Page 106 of Malice
“Thanks. Cheers,” I said, tapping his bottle as I pretended to take a swig. I didn’t trust him any further than I could throw his ass. “This looks like an amazing trip,” I said, pointing to the image. “I recognize Dave, but who’s this?” I tapped the photo.
“It was a great time. That’s Frank. I’m not sure if you ever met him.”
I nodded and pretended to take another sip of my beer.
“Come on in and have a seat.”
Jim flopped down in one of the two camo recliners facing the television. His taste in décor certainly was consistent. There wasn’t a spot in the home that didn’t have either a dead and very stuffed animal or pictures of killing them.
“I want to ask how things have been, but that seems like a terrible question to ask,” Jim said, and had the decency to look a little remorseful.
“Yeah, what can I say? I went to prison for a crime I didn’t commit, and it ruined my life. I planned on college and a good career, maybe one day having a family, and now I’m forever an outcast. A thug and ex-con. Just someone else for people to turn their nose up at. Getting a job was the hardest, and I had to stay at a men’s shelter for a while.” That was a load of lies, but I knew more than one guy who’d gotten out and that was their life.
“Sorry to hear all that. I wasn’t sure what to think about the charges, and Dave talked like he was so sure it had been you who hurt Little Rainy. I was torn as to what the right thing was to do.”
My hand twitched and flexed around the bottle at the mention of the nickname Jim had called Raine. I imagined wrapping my hand around his throat as I nodded and imitated taking another swig.
“You talk to Dave much?”
Jim squirmed in his seat, which told me he had.
“Not in some time,” Jim said, and looked away. So Dave had warned him that I was out. Good to know. “You?”
“I saw him the other day. We ran into one another at a gas station. It was kinda fucked seeing him again. He was real aggressive. I mean, sure, I was fucking his wife, but it was over eleven years ago, man, and I paid my dues. Let it go already.” I wanted to sound like I was being transparent, lull Jim in a little more. “He looked like shit. I would’ve placed a bet that he just crawled out of a dumpster. What the hell has he been up to?”
Jim’s shoulders relaxed. He was obviously waiting to see if Dave had said anything about him. The more loose-lipped I could keep Jim, the better. I had no qualms about torture, and Jim would find that out, but I wanted him to have just enough rope to hang himself with first.
“His old lady left him a couple of years back, and she’s been dragging him through the mud with the divorce.”
I snickered, and Jim’s brows rose in question. “I just find it funny. I mean, I was fucking Irene back in the day. You’d think that once Dave knew that, he would’ve left her long before now,” I said, and Jim’s hand stilled, the beer halfway to his mouth. I gave him a crooked smile. “What? Did you think I didn’t know Dave found out and wanted to punish me?”
Jim swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he did.
“Why do you look so freaked out, Jim? I mean, it’s not like you had anything to do with me going to prison, right?” I drew out the last word and cocked my brow in his direction.
I loved this part of the game. I didn’t get to do it often. Most of my interactions with those that I hunted were get in and get out, but make it as messy as possible. You’d think messy was easier than neat and clean, but that was a misconception. It was far harder to make things look like a slasher film and keep your DNA out of the shit. Knifes slipped, and blood was all over everything. It was actually a pain in my ass.
“No, no, of course not. I just thought you’d be a lot more pissed,” Jim said, stumbling over his words.
He didn’t know the half of it. Pissed was like saying I was mildly annoyed. I tilted my head and stared Jim in the eyes. “Why exactly would I be pissed, Jim? What did I have to be pissed about?” I asked, allowing my web to close around him.
“Um…I…ah…I just meant that…” Whatever Jim was about to say was interrupted by his phone ringing on the coffee table and making him jump.
We both looked at the phone and saw Dave’s name. As Jim reached for the phone, I pulled my gun and pointed it at him.
“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.” I allowed the full extent of my anger to shine through, and the man winced as I glared into his eyes. “Sit the fuck back.”
Jim raised his hand in the air and slowly slid back into the recliner. “Kai, my man, I don’t know what you’ve been told, but I swear to you on my mama’s grave that I didn’t have anything to do with you going to prison.”
I smiled at him. “Splitting hairs, I see. How convenient that you can actually tell the truth and lie all at the same time.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” He smiled, but the worry in his eyes was evident.
“Tell me, Jim. How does it feel to be invaded? To have the place you thought was safe turn into a jail? Or for the person you thought you knew to hurt you and rip your life away?” I leaned forward and let my forearms rest on my knees as the gun dangled between my legs.
Sweat was traveling in a steady stream down the side of Jim’s face. The moisture showed on his upper lip as his body produced adrenaline and screamed to run, but he knew he couldn’t.
“Tell me, Jim, was getting the chance to rape Raine worth your life,” I asked, my voice coming out as a growl as I focused all my hatred on this man, someone I had trusted, someone Raine had trusted. Someone who was going to die. I’d trusted this man around Raine; a mistake I wouldn’t make twice.
