“Me, too,” Cain said. “Of course, over there we sometimes dealt with guys who’d killed fewer people than old Jessie here.”
Fear sweat popped out on Jessie’s face. His eyes danced, as did one leg. A good sign. Fear is a funny thing. It ramps up painful sensations. Makes smaller increments more effective. Makes the person think, actually believe, that whatever is happening will get worse. It lowers defenses, creates confusion, and ultimately works well, despite what some would have you believe.
“Let’s start easy,” Cain said, taking a seat in the chair.
“Let’s do.” Harper moved around the table until she had positioned herself directly behind Jessie.
Jessie’s head swiveled, not sure who to focus on.
“Look at me,” Cain said. “Like Chief Crowe said, this is your situation. We have eight bodies. One a cop. Each and every one falls into your lap. Do you get where I’m headed here?”
“I don’t know anything,” Jessie said.
Cain smiled. “But that isn’t why we’re here. Harper and I. That’s Chief Crowe’s deal. We know Dalton’s around. He’s going to do something to someone. You know who. Might even know where he’s holed up.”
“I don’t.” He smirked. “Even if I did I wouldn’t tell you. I ain’t no rat.”
“That’s too bad.”
Like lightning, Harper closed on him. She wadded his hair in one fist, yanked his head back, and ground a knuckle into his left eyebrow, where a nerve runs over a bone. Jessie tried to move but Cain grabbed his wrists and pinned his forearms to the table. Harper continued for a full half-minute, then released the pressure.
Jessie gasped for breath. Now his pupils were black pools. Cain could feel his pulse against the palms of his hands. About 190.
“How was round one?” Cain asked.
“Fuck you.”
With Jessie’s head still arched back, Harper now ground her knuckle into the nerve that ran over the angle of his mandible. He tried to twist away, but Harper never lost her grasp just as they’d been trained as kids. Uncle Mo. Strong hands are the key to everything. Hunting, climbing, stealing, fighting, whatever. Even hostile interrogations.
Jessie’s gasping took on a deep raspiness. Harper released the pressure and then his hair, Cain his wrists. Jessie took several breaths, closed his eyes. When he opened them, Cain held a knife point less than an inch from his right carotid artery.
“Want me to bleed you?” Cain said.
“You’re crazy.”
“I like to think of us as committed. Are you?” Cain moved the blade point to within an inch of Jessie’s right eye. “Are you committed enough to protecting Dalton that you’d sacrifice an eye?” Cain smiled. “Believe me, I’m committed enough to take one.”
Cain saw the fight drain from him. His shoulders sagged, his face relaxed.
“What do you want?” Jessie asked.
“I told you. Where’s Dalton?”
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t.”
“Who’s with him?”
Jessie hesitated. Cain moved the knife point closer, now almost touching his cornea. Jessie froze. Afraid to move. “Okay. I’ll tell you.”
Cain backed away. He waved the open palm of his other hand as if to say go ahead.
Jessie glanced back toward Harper like he feared she would renew her attack. “Two other guys besides Myrick. I don’t know for sure but probably the ones you mentioned. Harris and Navarro.”
“What’s their plan?” Harper asked from behind him.
“Find the doc—Buck—and the girl. The one that saw Dalton and me at the hospital.”
“How’d you know about her?”
“All I know is that Dalton has a contact over here.”
“Jason Epps?”
“Don’t know for sure. He mostly talked with Tommy but I think I remember him mentioning another guy. Could be this Jason dude.”
“But, you don’t know Jason?” Harper asked.
He shook his head. “Never met him.”
“Has Dalton contacted him?” Cain asked. “Since killing Tommy? Or before?”
“Not that I know.” He hesitated.
Cain sensed there was more. “What is it?”
“Look, Dalton and Frankie have another guy over here, too. I don’t know who.” He looked Cain in the eye. “Dalton ain’t big on giving out information he don’t have to.”
“This contact told him about the witness?”
“Far as I know.”
“Did this guy give Dalton her name?”
“Not that he told me.”
CHAPTER 60
Harper updated Hack and Cassie on Jessie’s interrogation. Dalton, Harris, and Navarro were in play. Buck, Marla—though he might not know her name—and maybe Jason were potential targets.
“Dalton apparently has another contact over here,” Harper said. “Any idea who?”
“What do you mean by contact?” Cassie asked.
“Someone who knew about Marla witnessing Buck’s abduction.”
She looked at Hack. “It better not be anyone in-house.”
“I can’t imagine it would be,” Hack said.
“If it is, I’m going to take some scalps.”
It was decided that Harper would go with Cassie and try to reason with Marla, while Cain and Hack tracked down Jason and offered him the same protection. Harper climbed in Cassie’s Jeep Cherokee and they headed toward Reverend John’s. It was nearing midnight, the rain now little more than a drizzle.
“You think she’ll be there?” Harper asked.
“With Marla you never know. More than a few times I’ve seen her roaming around town in the middle of the night. The park, too.”
Harper sensed a deep sadness in Cassie’s voice. “You two go way back, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Grammar school, and on up through high school. Marla was the golden girl. The rest of us always lived in her shadow.”
“Any issues with that?”
“You mean like rivalries?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe with a couple of the girls. But the truth was that Marla was the nicest, sweetest person you could imagine. Smart, athletic, always willing to help anyone with anything. But once she got into drugs everything changed. I guess you could say we were close, then…we weren’t. She became withdrawn, sometimes hostile. I didn’t understand it then. I do now. She got into heroin and meth and each of those, as you know, can do a number on you. Particularly if you mix them. She got herself arrested a few times. A couple by Hack, once by me. Went to rehab two or three times but it never stuck. She always returned to the streets. Needless to say, our worlds spun in different directions.”
“That’s
