AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aurelio got hold of another fingernail with his pliers. “I’m afraid that doesn’t answer my question,SignorSterling,” he said, then yanked.
More screaming. The chair shook as a red-faced Sterling did his damnedest to get free. By the time he settled back down, the tears in his eyes had spilled over.
“Let’s not get off-topic again,” Aurelio advised him, cool and pleasant-sounding as ever as he dropped another fingernail into the bucket. “Tell me why you felt the need to try to murder the boy.”
“He was a loose end, you wanker,” he seethed. His accent was much more pronounced than Heidi’s, but I had to say, it wasn’t doing much for me coming from this asshole’s mouth.
Aurelio nodded encouragingly, ignoring the insult.
“A loose end?” he asked. “You paid the child to do a job for you, and then you tried to kill him for his efforts.” Aureliotsked reproachfully. “That’s just poor business practice, in my opinion.”
Sterling glared, but since Aurelio hadn’t asked an actual question, he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut.
“You paid him to retrieve a message from Elio Bianchi and to deliver it to you,” Aurelio continued. “You were working with Bianchi, then?”
“That arsehole’s dead,” Sterling spat. Okay, maybe not so wise.
“That is not the question I asked,” Aurelio said as he picked up his tack hammer and slammed it down on one of Sterling’s knuckles, breaking it.
My temples pulsed as Sterling screamed. I’d have to remember to store some earplugs down here from now on.
“You were working with Bianchi,si?” Aurelio asked again once the worst of the hollering had passed.
“Yes,” Sterling hissed, then he leaned his head forward and to the side and spat blood onto the floor. He’d bitten a hole through his tongue; I’d seen it happen before.
Aurelio nodded, unperturbed by the blood. “I presume you’re not the mastermind here. Who do you work for?”
Sterling turned to me once again. “If you let me go, we can make it worth your while,” he cajoled like I gave a flying fuck about his pathetic bribes. But all right, I’d play along and see where this led.
I waited for Aurelio to administer Sterling’s punishment, smashing the second knuckle of his left middle finger.
When he was finished and Sterling had stopped screaming, I held up a hand, interrupting Aurelio’s interrogation.
“If you mean the ‘treasure’ we stumbled upon at the Regalton Arms,” I said, addressing the man for the first time, “you’re a little late.”
He shook his head. “That toolbox you wheeled out of there wasn’t big enough to hold a quarter of what we’re looking for.”
It made some sense. Heidi’s father had been careful—no identification, no paper trails. It stood to reason that he wouldn’t have put all his eggs in one basket—or toolbox, in this case. It still begged the question: Where the hell had Heidi’s father gotten all that money?
“You expect me to believe that someone stashed boxes of cash and gems around the city like Easter eggs?” I asked, curious just how much Sterling knew.
The man smiled, revealing a mouth full of blood-covered teeth. “You don’t know who Heidi Dawson is, do you? You help me get the information out of her head,” he went on without pausing, “and you’ll be rewarded with plenty of money and a powerful ally.”
“Signor, I have more money than I could ever spend, and I’ve been collecting allies faster than I know what to do with,” I said lightly. “But humor me. How exactly do you propose we get this information you’re talking about out of the woman?”
“I don’t think my boss is picky, mate. You get her in a nice, cozy chair like this one,” he said, nodding down at his own comfortable accommodations, “and I’m sure your friend here–”he nodded to Aurelio“–could convince her to think real hard about where that money is.”
Unbidden, images of Heidi in Sterling’s place sprung to mind. That’s what this asshole would have done to her if he’d gotten his hands on her. He would have fucking tortured her for information she might not even have.
White-hot rage shot through me, so fast and so potent, it was the first time I could recall having to struggle to keep a straight face, to hide the urge to rip this fucker apart like a wild dog. I leashed it.Later.
Sterling flinched like the sheer force of my fury had struck him.
“But you didn’t only promise me money,amico;you promised me an ally,” I said in a voice that gave nothing away. “Tell me who.”
He stared at me, then Aurelio, then back to me again. The wheels were turning behind his small, dark eyes. Weighing his options, perhaps? I don’t think the fucker realized he had none.
When his mouth set in a firm line, I could already tell what was coming.
