Mercy Kill_ A Mystery - Lori Armstrong [107]
I hissed in pain.
“Then why did her cell phone record show she called you the same day the cops found my brother murdered?”
If he’d tracked my cell number, he’d also known how long we talked. “Yes, Cherelle called me. She babbled about the campaign. Then she asked me if I could recommend her for my old bartending job at Clementine’s. It was so random I thought she was either drunk or high.”
“I. Don’t. Believe. You.” With each enunciated word, Saro wiggled the knife in the cuts he’d already made.
I gritted my teeth against the ribbons of pain. “I’ve got no reason to lie. Maybe Cherelle was smarter than you gave her credit for.”
“Wrong. She was stupid, lazy, and useless.”
“If she killed Victor, she knew you’d back-trace her every move.” I paused. “How many other dead ends have you found?”
Silence.
“I don’t know where she is. Trust me, if I did, I’d already have her ass in jail.”
“Why?”
“Because Dawson is looking for her, too. Do you know how sweet it’d be if I one-upped him in Victor’s murder investigation? I’d win the election for sure.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about the election. I don’t want Cherelle in jail. I want her dead.”
“But you have to find her first.”
Slice.
Blood flowed down my skin, and I sucked in a breath at the fire exploding across my neck. He knew precisely where to cut to make it hurt.
“Oh, I’ll find her.”
Then Saro was in my face with the chisel-like tip of the tanto blade under my chin. One wrong move, and I’d be tasting that steel on the bottom of my tongue.
“You know something else. Tell me. Now.”
Through clenched teeth, I said, “You want me to talk? Move that fucking blade.”
Saro pressed the tip against my heart, leaving a hole in my new blouse, causing more blood to ooze out of me. “Talk.”
“If I talk, you talk.”
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
I didn’t budge. Didn’t speak.
He watched my face as he twisted the blade into my breast. When I finally winced with pain, he said, “Okay. Ask your question.”
“Did you kill Jason Hawley?”
“You ain’t gonna let this go, are you?”
“Nope.”
Saro angled forward. “I didn’t kill him.”
“Did you tell someone else to kill Jason? Someone like your brother?”
Anguish filled his eyes and then disappeared. “No matter. Victor is dead.”
“Exactly. If Victor didn’t do it and you didn’t do it, someone else did. Cherelle?”
“Cherelle was with us all night. Victor wouldn’t even let her take a piss by herself. But I will let you in on a secret. We saw Hawley’s body that night after he’d been gunned down.”
“And you did nothing?”
“Why should we? He was already dead. Me, Vic, and Cherelle weren’t the only ones who came across it.” He stared at me. “Fortunately, we used the situation to our advantage as a business maneuver. Besides, no one cared he was dead.”
“I cared.”
“So the fuck what? All I care about is finding the bitch who murdered my brother.”
“I told you. I don’t know where she is.”
Another empty stare. Then he smiled, and it was cold enough to chill me right to my soul. “You know, I believe you. But here’s some advice: if you’re unlucky enough to get elected sheriff tomorrow, be smart. Look the other way when you come across Cherelle’s body.”
“And if I don’t?”
An even crazier smile distorted his face. He reached inside his leather jacket and pulled out a stuffed pink teddy bear. From Joy’s room. From Joy’s crib. The pink bear’s head hung from the plush body by a one white thread. White stuffing burst out from the gaping neck hole.
Panic clawed at my insides. This crazy son of a bitch had been in my house, messing with my family. “If you’ve touched a single hair on her head—”
“You’ll what? For all you know, I might’ve already slit her soft little throat and left her to die in her crib with the bunny rabbit mobile spinning above her head.”
I jerked toward him, and the knife tip gouged my skin.
“Or maybe . . . your sister with her pretty strawberry-blond hair and that ferocious Sioux warrior are bleeding out on the gray carpet after I gutted them. He should’ve done a better job at protecting them. Or trying to protect them.”
I made a break