Chapter 8 #5
Reese chuckled. “He’s gonna learn, I guess.” He cocked his head and smirked when Jordan looked at him, all hesitant-like. “Have you ever asked your Daddy what makes him a good Sadist?”
Jordan swallowed and shook his head.
“That would be your first mistake,” Reese murmured. “Enjoy the show.”
He walked out and closed the door.
Jordan wasn’t cocky anymore.
I sat down at the table, where KC had a few printouts lined up.
Security footage from outside—with time stamps.
The window of opportunity, so to speak. Photos of the spray paintings.
A list of details, such as the time it would take for Shay to walk from their house up the road to here. A list of his closest friends.
Penelope wasn’t on the list, but Nora was. Lane, Tate, Macklin…
KC made some notes and then tapped one of the printouts.
I looked closer.
I grinned.
Nate set three bottles of water on the table when River arrived with Shay.
“Have a seat, Shay.” KC gestured to the chair across from us.
I folded up the sleeves of my shirt and observed the guy.
Shay was young, in his mid-twenties, tatted up, and one of the fighters in the community.
He lived for adrenaline rushes and fear play; not a whole lot scared him in the kink world.
But hand in hand with his bad-boy attitude came a cheeky Middle who didn’t mind goofing off with his Daddy.
In the short time I’d known him, I’d noticed a few things.
One, he liked to stay in the background and observe a lot.
Two, he was an opportunist. He didn’t dive headfirst into the battle of Mclean House versus House Mclean because he didn’t know which side would benefit him more yet.
Sometimes, he executed pranks with the brats.
Sometimes, he declined and watched the mayhem unfold.
Three, he wanted to impress his Owners. He wanted to show them how he evolved and honed his skills.
Pulling a scheme like this one would certainly show them.
If he succeeded.
“You comfortable, kid?” I asked. “Can I get you anything—a better chair, something to eat, a decent defense?”
Confusion quickly morphed into a blank expression and possibly gnashed teeth, but Reese was right—Shay’s default mode was aloof. He slouched a bit in his chair and rested his hands in his lap.
“My defense is solid, Sir,” he replied.
“I don’t think it is, but hey. Prove me wrong.” I smiled. “Before KC begins, let me just thank you for being so committed to having more people come out to help with setup yesterday. I saw your status update online, and I heard you sent out some texts too. That was real helpful.”
“Definitely,” KC agreed. “River and Reese must be proud of how dedicated you are.”
Shay didn’t say anything, and he wasn’t particularly relaxed, despite what he was aiming for.
KC cleared his throat and picked up one of the printouts, holding it casually in front of himself. “Can you tell me a little bit about yesterday? Describe your day.”
Shay let out a breath. “Uh, all right. I’d say yesterday was great. We chilled by the pool, we worked up a sweat to prepare for the event, we threw burgers on the grill, and then at breakfast this morning, my Owners decided to accuse me of leading some ridiculous prank.”
I sighed.
KC and I weren’t new at interrogating brats together, and we had our own protocol. Which Shay hadn’t experienced yet. Now was a great time.
KC scratched his forehead. “Do I need to bring out crayons to explain to you how a suspect should describe their day?”
Tension ticked in Shay’s jaw for a quick beat.
“You’re right about one thing, though,” I added. “The prank was ridiculous.”
There, back to aloofness. Curious, curious. What was he hiding with that expression, one might wonder.
“The countdown was particularly overdramatic,” KC noted with a nod. “Like a bad writer overdoing it to build up to something ominous. We’re supposed to do what, wait over three months for something that may or may not happen?”
I laughed. “It’ll be a toy gun that pops off a flag that says boom.”
So much aloofness.
KC chuckled. “Eh, you tried, Shay. That’s what matters. You’ve only been with us a year, and you’ve come a long way. All we need to know now is who you planned this prank with, and then we can go downstairs again.”
I nodded. “You’ll have new opportunities to plan better pranks. This ain’t a big deal, kid. If anything, we appreciate you trying to keep us on our toes. Hell, it’s our bread and butter, innit? The push and pull between us.”
Shay drew a deep breath and loosened his tie. “Minimization,” he whispered to himself.
“Pardon?” KC asked.
“Minimization,” Shay repeated. “Minimization and maximization—it’s an interrogation technique where you minimize the crime and maximize the evidence. It’s supposed to pressure me into confessing, but I’m innocent.”
I withheld my smile, but damn if I didn’t feel proud right then and there. And I was sure River and Reese felt ten feet tall on the other side of the viewing window.
More than that, I bet Shay felt good as hell, showing off to his Owners.
Look what I know, Master.
KC picked up his pen, ready to make a note. “And around what time today did you look that up online?”
The corners of Shay’s eyes tightened, and I detected an ounce of defensiveness.
“I didn’t look that up today,” he said. “You think this is my first interrogation?”
KC lifted a shoulder. “You’re acting like it. But let’s get back on track. Give us a proper rundown of yesterday.”
We caught on pretty quick that Shay fed off reactions of others. If we had paced or shown any impatience, he would’ve calmed down and felt in control. Instead…we didn’t show a damn thing. We sat there, relaxed, and asked our questions—and it was beginning to frustrate him.
He may be good, but we were better.
“Still doesn’t make sense.” I shrugged. “Why would you drive all the way out there to have lunch on your own, when the same joint has four locations closer to where you were running your errands that day?” I pointed to the receipt Reese had printed out and slid it closer to Shay.
“You could’ve ordered those two burgers and two sodas closer to your aunt’s house. ”
He scowled at me. “What’re you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything,” I replied. “I’m flat out saying that you drove to that particular location because it was obviously closer to whoever you were meeting up with.”
“Claiming that you were there alone is a terrible lie, Shay,” KC said mildly. “You’re better than that.”
“Not only did you pay cash when you usually put things on your card, but you hid the receipt,” I pointed out. “It screams that you’re tryna hide something.”
“I didn’t try to hide it!” At last, he let out some of his frustrations. “Jesus Christ, you should take a look at my other books. I use all kinds of shit as bookmarks. I didn’t hide the receipt in that book, goddammit.”
Now we pushed. We had to keep his emotions running. At this point, if we were angry, he would get angry too. And when he got heated, he made mistakes.
KC didn’t hesitate. He rose to his feet and planted his hands on the table.
“If you didn’t hide it, why didn’t you tell your Owners about it?
They didn’t know you had lunch there until River stumbled upon the receipt in the first place.
Yet, you had no issues giving him a full recounting of the rest of your day. ”
“There’s something about that lunch,” I stated. “You can’t deny it.”
“Yes, I fucking can, because nothing happened,” Shay snapped. “I fucking felt like going there, and I was fucking hungry. Sue me. Have you never had two burgers before?”
“Oh, I’ve had three and four too, but why buy two sodas?” I shot back. “You too lazy to get up for a free refill?”
KC chuckled, looking every bit as arrogant as he was trying to be. “Maybe he was tired from carrying all that spray paint.”
“Is that it, Shay?” I got up too, ready to circle the table.
In my periphery, I saw Jordan, cowering in the corner, staring at us, taking things in like a tennis match he couldn’t look away from.
“On that note, how much is a can of spray paint? Five bucks? Ten? Fifteen? Should we go through your bookcase and see if we find more receipts?”
It fueled me to see Shay’s breaths come out a little faster.
I stopped behind him and gripped his shoulders. I dipped down.
“Did you have to search a long time for paint that washes off in the rain?”
He clenched his jaw. “I didn’t fucking do it! I was just as surprised as everyone else when Reese and Colt stormed out and bitched about the graffiti!”
“That’s a lie,” I seethed. “I saw you. You tried to hide it, but you got spooked for a second. When you saw your Daddy angry, you were worried that you’d gone too far.”
“I didn’t—”
“Have some integrity, boy,” KC snapped. “We already know it was you.”
I tightened my grip on his shoulders. “What we need to know is who your friends are. Who did you plan this with?”
“I’m not involve—”
“Tell us the truth!” I growled.
Before Shay could raise his voice further and continue with his feeble defense, the door shot open, and Penelope stalked in.
“That’s enough!” She fired off a glare at me. “This interrogation is over, and you won’t get my girl in that seat either. You’re way out of line, boys.”
I narrowed my eyes.
The way Shay’s shoulders sagged with relief was damning in my eyes.
“What makes you say that?” KC turned his interrogator brain on her instead.
“Oh, knock it off, Hayles.” Pen dismissed him and headed straight for Shay. “Let’s go, sweetie.”
“No, you actually have to explain yourself, Pen.” That was Reese. He appeared in the doorway with River. “Why is their interrogation with our property over?”
Shay swallowed hard and remained seated.
“Because you got it all wrong!” She threw out her arms. “He’s not involved in some stupid prank—he’s protecting a secret of his own.”
I cocked my head. River and KC were observing her too.