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I needed to stall. To allow time for Monck to get to Bugaloo’s and realize the credit card charge was a trick. To figure a way to escape?
“Why are you here?”
“What do you think?” Waggling the Beretta.
“Why would you want to hurt me?”
“You’re just like all the rest. Can only spare attention for the pretty boys.”
A part of me was incredulous. In the midst of it all,thiswas what he was focused on? “You’re angry that I refused to ride on the Kawasaki with you?”
Benjamin’s scowl deepened.
“You killed Bobby Galloway, Ryder Palke, and Quentin Bonner, then hacked off their hands with that,” I said, nodding at the sword. “Somewhere along the way, you damaged the blade. After that you used a challah knife to open the flesh first. Only you broke that, too, leaving a fragment from the handle driven into Palke’s left ulna.”
“You’re a mean but clever gal. A typical Stac—”
“Did you help me with the translation to throw more shade on Stribbe?”
Benjamin raised the pistol and cocked the hammer. I felt myself flinch.
Keep talking.
“I get why you did it,” I said. “You were avenging your brother.”
“What doyouknow about my brother?” he asked, spitting the words with contempt.
“Yaakov lost his hand—”
“I hated my brother!” Fingers squeezing the grip so tightly they blanched.
Wrong tack, Brennan.
“And who wouldn’t?” Soothing as hell. “You tried so hard, and Yaakov got all the benefit.”
Distant sirens? Wishful thinking?
“The world doesn’t need all these pretty boys sucking its oxygen.” Benjamin seemed oblivious to the faint wailing.
“Why kill Cloke?” I asked, realizing who’d died in the sinkhole. “Did he betray you?”
“Ah, you figured that out. Really hated to lose that truck. But my bike suits me for now.”
In the hall, the soft swish of nylon.
Benjamin froze, muzzle level on my face. Had he heard it, too?
“How did you get Cloke into the pickup?” I asked quickly to cover the sound.
“With a little help from pharmaceuticals. That loser viewed himself as hot shit. Thought he was in charge.” Derisive snort. “His op was dead in the water without my coding.”
“Did you kill Detective Musgrove?”
“No way you’re pinning that one on me.”
“Did Cloke?”
“What do you think? The bastard kicked Betty to death. I’d say he has anger-control issues.”
