Page 57 of Free
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
D glanced at the address on his GPS one last time, confirming he had the right place. He'd spent the morning trying to figure out the best way to contact Jessica, but in the end, he figured just knocking on her door was the easiest way.
He made his way up to the front porch of the modest home and rang the doorbell.
It took several seconds before he heard the lock inside click, and the door opened. He smiled as he recognized Jessica from the background check and news reports he'd read. "Hi, my name is Dallas, and I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes." He cringed inwardly as he listened to himself. He sounded like he was there to sell her solar panels or something.
"What's this about?" Her gaze traveled over him as if trying to get a read on him.
"Your work. Stopping the pedophiles." He hoped it would be enough information to get him in the door.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I know who you are."
"You do?"
"Of course. Your face was all over the news a month or two ago. The question I have is what do you want with me?" Jessica leaned against the door, watching him closely.
Something about her demeanor told him that she could fuck him up if she wanted to. She didn't look mean, but there was a confidence in her eyes that most people didn't have with a stranger standing at their door, especially one who had just busted out of jail. "I'd like to discuss some things with you if I could, unless you plan on calling the police on me, of course."
"I'm not calling the police on you. I'm glad you've started working here in Denver. When I heard about the twins being saved and heard you'd attacked the guy first, I was delighted." She smiled. "Your secret is safe with me."
D narrowed his eyes. "How did you know about the attack? It wasn't made public."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Do you think you are the only one with connections? I've been doing this too long, and made too many enemies for me not to have friends in high places." She stepped aside. "Come on in. How do you take your coffee?"
"Black, please." D followed her inside, shutting the door behind him before going into the kitchen with her. "Nice place."
"It's home. Nothing fancy. Have a seat." She poured them both a cup of coffee, topped one off with cream, then set the black one down in front of him before taking a seat across from him. "So, Dyson, or whatever your name is now. How can I help you?"
His chest tightened at her use of his old name. "It's just D now."
"You know, whoever you work with is impressive. I've hired some of the best people to look into your group, at least I'm assuming it's a group. There is talk of several of you going in at one time. Pedofucks' statements all are about the same, talking of masked men, but the sizes, the voices, the mannerisms vary."
"You know quite a bit about a team that is operating out of state." D raised a brow, trying to figure out how much to tell her. His gut said he could trust her, but his fear of being caught had him cautious.
"I do my homework, especially on people who have the same goal as I do." She smiled at him.
"Same goal, different means." He nodded. "You want them dead. I like to make them suffer the rest of their lives."
"Both work. Managing to do both together would be even greater. Trials take years. They would suffer on death row if you cut them before the courts condemned them."
D nodded his agreement. "The likelihood of that happening is slim though. With the idiotic movement of people trying to claim pedophilia as a sexual orientation, no one would risk passing a bill killing people right now. I admire your idea, wish it was realistic, but we both know it's a battle that we won't win. At least my way, I'm making sure they never rape another child again."
"At least with their bodies." She sat back, crossing her legs.
"True, but it's better than nothing, and eunuchism tends to weaken them. They aren't the monsters they used to be. Some can hardly get through the basic actions of daily life after being castrated."
"We could argue our cases for hours if we wanted. Something tells me that's not why you dropped by." Jessica's gaze locked with his. "Why are you here?"
He stared at her, taking in her long, light brown hair, her pale skin, perfect complexion. Passing her on the street, he wouldn't look twice. She was pretty enough, but she was also ordinary, looking like the girl-next-door. She didn't draw attention, but didn't turn it away either. He took a deep breath, giving himself a second to make his decision. Did he ask her to join or walk away?
"You trying to figure out if you can honestly trust me with something?" Jessica asked.
"Exactly." D wasn't going to deny it. "As you can guess, we don't just discuss what we do with anyone."
"So, you've done your homework, ran a background check on me, dug into my past. You probably know more about me than any other human alive does. So why the hesitation?"
"Would you want to trust me if I didn't hesitate?" D asked. "You wouldn't partner with someone if they weren't careful, would you?"
