Chapter 11
ONE STEP CLOSER
J.D. Stevens
I was in a weird headspace which was probably magnified by not being able to sleep. The nightmares had become even more vivid, haunting me every night. But now Rebel had appeared in them.
Strangely enough, she brought a sense of peace to me even during the nightmares. Her presence comforted me. Maybe it was because she was helping me get the answers, I needed to help them rest. She was helping me get the answers, I needed to move on with my life.
“Has he said anything?” I asked.
We were on our way to the clubhouse’s basement. While on the phone with Rebel, Caesar had walked into my office to let me know he had tracked down the daycare owner.
“Nah. Just that he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.”
As I opened the door to the basement and descended the stairs, an overpowering stench of urine and vomit assaulted my senses.
When I flicked the light switch on, the room instantly transformed from a dank, dark space to one illuminated by the bright, fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Throughout my time in this world, I had learned certain things that helped with interrogations. Fluorescent lighting and tight spaces like this room, increased a person’s anxiety about the unknown. After sitting in the dark and not knowing what was going to happen, he should be ready to speak in no time.
I watched as the man, who was bound to a chair by gray duct tape in the center of the room, narrowed his eyes. And when they adjusted to the bright lights, they widened.
“You remember me?”
I wasted no time asking questions because I needed the answers, and I knew he had some of them. As I approached the man, his eyes darted towards the president’s patch on my cut, then locked onto my face.
“I don’t know anything! I swear!”
“Do you remember who I am?”
He quickly nodded. “Your wife died in a car accident.”
“Then you know what I want to know. Who paid you to erase the tapes from the day my wife died?”
“I don’t know who paid me! I swear on my son, I don’t know!”
I looked over my shoulder. “Caesar hand me your knife.”
“Please... I’m telling the truth!”
Caesar crouched down, his hand reaching for the sheath wrapped around his ankle as he pulled out his knife.
“Here ya go, Prez.”
I grabbed the knife and turned back to the daycare owner. I’d done some research into his life. He not only received a substantial sum of money for erasing those tapes, but he also used it to take a lavish trip to Italy with his mistress.
“So which kid would that be, Gary?”
I slammed the knife through his thigh. His piercing screams echoed through the air, creating a twisted symphony that delighted my ears.
I yanked the knife from his thigh, then plunged it into the other. “The kid with Rosa or the kid with Amy?”
“Please! Stop!”
His anguished screams and desperate pleas for mercy boomed through the room, but nobody listened. I wouldn’t stop.
“My family didn’t get mercy, so why should you?”
“I don’t know who sent the money. Please... I’m begging you.”
As I dodged the expanding pool of piss at his feet, I twisted the knife before yanking it out of his thigh. Tears mixed with his snot as he wailed.
Stepping back, I folded my arms across my chest. “What happened?”
“I’ll tell you everything if you don’t kill me.”
I laughed and Caesar chuckled behind me. “You’re not in any position to negotiate shit with me motherfucker. Tell me what the fuck happened, or should I have Caesar go get your wife?”
His sobs grew louder as he shook his head vigorously.
“Or maybe your mistress?” I shrugged. Maybe he had one he preferred I killed over the other. “I would hate for your children to be without their mother and their father.”
Typically, we didn’t involve women or kids in our shit. Of course, his kids were off limits, but I’d go after his women to get answers without a second thought.
“I want a name.”
I placed the tip of the knife at the side of his neck. His body shook with fear as tears freely slid down his face. However, that wouldn’t stop the inevitable. I’d get answers, then kill him for the part he played in covering up Dani and Luca’s deaths.
“Earl Daniels. He’s a cop. He paid me to erase the tapes.”
“Why?”
“I... I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I just took the money.”
That was all the information I needed. With no hesitation, I plunged the knife into the side of his neck, ending the conversation.
It was only natural for him to try to remove the blade, but he would soon realize it was stuck in place. As his body jerked, he desperately tried to scream, but the restraints held his hands firmly to the chair. And his mouth could only produce strangled gurgles as his throat filled with his own blood.
I turned my attention to Caesar. “Let him choke on his blood, then get rid of the body.”
“You got it, Prez.”
Without any more words, I headed out with nothing but exhilaration moving through me. I was one step closer to finding out the truth. I was one step closer to fulfilling my promise to my wife and son.