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“What do you want?” He spits saliva and blood onto the floor. He tries to shake it off, and lets out a powerless growl that makes me laugh.
“Doesn’t feel so good, does it? Let’s be quick then. So you can go home and I can have dinner with my family, yeah?”
There’s a flicker of hope in Carter’s eye at the word home. I pick up on it as well. “That’s right. But I first need to have some answers. You understand that, right?” When Carter sees Charlie approaching with a laptop, he stiffens.
“Oh, that’s right, y’all were pals, right? Sorry to disappoint you, but our boy has come home. Show him the video, Charlie.”
The room goes dead silent.
“So,” I say after a few minutes. “We know this:The Voidbribed Charlie and his sister into filming the murder. Here. So tell me Carter, because I’m curious. Are you part of The Void?”
“Fuck you.”
I chuckle as I slowly pace in front of him. “Did you tell those poor boys to die on the spot? For glory, or whatever you promised them?”
“You’re hardly an angel yourself,” Carter snarls, voice hoarse from the pain.
“That’s true.” I pull his head up with sudden force and the other man gasps, exposing his neck. I trace a finger over his pulse. “You know, I could just kill you, here and now. Leave you to bleed to death. I'll get my answers anyway. But if you tell me what I want to know, I’ll let you go back to your Void friends. Or brothers, perhaps?”
“They’re not my brothers. They’re myemployer,” he lets out with a tired growl.
“Good boy, now we’re getting somewhere. So, who’s the person who hired you?”
Carter swallows, his head still pulled back completely. “I don’t know, I swear.” He swallows again, taking his time before he continues, his tone low “They found me, a few weeks ago. Started leaving letters on my desk to fuck with my mind.”
“Handwritten?”
Carter nods. “Yeah.”
I let go of his head and with a slight crack it falls forward. “Show him the note.”
Mason comes up with the note we received in the office. “This the handwriting?”
Carter grimaces. “Nah, I did that. Courtesy ofThe Void. It’s their M.O. They like a handwritten note.”
The room goes quiet a second time as I collect my thoughts. “Continue.”
“The first letter had their logo and only said ‘An eye for an eye’. I had no clue what that meant, I’d never heard of The Void. A week later there was another letter with an assignment. I guess you already know what it was,” he looks up, eyes darting around the room before he glances back at me. “They needed video proof of an execution that was going to take place. They gave me a date and location. The timing was perfect, as I’d just represented Charlie against you motherfuckers. I told him that I’d work pro bono if he got the job done. I knew he was desperate for the money.”
“So, you let him do your dirty work?” I scoff. “Where’s that video now?”
Carter shrugs, but it’s Mia who speaks. “Connor’s taken it offline, but I still have a copy on the hard drive. No one else has seen it. We placed the camera here about a week before and came back after the event to get rid of all the material.” Her voice is surprisingly clear, a hint of pride lingering. I look back at her over my shoulder and give her a nod, before sending Carter another glare. “Here’s what I don’t understand. So if you want to go home tonight, answer this. According to our research, The Void’s hardly new on our scene. We’ve never had any issues before. Why now? What do they mean by ‘an eye for an eye?’”
Carter shrugs and flinches when I make a faint move toward him, which makes the guys in the back chuckle. He knows something, by the hesitant look in his good eye. “I don’t know,” he croaks.
I grab his neck and bash his head against the wall behind him, causing him to cry out in agony. Hatred flickers in his eyes and his open mouth trembles. I keep his head against the cool cement and shake him. “Want me to do that again?”
Without giving him a moment to think, I lift his head, but before I can slam it into the wall, Carter yells, “Stop! Stop, please.” His demeanor shrivels and his shoulders deflate entirely. “They’ve got issues, right?” He looks into the darkness where the rest of his tormentors are standing and his gaze reveals his surrender. He takes a deep breath. “They’ve got issues,” he repeats slowly, voice clipped. “No one knows their true faces, and their communication is done in riddles. Over the last few weeks, I’ve received clippings of news articles of young people who’ve disappeared. Every time, the word ‘Void’ was scribbled over it. I think these victims were freelancers like me. The last envelope had a photo of The Whisper with a gun drawn on it and the words ‘The Business.’”
“Wow, these people have the communication skills of a toddler.”
Carter gives a humorless smile. “Perhaps, but the threat is real. They believe you’re responsible for taking out their people, is my conclusion.”
Fuck. I run a hand over my face and drum my fingers on my cheeks, giving myself a moment. I can’t take Carter out without having the police all over us in no time. I may have sorted things out with Charlie, but the law firm has all the cases registered and a dead body will surely raise questions. I eye the fatigued lawyer and give him a wicked grin. If we can’t kill him, he’ll need to prove his worth.
“Hm, perhaps. There’s only one way to find out.” I turn and gesture to Mason and Ella, who has the first-aid kit in her hand as they approach. “Let’s get him cleaned up first.”
They get to it fast, untying Carter’s wrecked body from the chair. He falls onto his knees, too tired to fight and without so much as a word, his wounds are tended to with gauze and plasters. When Mason has bound his hands once more, I tilt Carter’s chin up with my finger. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. You go right back to The Void and you give them a message. You tell them that The Business is not involved in their mess. Report back to me once you’ve been in touch.”
