Page 49 of Vortex

“You mean interrogated, Pattie. You’ve never interrogated anyone before. There is a subtle difference if we get caught and end up in court.” I laugh as I explain this because I honestly do not believe for one second that we are likely to end up in a court of law. I am sure that my man and his friends have done this more than I care to think about over the years.

“Ah, yes. I stand corrected. I have never interrogated anyone before, so I’m looking forward to it. I hope she doesn’t cave in too soon. I Googled methods of torture on my phone to see what a good starter would be…”

“Oh my God. You did not do that? Tell me you didn’t do that!” I am aghast at her innocence or naivety.

“Yes, I certainly did. Why?” Pattie looks at me as though I have two heads.

“For such an intelligent woman, you can be so stupid at times. That will leave a trail on your phone if you’re caught. One look at your phone and all the evidence is there not only to implicate you but to send you to the chair, or a needle, or whatever they use in this state. Oh my God, what am I going to do with you, girl?”

“I’m not sure we even have the death penalty in this state, but I don’t intend to get caught. I don’t intend that she sees the light of another day. You bluffed her into admitting that she took part in Chris’s beating at least once. As far as I’m concerned, we get the intel for Pres and she’s dead meat. I’ll show you how I did away with Fury’s father using Jamie’s shotgun. It was freakin’ awesome watching him fly backwards through the air. If any state used the death penalty by shotgun, I’d be their executioner. I’d never tire of seeing that.”

“Oddio. How did you become so bloodthirsty?” I have to ask. Looking at her, you wouldn’t imagine her saying such things.

“Well, you see some shit when you’re with an MC, that’s a fact. I became a club whore by necessity at the time, but later Pres offered me a way out. I studied hard, got qualifications and became the marketing manager for the club’s businesses. Unfortunately, I was a victim of my own success and in less than a month, everything was done because they have so few businesses. I didn’t want to work outside the club or do freelance, so I drifted back into satisfying the brothers. You know that Fury’s father was trying to kill Jamie and they asked me to be a stunt-double to flush him out. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re very similar in looks and build.” Pattie pauses while I take a good look at her.

“Yes. I hadn’t noticed, but you could be a younger sister.” I nod my head as I see the resemblance.

“Extra points for the younger sister! Anyway, you’ve heard the story of how I shot the father and that got me hooked on shotguns for starters. It’s the rush you get when facing danger, too. It’s not all about the kill. I just play on that to boost my badass reputation. When Pres asked me to help out at the bar when Mateo was off work, I jumped at it and it keeps me so much busier than just tapping on a laptop a couple of times a month to market the club businesses. So just lucky, I guess. Like you getting to be here yourself. A series of events that led to better things.”

We eat our food as we talk, and then I tell Vortex we’re going to start working on Candi. He and Twang tag along to see what we do. When we get back to the shed, we hear Candi’s voice, hoarse from shouting. We unlock the door and walk in laughing.

“You’re not as bright as I gave you credit for. You don’t truly believe you’d be held anywhere that you could call for help, do you? That’s priceless.” I walk over to a large steel cabinet and open the doors. To all intents and purposes, it is just a tool locker. It has various things like hammers, pliers, wrenches, and other day-to-day tools hanging from clips. Taking a blowtorch, I light it and place it on a table at an angle so it starts to heat a metal bar.

“Burning me with a piece of hot metal won’t get me to talk. I’ve had tattoos that probably hurt more than that.” I’m not impressed with her bravado, but I enlighten her to the hot metal bars' purpose.

“The bar is to cauterize the wound, not cause it.”

“What wound? You haven’t been brave enough to do shit,” she sneers.

Taking a pair of wire cutters from the cabinet, I put her little finger in them and cut it off at the first knuckle.

“That wound.” Taking the hot bar with a thick glove, I touch it to the raw wound. The burning flesh smells atrocious, but her screams cover the sound of flesh sizzling.

“Fuck you!” She screams, thrashing in the chair. “You haven’t asked me anything yet.”

“No. That was just for pleasure, and for Chris,” I state as I watch the sweat pour from her.

Pattie steps up and takes the wire cutters from me. “Okay, first question. Why this town? Why set up here of all places?”

Candi spits at Pattie’s face, who just laughs at her.

“Like you, bitch, I’ve had worse than that on my face and in greater quantities.” Snipping off the next finger, Pattie takes her time cauterizing it. Just as the pain is easing from the cut, the heat starts it all over again.

By the time we get to the fourth finger cauterized, we have some of the intel Pres needs. Brandon has been using the office in the lake estate house as a base of operations since we kept Chris at the clubhouse. Candi herself has been an employee of Cottonwood Glades for several months, quickly progressing to Brandon's bed and an associate of some considerable use. She gives us a list of town officials that are on Cottonwood's payroll, and Twang is surprised and more than a little angry when Bill’s name is part of the list.

Thinking there could be more to be gained we decide to keep her alive for the time being, but Pattie suggests we keep up with the mental pressure by taking her to the pet crem overnight and leaving her in the back with all the dead animals for company. I think that would keep her awake all night and get her freaking out even more, so that’s what we do.

Cannon goes with us to open up the crem and we leave her tied up on a gurney and securely gagged. We tell her we’ll be back for her in a few hours and not to keep any of the other occupants awake with any unnecessary noise. Her wide eyes show just how scary this is for her, and we think that by morning, she’ll tell us anything else she feels we should know.

Chapter 29

*~* Vortex *~*

Arriving at the crem at five a.m. with Cannon, Allegra and Pattie, I have a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. My gut tells me something isn’t right and I always go with my gut. It hasn’t always been right, but it’s never steered me wrong, either. Cannon sensed my mood from the get-go, and we both have weapons at the ready when we approach the back door of the crem. Everything looks okay, but that don’t mean jack shit at times.

We tell Allegra and Pattie to hold back until we know it’s safe. They both start to argue, but a stern ‘Shut the fuck up’ has them seeing that we are serious. The door swings open and we are met by silence. There is a light switch just to the side of the door, so Cannon darts his hand in and the place floods with light. No shots or running feet, so we take that as a positive. I take a look inside and…

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Cannon.”