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Brock gasped like a fish tossed from the water onto a dock.
“Lateisha is very good at getting reluctant individuals to cooperate,” Madeline said.
His still bulging eyes darted to Lateisha.
“Hi,” she said, flashing him a sunny grin.“I like to excel at my job.I’m very goal-oriented.”
“You’re crazy.”Those bulging eyes came back to Madeline.“You’re both crazy.”
“No, I’m impatient.Also bored.”She also never enjoyed it when someone called her crazy.A real annoyance, that was.And Madeline had already been annoyed.She’d had to wait far too long for him to be patched up.“You tried to torch Naomi and my friend Eb hours ago.”
“I—”
“Your prints are all over the gas containers.Plus, we have security footage from the scene.The property was wired like you wouldn’t believe.So, yes, that means we have you on video.Every moment.So don’t waste my time with denials.You and your gang were right there on the scene when I arrived.But I’m betting this wasn’t your first fire, was it?”Though, in this particular instance, it had just been anattemptedarson attack.Eb had stopped Brock from actually igniting the safe house.“You set the fire at Naomi’s home.”
His head jerked.The scalpel drew a drop of blood.
“So what?”Brock snapped.
Oh, damn.Okay, so he was just going to confess.Nice.
“Bitch had it coming,” he grumbled.
Interesting response.“I did some digging while I was waiting on the docs to finish with you.”Her head tilted.She’d always hated being idle, so Madeline had used the time to her advantage.“There have been quite a few fires in the area.Mostly—as odd as this sounds—targeting individuals who had lodged complaints against Ivan Sokolov.They’d said he trashed their businesses or extorted them or stole from them.So many complaints.So many fires.Weird, isn’t it?”
He swallowed.The drop of blood that had been drawn tracked slowly down his thick neck.
“Let me see if I can guess what might have happened…when Ivan got angry, he liked to send a message to his enemies?And that message typically came via fire?”
No response.So annoying.Madeline continued, “Lateisha was going to be a doctor.Once upon a time.But I recruited her and convinced her that a job with me would be far more rewarding than she could ever imagine.However, she learned a great deal of helpful info from medical school.Picked up all kinds of handy skills.Fun fact, she can perform a perfect vivisection.”
“What in the hell is a vivisection?”
“Oh, you don’t know?”Madeline laughed.“If you don’t know, then you really, really don’t want to find out.You’ll be alive during the process, you see.That’s the whole point.You have to be alive when the cutting begins?—”
“You can’t do this!I know my rights!” He yanked hard against the cuff and his whole face flushed a dark red.
He seemed to miss the point that she didn’t give a flying fuck about his rights.“You set the fire at Naomi’s house.You took the bat from her truck, and you went back and you used it on Ivan, didn’t you?”She strode to the left side of the bed, taking the spot that Colson had vacated.
He heaved out a breath and shook his head.“I ain’t telling you?—”
The scalpel dug deeper.“Whoops,” Lateisha said.“My finger slipped.”
Madeline caught Brock’s chin in her hand.She turned his head fully toward her.Enough fun and games.“When I am done with you, I can have you dropped in the deepest, darkest prison in the world.No one will look for you, and I can assure you, no one will ever find you.”
A tremor shook his body as he stared into her eyes.“I just—I wanted to be in charge, you know?”
“Um.”
“Ivan always said…he said you had to scare your enemies.You had to make them fear you.I-I was just trying to?—”
“Trying to take over?”Madeline cut in.“Trying to be the baddest bastard on the block?”
His breath sawed in and out.In and out.Finally, voice dropping, he rasped, “I know Ivan worked with you.”
“Um.”
“I know he made deals with Hudson.”