As the head of her family, she was responsible for seeing that he did. She couldn’t erase the pain of loss, but she could take some comfort in knowing Danny was burning in hell and she had stamped his one-way ticket. Yet she hoped she wasn’t becoming the type of person Emma had accused her of being four years earlier.
“Playtime’s over. For you anyway,” she said.
Behind her Merrick grabbed the length of rope hanging from the ceiling with a loop at one end.
While the guards had been out earlier picking Danny up, Cain had added one new fixture to the house. She had screwed a brass ring into one of the support beams over the doorway; it was so new it looked almost out of place. Pointing at it, she said, “My grandfather told me how his father had various methods for slaughtering different animals on their farm in Ireland.”
“I thought Dalton always bragged about how you come from a long line of bootleggers?” After he asked the question, Danny winced as Lou locked his hands in the cuffs again.
“A man can’t live on whiskey. You need a good stew to help you keep drinking.”
“What in the hell does that have to do with me?” asked Danny.
Tying one end around Danny’s ankles, Lou gave the rope a good tug pitching Danny forward, slamming his chest and face into the floor. Lou kept pulling until Danny was hanging upside down from the ceiling. With his head even with Cain’s waist, he could see perfectly what she was taking out of her pocket. The old switchblade had belonged to Dalton and had been one of the last gifts he’d given her before his death.
“What does that have to do with you?” she repeated his question. “Plenty.” The tip of her blade rested at the opening of Danny’s shirt. “You’re nothing but an animal, cousin, so that’s how I’m going to deal with you.”
Beads of sweat broke out on his brow when the sound of tearing fabric filled the silence. “Think about what you’re doing, Cain. I’m your family.”
She stopped her hand just before she plunged the knife into Danny’s heart for what he’d said. Instead, she moved to the hem of his pants, not caring that she cut into his hip when she got to the bottom.
“You stopped being my family after what you tried in my house, with my wife.” The boxers he was wearing fell to the top of the pile on the floor.
“Shit, if you wanted some action you didn’t have to go through all this to get me here. We’re family, but if you want a piece of me, just ask.”
If Danny wanted to jibe anymore, the attempt died when she sliced off his right nipple, instantly eradicating his promise to not scream.
“Somehow I don’t think you would’ve accepted my invitation once you see what I have in mind.” She sat back on the edge of the table and watched as rivulets of blood made their way from Danny’s chest to his face.
“What’d you do that for?” Danny sobbed.
“Call it foreplay.” She felt calm as she put the knife down and accepted a belt from Merrick. “We could waste each other’s time with me asking why you lost your mind and killed Marie, and you denying it, so we’re going to skip that.”
“That’s what this is about? Hell, you should be thanking me for getting rid of that anchor.”
The slap of leather against his mouth opened a new cut on his lip, shutting Danny up once again. She hit him next over the open hole in his chest, wrenching another scream.
“You grew up around Marie. She was never an anchor to anyone who counted. That definition fits your family perfectly, so shut the fuck up.” She swung again, hitting his chest and making sure the belt hit right on his wound again. “After all, we haven’t finished our talk about the goat.” She noticed his tears mixing in with blood when she picked up the knife again.
“If you’re going to kill me, then go ahead.”
“I’m going to kill you, Danny, but it’ll be anything but fast. You know me better than that.” She cocked her head to one side and continued to glare at him. “My grandfather told me when you kill a goat, to keep the meat from tasting gamey, you have to bleed it. You cut slowly.” Belying her statement, she quickly sliced away his left nipple.
“You fucker,” Danny screamed. He was crying and trying to pull himself up, almost as if to not provide her with such an easy target. Just as quickly he dropped back down when she slashed him again with the belt.
She hit him until he begged her to stop. She quit when her arm got tired. By that time Danny looked like someone had painted his body with red, cruel stripes, some of which were bleeding. The sun was starting to set, and the light in the room was fading as quickly as Danny.
“Please, Cain, no more.” He could see the pool of blood on the floor under him, signaling he didn’t have much longer to live. “I’m sorry for what I did.”
“Granddad told me the last step was to slit the animal’s throat and let it bleed out,” she said, as if he hadn’t spoken.
“Anything but that, please. I don’t want to die.”
“It’s all right, Danny. I’m not going to do that to you.” She watched as he laughed as if in relief through his tears. “No, I’ve got something else in mind.” She picked up the knife and moved closer. “It’s only fitting after what you did to Marie and the others before her. All those innocent girls your depraved little mind left scarred to satisfy your sick needs. Those women deserve justice just as much as my sister.”
“Please, Cain. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt me anymore.”
She was surprised he had that much energy to scream when the blade came to rest on his scrotum. Without hesitation she cut all the way down, and Danny watched what had been a source of pride drop on the floor like a discarded turkey neck.
The fact that he was screaming made it easy for Merrick to slip it into his mouth right before Cain slit his throat.
Hayden studied his mother’s face as if it were his first time to see it. “Are you going to answer my question
