It was confession time.
Shaking my head, I took a deep breath as I chose the ice pick with the razor teeth at the end. Looking back at Luca, I went into confession mode. “I saw her again that night.”
His brows shot up. “Where?” I told him about our encounter as I removed Curtis’ left eyeball. The gag was getting soaked with blood, tears, snot, and saliva, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he suffocated on it. But Luca and I were talking, if I removed it now, his screams of pain would just-
“Oh, hey, hand me the pliers and scalpel, will you?”
“Cutting out his tongue?” Luca asked as he gathered up the two items.
“Yeah. If not, he’s going to suffocate on the gag and I’m not done,” I explained. “However, I don’t feel like listening to his screams. We’re in the middle of a conversation here.”
I exchanged the ice pick for the pliers and scalpel and removed the gag as Luca went to work on cleaning and disinfecting the items I’ve used so far. “So, you like her,” he surmised after my confession.
“I wouldn’t say that,” I denied. “I’m not sure yet what I think about her.”
“But you want to fuck her,” he insisted.
“Hell, yeah, I want to fuck her,” I admitted. “Have you seen that fucking body?” I heard Luca chuckle as the scalpel sliced through the meat of Curtis’ tongue. This was turning out to be bloodier than I intended, and I blamed Luca’s visit. He was distracting me.
“Roberta Regal is very lovely,” he agreed, and I swear the man had ice in his veins. Frankie was the only one capable of extracting emotions from the psychopath.
I snorted and got back to work on Curtis. “Hand me the blow torch, please,” I asked dryly. We exchanged items again and I lit the torch and started at the nubs of his already severed fingers. “You’re taking all the fun out of this, Luca,” I accused. “I was having a perfectly satisfying time before you showed up talking about a woman I want to strangle to death.”
“And sleep with,” he added. “Let’s not forget that important factor in all this.”
I grunted.
The asshole.
“Does it even matter?” I asked as Curtis’ flesh started peeling back. “She lives in Cedar Creek, and I don’t chase pussy.”
“She’s going to be in Francesca’s life, Ciro,” Luca replied. “Francesca is not giving her up.”
“And with Frankie starting school and working with Phoenix, their friendship is going to be reduced to phone calls when they find the time,” I pointed out. “Robbie will be out-of-sight-out-of-mind really soon.”
Luca let out a sigh that indicated he wasn’t buying what I was selling. But then Luca had an uncomplicated life when it came to women. He fucked Beverly when he had the need, and that was that. He’s never come across a woman who invoked anything other than basic appreciation from him. Apart from Frankie, of course.
Lucky bastard.
“Look, I’m done talking about Robbie,” I told him. “I’m working and my boss doesn’t approve of slacking on the job.” Then Luca did something he rarely did.
He laughed.
“You’re a world-class asshole, Mancini,” he chuckled.
Didn’t I know it.
Chapter 10
Roberta~
Nothing.
Nerves had prevented me from doing anything last night when I got home. And they prevented me from getting any sleep as well. I stayed up trying to remember if I ever saw Randy with a box until my eyes shut on their own accord. And now it was Sunday evening and I had nothing.
My house was small in comparison to most two-bedroom homes, so there weren’t many places to look, but I’d done what I said I would. I cleaned my house from top to bottom. I pulled everything from the closets and drawers. I had even gotten on my knees and handled every tile piece in the bathroom and kitchen to see if any of them were loose. I also examined the carpet edges to see if it looked like the carpet’s been lifted.
I. Checked. Everything.
And nothing.
My house has never been so clean, but there was no satisfaction in any of it. I combed every inch of my little two-bedroom house and there was no box. I even scrubbed the rickety porch clean and checked each plank to see if any were loose. I didn’t have a garage to worry about, but I went so far as to study my driveway to see if any of the concrete looked fresh. I didn’t have a back porch, but there were a couple of steps that led to the backyard, and I even checked those.
In short, I had spent all day losing my goddamn mind.
I had no idea what was in that box, but it couldn’t be good. Gary and Merrick didn’t look like the kind of men who fucked around, no matter how polite their threats. I needed to find that box and I could only think of one other thing that might help me.
It took me an hour of sitting on the couch, trying to find any other way, before I picked up my phone and dialed Frankie’s number. Even though I didn’t know the details, I knew Phoenix had killed Randy. I knew Phoenix was privy to those final hours of Randy’s life. My only hope was that Randy confessed something or let something slip while he was being…detained.
Frankie didn’t answer, so I dialed again.
And again.
The fourth time, someone answered, but it wasn’t Frankie. “Robbie?” Phoenix’s voice came through the line.
“Uh…”
“Frankie’s in the shower,” he explained. “I normally wouldn’t answer her phone, but…I thought it might be an emergency with how you were calling back-to-back.”
“Uhm, actually, I was hoping to talk with you,” I told him. “Is that okay?”
It was amazing how you could sense someone’s energy over the phone. Phoenix Fiore went from
