Page 58 of Wicked Love
“All right,” he said. “Let’s get this done.”
He walked back into the room ahead of me. Lindell was in his chair where we’d left him, the Vigil guys poised around him. They eased back as Beckett came to a stop in front of the lieutenant. His face had hardened, and his voice came out icy cold.
“I think we’ve had enough of a run-around. You don’t want to talk. I can understand that. But let’s be clear: you need to give us something real, or you aren’t the only one who’ll pay.”
Lindell snorted. “What are you talking about? Big talk from a little kid.”
The smile that curved Beckett’s lips was so chilling I had to tense my arms to stop from hugging myself. He leaned over the chair, setting his hands on its arms and pinning Lindell in place with his stare with just half a foot between them.
“A little kid,” he repeated. “Interesting that you’d say that. Did you really think you could keep them hidden? I know about your girlfriend, Angela. I know about those cute little kids who should be thanking God they didn’t end up with your ugly mug.”
For the first time since we’d confronted him by the office building, Lindell looked shaken. The color drained from his face. “Fuck you.”
“I really don’t think that’s how you should be talking to me.” Beckett got out his phone and tapped on the screen. “Especially when I have people watching that lovely family of yours right now.”
He held up the phone. Video played on the screen: a suburban backyard, a woman watching two kids race around on the lawn. A childish shriek of excitement reached my ears. My gut started to churn.
He wouldn’t really do this. He’d told me that. But watching him now, I could see why he’d warned me. Hewasputting on the face of a monster.
“See the time stamp?” Beckett said in the same cold, even tone. “That’s live. My men are ready to move as soon as I say the word. How many will it take before you remember the real answers to my questions? Should I have them start with little Benny, or maybe you’re more attached to Delia?”
“Fuckyou!” Lindell spat out again, jerking at his bindings. “If you touch one hair on their heads—”
“You’re going to do what? You’re tied up here. All you’ll be able to do is watch. You know who you’re dealing with, don’t you, Clarence? I sit at the table alongside the man you call your boss. Wouldhehesitate to off a couple of kids if it got him what he wanted?”
From Lindell’s sickened expression, Doom’s Seed wouldn’t. But he managed to sputter one more bit of defiance. “If you go after them, he’ll know. He’ll get payback—you’ll regret everything ten times over.”
Beckett shut off the video feed. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. You have a choice to make now, and you need to make it fast. You can keep your mouth shut, and then I’ll kill youandyour family and make sure word is passed on to Doom’s Seed that we found out about this place we’re standing in from you. Everyone will believe you’re a traitor and that you got what was coming to you.”
I hadn’t thought Lindell could get any paler, but now he looked like a ghost. He opened his mouth, but he couldn’t seem to find another argument.
“Or,” Beckett went on, “you can tell us what we want to know, and your kids and their mother will continue living their happy, carefree lives. It’s up to you. Like I said, we can always start with a half measure. Kill one kid, see if that motivates you to save the other. I’ll make sure to have my men tell them exactly why they’ve come before—”
“Okay,” Lindell broke in raggedly. “Okay. Leave them alone.”
Beckett folded his arms over his chest and waited in silence. My throat constricted as Lindell took a few shaky breaths. But at least this was almost over.
“There’s nothing all that complicated about it,” he said finally. “That Evan Silver guy was poking his nose where it didn’t belong, digging into the boss’s businesses. So we arranged to have him taken out.”
“Doom’s Seed gave that order himself?”
Lindell shook his head. “I did. That was right after I was put in charge of this part of his territory. I’m not sure if he even knew about it—I didn’t bother him with details like that. Silver hadn’t gotten far enough into anything to cause any major problems.”
“What was he looking for?” I had to ask. “Why was he poking around in the first place?”
“I don’t know,” Lindell said with a hopeless grimace. “I have no idea what he was searching for. I was just protecting the empire like it’s my job to do.”
“You have no idea at all?” Logan said, taking a step forward. “How about telling us how the specific businesses he was digging into were connected? What isthisplace?”
Lindell sighed. “There is no big connection that I know about. We ship all kinds of stuff. This is one hand-off point to obscure the trail. All kinds of things have been moved through this space at different times.”
Dexter frowned. “You came down on us awfully hard for someone who didn’t think there was anything much to hide.”
Lindell focused on him for a moment. “I came down hard on you kids because I thought you might have found something incriminating about any of our activities that I hadn’t realized Silver had stumbled on. I was protecting my own. That’s all there is to it.”
My heart sank, leaving me feeling hollowed out inside. Could that really be it? There was no huge conspiracy—maybe even Dad had been wrong to imagine there was? He’d gone following a lead into the wrong place and been murdered because of it?
My voice came out thin. “You’re telling me that you had my dad killed just for looking around a couple of buildings?”
