He’d told officers on the scene about the triplets and the woman with the dark hair. I’d guessed it was this Tessa person.
Still level-headed, I asked, “Do you know why they approached you?”
It took him a moment to answer. “Yeah. Jake. They wanted Jake. Didn’t say why, only that they wanted him, and I could live if I delivered him to them.”
Keeping calm was a struggle as every second passed. “You’re sure they didn’t say why?”
“I’m sure. Fuck! What if … what if they want to burn him?”
“And you handed him over like the coward you are.”
More sobbing, more reptilian tears. “Dean, please. I’m so fucking sorry, but, but—”
“But what?”
“I don’t know. I’m just so sorry?”
“Sorry that you fucked us over for the second time this month? That my daughter could lose a father, that I could lose the love of my life?”
“They were gonna burn me!” he shrieked.
“So, now they’ll burn him instead. Or will they take his bones? Is it them doing the bone-stealing?”
He screamed, dropping the tissue. “I didn’t mean it! I wouldn’t hurt Jake. I wouldn’t. Even if he can be mean to me, I wouldn’t. I’m not … I’m no-not-not a killer!” Snot and blood ran down his chin, along with the floods of tears. “If I’d have—”
“I asked you a question?” My tone was arctic in its frostiness. There was more I was holding back, an onslaught of how pathetic he was, how he only cared about himself, and what he could steal. What did he have but his shitty life? He had no family, no one who loved him, only his desperation.
He looked so pathetic before me, dirty and … alone.
“I-I don’t know about the bones. I don’t t-think it was them.”
“Anything else, Sonny?” I asked.
“T-t-there isn’t anything else. “
“You’re sure about that?” I pushed the box of tissues that was sitting on the table closer to him.
He took one, dabbing at his nose and eyes. His hair was greasy, and he stank of unwashed clothes.
“They didn’t say where they were taking him?” The question was futile, but I had to ask it again.
“No. I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying you’re sorry.”
He coughed and dabbed at his face some more. “I did see something, but I don’t what it is.”
Was he holding information back? “Tell me.”
“In Flevopark, it moved under the flyover, in the reeds.”
“What did?”
“It was, I think, I don’t know for sure, but it was red and white.”
I had no idea what that had to do with anything, but I’d be heading back there to see for myself. Any sort of connection was good for me.
“Anything else?”
“Th-that’s it.”
“Good. We’re done, then.”
He slumped forward. “I guess I’ll be locked up now?”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Lars said. “You just admitted to aiding a kidnapping. I think we’ll hold you for a while.”
Sonny was sobbing again. “If anything happens, I’ll never forgive myself.”
He wouldn’t be alive to not forgive himself. No life for him if Jake died.
Shit. No thinking like that. He was going to be okay.
He had to be.
With the information I had, I got up and left the room. Being in Sonny’s presence was bad for my mental health and bad for his future existence.
Lars followed me. “Dean?”
“I’m heading over to Flevopark right now.”
“Wait, let me—”
“No. I’m not waiting. This red and white thing could be the key to finding Jake. I’ve wasted enough time not looking for him.”
Without giving him a chance to speak, I took off.
I’m coming, baby.
Nineteen
Jake
I came to, strapped to a chair. “The hell …”
Blinking away the haze over my eyes, I tried to make out my surroundings. My friggin’ head was killing me.
It was dark, damp. The sound of dripping water echoed in the dark, the smell of rotten cabbage assaulted my nostrils.
Once my vision was back to normal, adjusting to the darkness, I could make out my surroundings better.
I was in a warehouse. To my right, was a pile of boxes, my left, a dark doorway. Up ahead, I could make out a small, dirty window, the glow of moonlight exposing the grime on the glass.
Below the grimy window, on the opposite side, was a doorway, the only one I could make out aside from the doorway on my left.
By the looks of it, this place had seen much better days, no longer a place people worked in. There was one area I knew this could be. The NDSM neighborhood. This building would’ve been the old shipping yard that was once, as was most of NDSM, an artsy hotspot. Before it’d gone to shit, the area was full of quirky hotels and bars, artsy places. Now it was dodgy, especially after dark, and would be a good place to take someone for an interrogation session.
Or to bump someone off.
Ah, crap.
Rope bound my hands behind me. They were tight but not tight enough. With enough effort, I could wiggle my way out. Would probably scrape some skin off too.
Ugh.
“You’re awake.”
Tessa’s voice came out of the dark. I narrowed my eyes at the shadows. There she was, a figure in the dark doorway.
“Whatever.”
“How are you feeling?” she asked sweetly.
“Don’t give me that shit.” I started working the binds. “Where the hell am I?”
“Now, why would I tell you that?”
Just keep her talking, don’t be too obvious. “I dunno. You’re the one holding me against my will.”
She didn’t move, staying in the shadows. “You’re a dirty man.”
“I probably am right now after being in here.”
“I mean on the inside.”
“Oh, right,” I drawled. “And how is that?”
The rope was starting to give. Holy shit, it hurt as it rubbed at my skin.
Patience. Endurance. Keep the bitch talking.
“You lay with another man as if he were—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up.”
That wasn’t how to keep her talking.
“Dean Tseng is a man, as are you. What you do together is disgusting,
