I just want my daughter back
Brenda Chadwick was a cheap whore who tried to get her hooks into my son. Only twelve and she thought she could screw her way into my family. Imagine that? Terri frowned down at the table.
You can t believe how delighted I was when Dawson came home and said she d been abducted.
He saw the Birthday Boy
Eugene: how much money did you say Constable Henderson had?
Six hunnerd. Well, five hunnerd and eighty.
Good, that s more than enough. She picked my wallet off the table and counted out a wad of cash. Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, and eighty. That s enough to rent a gun for oh, let s call it fifteen minutes.
I blinked. I don t want
Of course you want a gun. You want to be saved don t you? Back into the wallet. Eighty for the gun and twenty for a bullet. But that s not rental you get to keep that.
Oh fuck.
Edward, help Detective Constable Henderson assume the position, will you?
Ed dragged the chair back upright, then cut the cable-tie holding my right wrist to the back of the chair. He grabbed my forearm in his huge scarred hand and hauled it up in the air, as if I was asking to go to the bathroom.
He s all set, Terri.
She reached into the holdall and pulled out a freezer bag, the clear plastic kind with a zip-lock fastener. There was a gun inside, something big and black and deadly. She held the bag out. Eugene, do the honours, will you?
Pleasure. He snapped on a pair of blue nitrile gloves, then took the gun out of the bag. Bul Cherokee: nine millimetre, double action semiautomatic pistol; as used by the Israeli security forces. He drew the slide back and it stayed there.
Weighs seven hundred and five grams unloaded. He pressed a little black button on the black handgrip and the magazine slid out. Eugene caught it in his other huge hand. Magazine takes ten rounds. You get one.
He picked another zip-lock bag from the holdall. This one had a rectangle of black foam rubber in it about the size of a box of kitchen matches studded with little shiny dome shapes. He popped open the bag and dug something out of the foam: a bullet; it glittered like polished gold. Nine-mill Luger, one-twenty-four grain, full metal jacket. He thumbed the thing into the top of the magazine and slapped it back into the handgrip. Released the lock and the slide clacked forwards again. Ready to roll.
Terri smiled. Eugene likes guns, what can I say?
I couldn t take my eyes off the thing. Look: I only want to know what Dawson saw, I swear, I don t
Ed clamped his hand across my mouth, thick fingers digging into my cheeks. Eugene marched over, took my wrist from his mate and wrenched my arm down, pulling me forwards until my chest was against my knees left arm still fastened to the chair.
Ed leaned on my back, holding me in place, his other hand still clamping my jaws shut.
Bastards Struggling did nothing: Ed was too heavy.
Eugene pressed the gun into my hand, forcing my fingers around the handgrip. This little lever s the safety catch. A click. And you re good to go.
Fine I ll blow your head off you big hairy My whole arm trembled with the effort, but he wouldn t let go. He shoved the barrel of the gun over my right foot, forcing the end against my shoe.
Terri raised her arms. It s time to atone, Detective Constable Henderson.
Fuck that.
Pull the trigger.
No way in hell was I pulling the trigger.
Either the bullet goes in your foot, or it goes in your head. Your choice.
Ed s spit flecked the back of my neck. DO IT!
Eugene s spattered against my cheek.
FUCKIN DO IT!
Your time s running out, Detective Constable.
DO IT! PULL THE TRIGGER, HAGGIS!
You ve only got the gun for another eight minutes.
PULL THE FUCKIN TRIGGER!
One way or another you re taking that bullet with you.
DO IT! PULL THE TRIGGER, OR I M GONNA SHOOT YOU IN THE FUCKIN HEAD!
Not much of a choice really, is it?
Did they really think I was going to shoot myself in the foot? Like I was a bloody idiot?
Get stuffed.
Eugene shook his head. He don t believe us. Haggis here thinks we re kiddin about.
Hmm Terri picked up the grey dust sheet and draped it over Virginia s battered body again. What can we do about that, Eugene? What can we do to convince Constable Henderson?
Eugene tore the gun out of my hand, stood, aimed, and pulled the trigger. A sharp crack boomed around the room, reverberating off the stone walls. Virginia s head jerked back under the dustsheet, the fabric billowing out behind her. Red spread like a field of poppies, seeping into the dusty material.
Jesus Right there, in front of me
Thank you, Eugene, that ll do nicely. Terri took two more tens out of my wallet. But now Detective Constable Henderson needs another bullet.
He killed her, right there
Terri sighed. Oh don t look so shocked: as if I was going to let the lying bitch live after what she did to my Kenneth.
Eugene loaded the magazine, then pressed the gun back into my hand and forced the soot-streaked barrel against the top of my shoe again.
Last chance, Haggis.
Your rental time s running out, Constable Henderson.
PULL THE FUCKIN TRIGGER!
It goes in your foot, or it goes in your head.
What choice did I have?
DO IT!
I squeezed the trigger.
Chapter 44
The harsh crack reverberated around the room, deafeningly loud.
Nothing no pain. The bastards were winding me up, using blanks. It was all a big FUCK.
Fire ripped up my leg, radiating out from my right foot like an earthquake of molten metal. AAARGH, fucking FUCK I jerked in the chair, trying to get away, but the pain was still there, following me. Screaming into Ed s huge callused hand.
Eugene took the gun from me and dropped it back in its zip-lock bag.
Fuckers
Ed let go and I grabbed the seat, my whole body rigid. FUCKING SHIT! AAAAAAAARGH! BASTARD. I slumped forwards, clutching my right foot. AAAAAAGH, BASTARDING FUCK! The hole in the top of the shoe was tiny ringed around with flecks of grey, like a dark sunburst. JESUS! The underside was wet, covered in grit from the floor. Bright red dripped through my fingers, pattering onto the dirt.
AAAAAAAAAARGH
All right, that s enough self-pity.
Self-pity? You fucking bastards! You fucking shit-eating wankers!
Now, now, Detective Constable. Terri held up my wallet again, gave me a dazzling smile. You ve got more
