Page 39 of All He Sees
Steely-eyed, George bit his tongue. "I told you. I don't know what you're talking about."
Nicky was done with this game. She took out her laptop from her bag and opened it up, then pulled up the security footage of Mira being taken onto George's boat. She showed it to George and pressed play. Begrudgingly, he watched the video. As it played, Nicky kept her eyes trained on him, watching for any emotion on his gruff face. At first, it was confusion.
Then it was fear.
"T-that's not me," he said, looking at Nicky. "I have no idea who that girl is."
Nicky paused the video. "That's Mira Phillips. Why don't you tell me why this looks so familiar?"
George stayed silent. It was clearly his boat on the video. Nicky's patience was running thin.
"You're wasting your breath," George said. "I don't know any Mira. I don't have anything to do with that girl." Remembering the picture, Nicky pulled out her phone and played Mira's photo across the screen. George took it in, and his face went white. "I don't know that girl," he said.
Nicky leaned toward him and gave him a hard stare. "Tell me what's going on. Tell me why you were trying to set fire to that money, and why you were on that boat. Tell me why your boat is on this video if you weren't the one who took Mira."
George was quiet. "I can't tell you anything," he muttered.
Nicky's eyes hardened. She would agree that the man in the mask on the video, taking Mira, wasn't George. He was too thin, too young-looking. But he could easily be one of George's men.
"Who are you protecting, George?" Nicky asked. "Who is this on the video?"
Still, he was quiet.
"We're going to stop him," Nicky said, toning it back a little. She could see guilt forming on George's face. She could use that. "And I know that you're a man who wants to do the right thing."
George looked up at her, and for a moment, Nicky thought that maybe she had made a connection with him, that he would finally speak with her. But then George looked away. "I don't want to talk to you."
Nicky's blood boiled. She was sick of getting blank looks and grunts out of this man. She had to push harder.
"You may not care about the girls who were taken," Nicky said. "But you will wish you'd helped when you're behind bars for obstructing justice."
George's jaw set. "I don't care what happens to me."
Nicky frowned. "You don't care? Okay, then. I guess I'll make sure you don't care."
"I'm not afraid of you!"
"You should be!"
George's eyes turned back to her. "I told you; I didn't do anything! I don't know the girl in the picture. I don't know the girl you think I took. I had nothing to do with it!"
"Then who did?" Nicky demanded. "Who took those girls?"
"I don't know," George said.
"Why would you burn the money?" Nicky asked. "I’m sure you could have used it, so why just throw it all away?”
To Nicky's surprise, George let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair. "The money in that pile was mine," George said. "I earned it."
Nicky's eyes were wide. "What?"
"I earned that money fair and square," George said. "I burned it because--I didn't want the cops to seize it. I didn't want anyone else to have it."
Nicky leaned over the table. He was cracking--she could feel it. "Who gave you the money, George? You want to help that girl in the video, don't you? Then tell me the truth. Tell me what's going on."
"I, I--" George took a breath, his face beet-red. "Okay. Damn it. That's not my crew in the video. I saw the timestamp. We didn't even have the boat that morning, I swear it."
It would be easy to say he was lying--but Nicky actually sensed George was telling the truth. Still, she needed more. She was getting close. "Then who had your boat, George?"
