Page 72 of Illusive
“The man in the front passenger seat told the one in the back to stop hurting me because I might be worth less if I were damaged. The guy in the back didn’t care.” Ireland felt her mother’s grip on her shoulders tighten and regretted that Elizabeth was present.
“Did they call each other by name?”
“No.”
Jang’s pen tapped against her notepad.
“I’m sorry,” Ireland said. “I don’t know what help I can offer. They shoved me into the back all wrapped up. We stopped somewhere, and I managed to knock one of the guys over and get a couple of weak hits in—I was so tangled up it was hard to move.”
“We caught some of it in the surveillance footage from the garage,” Jang told her.
“Oh, well, then you saw that he knocked me out. When I came to, I was in the crate. From that point, the door opened once to snap a picture of me, and then it opened again when the man decided to film my rape.”
Elizabeth’s gasp was loud in the otherwise quiet room, although she must’ve seen the fingerprint bruises on Ireland’s breasts when they’d washed her hair.
Vega pulled his phone out and stepped closer. Swiping quickly, he turned the device around to show her a mugshot. “Is this the man you’re talking about?”
The sight of the scarred face that lived in her nightmares was profound and instant.
Ireland felt like she was yanked backward through a pinhole, the detectives receding until they were tiny forms in the distance, darkness closing around her vision like the closure of a camera’s aperture. Her breathing quickened into soft pants, and she blinked rapidly, fearing for a moment that she might pass out.
“Ireland, are you okay?” Alina asked, reaching over the table to grab her hand.
Her best friend’s touch pulled her back into the room. Clearing her throat, she nodded too vigorously, making the room tilt before it slid slowly back into place.
“Yes, that’s him.” She swallowed hard to lubricate her dry throat. “He’s the only one whose face I saw. He’s the one who attacked me in the condo. I…I killed him.”
Vega turned the phone around, thankfully removing the picture from her sight. He showed her two more mugshots, but she’d never seen the faces before and told him so.
Nodding, his arm lowered to his side. “Tell us about the woman you overheard on the phone. Was she physically present at any time?”
“I don’t know. I had trouble staying awake.”
“What did she sound like?” Jang asked.
“Happy. Excited.” Ireland rubbed at her dry eyes. “She scared me more than the guys because she just seemed to really be having…fun. And she had this way of taunting the man watching me until he’d start breaking things. Then she’d laugh hysterically, which pissed him off even more. I mean, she sounded batshit crazy.”
“Is this the voice you heard?” Vega lifted his phone again, swiped, then hit a button on his screen. “Good morning, Gideon. Sorry to wake you. I’m truly amazed you could even catch a wink at a time like this. Very impressive.”
Ireland’s spine straightened, tension stiffening her limbs. “That’s her.”
Jang exchanged a look with her partner before speaking. “We believe this voice is being disguised by AI. The actual speaker may be male or female.”
“So you don’t know who they are,” Elizabeth said tightly.
“Or where they are,” Ireland added, her voice soft. She glanced out the window beside them at the view of Central Park and Manhattan surrounding it, the city she loved and called home.
“We’ll find him or her,” Jang stated confidently.
“Or them,” Vega said, earning a stern glance from his partner.
Ireland looked at the glass towers that pierced the sky.Was I held captive in one of them? Which one?Ubiquitous black SUVs crawled like ants along the grid of streets, their tinted windows hiding whatever might be happening inside them. Multistory parking garages dotted the streets at regular intervals. All were icons of New York that were everywhere around her.
And they now made her recoil inwardly.
“I don’t think it was a man,” she said quietly. “I mean… I guess it could’ve been. I’m sorry. I’m not being helpful. It’s justthat there was something…intimate…about the way she—or he or they—baited the guy watching me. And that guy had a hardon for me. He was ready and able to rape me. I guess it could’ve been the violence that got him hot and bothered, or the control, rather than me being female. Whatever. I’m rambling.”
“Did he speak to you?” Jang queried.
