Chapter 23 #2
Draven throws her over his shoulder so she flops about like a fish on the line and takes her downstairs to a cellar.
Leith presses a hand to the small of my back and leads me down behind them.
I’m impressed by how many rooms we pass on the way to the one at the end of the corridor, where Draven and Declan strap Galiene to a metal chair that’s bolted to the concrete floor.
I note the floor slopes slightly downward to a drain in the middle.
Realizing the main purpose of the drain, I shiver.
As soon as Draven removes the gag, Galiene hisses, “You won’t get anything from me.”
An indulgent chuckle falls from Leith’s lips. “If we had a pound for every time someone’s said that down here, we’d have enough for a Lamborghini, eh, Dec?” He turns to me. “Are you sure you want to watch?”
“Aye.” I wouldn’t miss this for the world.
Leith steps up to Galiene, and I note how her nipples pucker at his nearness. “You can make this easy on yourself by answering our questions truthfully.”
She thrusts her chin in the air, her lips thinning in a line.
“Let’s start with some simple questions. Warm you up.” Leith paces around her, cracking his knuckles. “Who are you working for?”
A mutinous smirk forms on her lips.
Leith nods to Draven, who backhands her, making her face jerk to the side and tears start in her eyes. I’d pity her, if I didn’t still smart from her injustices.
“Let’s try that again,” Leith says with deadly calm. “Who are you working for?”
“The COPFS,” she rasps, blood trickling from her mouth.
The COPFS? She works for the prosecutors’ office?
“There now. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Leith doesn’t sound at all surprised by the news. Maybe he’d already worked out that these were his main enemies. “Who told the COPFS I was temporarily laid off?”
Galiene looks as if she’s going to remain silent, until Draven approaches her with a penknife. She blurts, “Manton and McCormick told me, and I told the COPFS.”
Leith nods, taking this in. “Did the COPFS set me up yesterday at Kirkaldy’s?”
“Aye,” she husks.
“Why?”
When she says nowt, Draven draws the tip of the blade along her cheek, keeping the incision surface-level. Droplets of blood spring forth.
“Why?” Leith demands again.
“They’re trying to bring down the Syndicate for good.” Her words trip over each other. “Phase one of that project was to get you fired so the COPFS can win the Lowing case and turn public opinion against the Crew. Phase two was to have the Syndicate investigated for trafficking.”
Leith pinches his brows together. “On the basis of what?”
Galiene jerks her head toward me. “Starting with Iona, we’d get all the wives and fiancées to testify that they were forced into marriage.
You held the euthanasia and Iona’s job over her, among other things.
Then there’s Màiri, Declan’s concubine.” Declan startles, balling his hands into fists of rage.
“She was trafficked into the Syndicate, however much you’ve covered it up since.
And Darian is forcing Sorcha to marry him, claiming she was complicit in a live burial.
” Leith does a double take, as if this is news to him.
“Chance threatened to hurt Isolde’s baby Beitris in order to get Isolde to marry him. ”
“How do they know all this?” Leith barks.
“They have their ways. I’m not privy to them.”
Leith towers over her. “And your own personal mission in all this?”
Her cheeks turn crimson, but she says nothing.
“You wanted to break me and Iona up so you could have me for yourself. Is that it?” She looks down, silently confirming his supposition. “Hence her task today of buying me a dog from a pet shop. You knew I’d hate that and get angry at the very idea.”
“She’s no good for you,” Galiene spits. “Look how easily I made her mistrust you.”
“She mistrusted me because I haven’t been the most trustworthy husband. So far,” he adds, settling a solemn look on me. “But it’s in large part thanks to you that we’ve suspected each other. Speaking of which, were you behind the Horizons press story by Stennis Gilzean?”
Her jaw pulses. “Aye.”
My mouth slacks, and I fall into the nearest chair. She nearly caused me to die at Leith’s hands.
“Whom did you send to be Gilzean’s anonymous source?”
Her eyes dart to the ceiling, and she purses her lips.
Leith tips his head at Draven, who grips her chin and lightly slashes the other cheek.
“Who was Beau French?” Leith repeats.
A swallow treks down her throat. “Ron Pirie. He’s working for the COPFS as well. I don’t know anything more about him.”
Leith studies her for a long moment, as if deciding whether to let that go.
“Is Hume Irving in on this project?” he grates.
Her brow scrunches. “He wants to put you behind bars. The COPFS just wants the Syndicate.”
“So that’s a no?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“What was the significance of those names you sent Iona over text?” he grills.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I listed and said what they told me to list and say.”
Leith narrows his eyes. “Were they paying you handsomely?”
She looks away. “They offered to spare you if I helped bring down the rest of the Crew. You were gaun to be mine.”
Her sole reward for her pains was Leith himself. Assuming the COPFS honored their promise to her.
He cocks his head. “So you’ll walk away with nowt. If you walk away.” His gaze swings to Draven. “Keep her down here in case we have further questions.”
As we head toward the door, Galiene calls out, “You’ll never undo all the damage we’ve done. The Crew is toast.”
Without looking back, Leith smiles, tossing over his shoulder, “Tell yourself that to give meaning to your own death, Galiene.”
Upstairs, Declan pours whiskies into tumblers and passes them around. “I’m sure Darian knows something about this project of the COPFS. He’s probably doing his bit to counter it.”
Leith lifts his glass. “He was probably waiting until they brought me down to let us know about their mission.”
Declan flushes. “He means well—mostly. Are you and Iona really gaun to continue working on the Lowing case, even though Da took you off of it?”
“Aye.” Leith coils an arm about my waist, making me feel cherished. “We have a few tricks up our sleeve we can spring when the time is right.”
I look up at him. “How much of what Galiene told us did you anticipate?”
“Most of it, except the trafficking bit. I need to find out who’s supplying the COPFS with all that inside information.” Leith drains his drink. “For now, let’s return to our work.”
Draven drives us home. In the back seat I snuggle into Leith’s solid chest. “Something tells me you were going easy on Galiene. Was that because she’s a woman?”
“No. We’ve treated women far worse.”
“Then why?”
“I didn’t want her confusing today with her punishment. She has a brutal reckoning coming up.” He brushes my hair behind my ear. “And you’re gaun to help decide on it.”
1?had sex