Once her mind was set on something, she didn't give up. Maybe she would be the key to unraveling the mystery that was Anita.