Page 44 of Pitbull
He spoke to Tex but he never took his eyes off Anke. When he hung up, Pitbull leaned in to nip at her shoulder.
“We can go back. They found her. Maybe she can shed some light on what’s going on here.”
Anke nodded. But she didn’t move right away—Anke didn’t think her feet would be able to hold her.
13
The girl they rescued wasn’t talking. Barbie made it known she suspected something was definitely off. Pitbull agreed wholeheartedly but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Sure, there was being traumatized by the kidnapping and then forced to live in silence and secret. There wasn’t a scratch on her. The one upside is, she seemed to have an eye for Crash who had taken a break from training and the girl to sit in on the case. Pitbull frowned with his arms folded across his chest as they watched her seated in the interrogation room. He had an idea then.
“Okay.” Pitbull exhaled long and hard. “Barbie, you’re not gonna like this.”
“Try me.” She turned to look at him.
“I go in there. This time, I bring Crash with me”
Barbie growled.
“Told you. You weren’t gonna like it.” Pitbull sighed. “But we don’t really have much of a choice. From what I can tell from your last session with her, she seems to have a thing for Crash.”
“I know. I really don’t like some chick ogling him.”
“Hey! I’m right here.” Crash leaned in to kiss Barbie’s head. “I feel like a piece of bacon. But if it will help move this damn case along…”
Barbie unfolded her arms to touch Crash’s cheek. For a moment, Pitbull watched the silent conversation between the two of them. He wondered if things would ever get like that with Anke. Frustrated with his back and forth feelings toward her, he turned for the door. He could hear Crash’s footsteps following him until they arrived at the door to the interrogation room.
When they entered, Pitbull was first. The girl’s expression didn’t change. Then he stepped aside and the moment she saw Crash, she perked up. Pitbull stood in one corner while Crash took a seat across from the woman.
“The thing is, Ms. Lesner—” Crash started.
“Abi.” Abigail Lesner was quick to correct him.
Crash offered a tight smile. “Abi—we want to catch the people who were after you when Claudia found you. It wouldn’t be right for our team to leave this half-assed—forgive my language.”
“Does he have to be here?” Abigail motioned toward Pitbull.
Though Pitbull said nothing, he didn’t move either. If this chick thought he was going to leave her alone in a room with Barbie’s heart, she had another thing coming. Crash was a good guy. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt Barbie. But Pitbull didn’t trust this girl.
“Yeah—it’s protocol to ensure nothing sketchy happens.”
“Um…” She looked down at her fingers then leaned forward. “It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. I was alone, you see. And I figured if I could make a quick buck, I could buy a plane ticket and move to London. I wanted to get out of here.”
“What do you mean?”
“They told me all I had to do was this one job,” Abigail said. “All I had to do was one thing for them and I would be out. The debt I owed them would be clean. I’d be—free.”
“Debt?” Pitbull asked.
Abigail glanced at Crash who nodded. “My brother borrowed money from them. When he couldn’t pay—well…”
“It became your debt,” Crash said.
Abigail nodded. “I figured, this was my chance, you know? I’d have enough money to payback what Demo owed and move away from this cursed place. All I had to do, was get Claudia to trust me then they would take care of the rest.”
“When you say the rest…” Crash pushed.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. The man who contacted me said her brother had done something to hurt him and his wife. And the cops wouldn’t help so he had to take care of things for himself.”
“So, you set her up.” Pitbull didn’t move.
