The Living End (31 page)

We pulled up around back. Jennifer and Margaux played lookout while Caitlin and I opened the trunk and hauled out Meadow—cuffed, trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey, and her head bagged—to drag her inside. Bentley had the honor of shackling her to the chair. Trust a former escape artist to know how to tie somebody up properly.

We worked in silence and left her in the dark.

Out in the store, Corman checked to make sure the front door was locked and the closed sign was facing the sidewalk. We couldn’t afford any interruptions.

“What are we waitin’ for?” Jennifer said. “Let’s get started on her right now.”

I shook my head. “I want her to stew for a while. Let her sit there and wonder why she isn’t dead yet. I’m sure she’ll come up with all
kinds
of nasty reasons. I want her good and scared before we start talking to her.”

“Let her torture herself,” Caitlin said. “One of my favorite tactics. I approve. Corman, do you have a first-aid kit?”

Bentley caught sight of my hand and
tsk
ed his way across the store. “Daniel, that’s going to get infected. Come on, let’s wash that up. Cormie, grab the Neosporin and a bandage roll.”

Cleaning the wound out and rubbing in antibiotic cream stung like hell all over again, but I felt better with a clean cotton bandage wrapped around my hand. At least I’d have a scar with a good story behind it.

The six of us lingered a while out front, keeping our voices down. Bound, hooded, confused in the dark—I had to think Meadow was having a hard time of it, imagining every horrifying thing we could do to her.

I heard something through the storage-room door. I thought I’d imagined it at first, but as the sound grew louder, more grating, I realized what it was.

Meadow was trying to sing through her gag. Specifically, she was singing “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly.

“So much for terror,” I said, letting out a heavy sigh. “Okay, everybody, let’s do this.”

Jennifer and I went first. Meadow knew both of us and knew how badly we wanted her dead. Bentley, Corman, and Mama Margaux followed us, spreading out around the storage room while Caitlin stood off in the shadows with her arms crossed and a curious look on her face.

Jennifer yanked the sack off Meadow’s head, exposing her eyes to the glare of the light dangling directly over her. Her face was a mess of caked-in dirt and congealed cuts, one eye swollen over from the crash. Drool ran down her chin. Somehow, she still managed to look defiant.

I unbuckled the bright pink gag and pulled it out of her mouth. Meadow spat on the floor, wincing.

“A ball gag?” she said, looking from me to Jennifer. “Really? Do you wanna kill me or do you wanna shoot some bondage porn? Or maybe both. Yeah, probably both. You look like a couple of necrophiliacs.”

“You wanna take this seriously,” Jennifer said, her expression darkening by the second.

“I take it
very
seriously,” Meadow said. “Necrophilia is a serious crime, and you should be ashamed—”

Jennifer punched her in the face.

I didn’t even see it coming. One second Jennifer’s fist dangled limply at her side, and the next Meadow’s head snapped back and fresh blood ran from her split lip. Meadow grinned viciously, showing her scarlet-stained teeth.

“
Whoo!
” she shouted. Her chains rattled as she nodded her head and bounced in the steel chair. “
That
is what I’m talking about!
That
is a morning pick-me-up! Aw, but honey, you were just joking with that punch, right? Because if you think you’re gonna get me to talk, and that’s the best you can manage? Well you’d better order an extra-large pizza because we are gonna be here
all! Fucking! Night!
”

“I can do worse,” Jennifer said softly. “I can do a lot worse.”

Meadow bounced giddily. The chair legs thumped in time with the clacking of her chains.

“All right!” she said. “Let’s get this party started! What’ve you got? Waterboarding? Little waterboarding action? Gonna pull my fingernails out? Yank my teeth out with pliers? Here, here, do me a favor, get this one in the back of my mouth. It’s got a cavity. Drastic, I know, but you know how much health insurance costs these days? Girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

“Like killin’ Spengler and Sophia? That something you had to do?” Jennifer said. She took a step closer, and I reached out, putting my hand on her shoulder. Reminding her what we were here for. Vengeance had to wait.

“Who?” Meadow said. “You’re gonna have to help me out here, hon. I kill a lot of people. It’s kinda what I do for a living.”

Bentley turned and stormed out of the room. Corman and Margaux weren’t far behind, running to check on him. I forced my anger down, swallowed it, bottled it up deep inside where it couldn’t push me into doing something reckless.

“You’re serious?” Jennifer said. “You don’t even remember their names.”

“Aw, you look confused, sort of like a puppy that just got kicked in the head. I’m going to help you understand, because I’m nice that way. So,
story time
! Story time with Aunt Meadow! Gather around, kids, nice and close. One of you can sit on my lap. What, no takers? Fine, have it your way.”

“I don’t think we need to hear—” I started to say.

“You do,” Meadow said, suddenly serious as the grave. “You really do, because you don’t seem to know who you’re dealing with. Story time. Last week I was grocery shopping, picking up a few things, and a stock boy of, hmm, maybe nineteen or twenty? He started hitting on me. I was surprised. I mean, I don’t get a lot of action ever since someone
carved my fucking face up!
”

I almost took a step back under the heat of her sudden, furious glare. Then her expression softened, and she smiled and continued her tale.

“I figured he took me for an easy lay. Single woman, a little overweight, huge fucking facial scar, probably not starring on
The Bachelorette
. Well, I came back after his shift ended, and I let him take me to his dingy little shithole apartment, with his dingy little electric guitar from his dingy little garage band, and I pretended to listen as he told me all his aspirations and dreams.”

“There a point to this?” Jennifer asked.

“Oh boy, is there ever. We ended up in his adorably embarrassing twin bed. And he was bad. I mean, really, excruciatingly bad in the way that only inexperienced young men can be. And I’m lying there while he’s huffing and puffing away, and I’m saying to myself, ‘Self? How can I find the fun in this situation? How can I turn this into
me
time?’ So I got on top of him, rode him until he came, and—while he’s climaxing, while he’s still buried deep inside of me—I took my knife and I stabbed him, oh, seven or eight times.”

I didn’t say a word. I didn’t have anything to say. The twinkle in her eyes made my stomach churn.
She’s proud of herself
, I thought. Jennifer shook her head, mute.

“Two kinds of people in this world,” Meadow said. “Sheep and wolves. I’m a wolf. I do what wolves do. Do you think I’m going to find some wellspring of remorse for your dead friends? I won’t. Do you think I’m going to piss myself because you’re going to torture me? I’m not. Sure, you can make me scream until my vocal cords snap, but you have no
idea
how to
hurt
me.

“Moral of the story, kids? Go ahead and put a bullet in my brain. Right now. Between the eyes. Do it. Because whatever you’re hoping to gain by keeping me prisoner, you can’t have it. The only rational thing you can do right now, the only sensible, sane thing, for you and for all of humanity, is to kill me here and now. If you don’t, you’ll regret it. That’s a promise.”

“Deal,” Jennifer said and pressed the barrel of her chromed .357 to Meadow’s forehead.

“
N
o!
” I shouted, grabbing Jennifer’s wrist and yanking the gun upward before she could pull the trigger. I dragged her back a few steps and shook her shoulder hard with my bandaged hand.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I said. “We have a
plan.
”

“You heard the bitch,” Jennifer seethed, looking between Meadow and me. “We’re wasting our time here. Let’s just put her in the ground and be done with it.”

I leaned in and whispered in her ear. She nodded slowly, grudgingly, and put her gun away.

All part of the plan.

“Trouble in paradise?” Meadow said.

“We’re not here to torture you,” I said. “And we’re not here to kill you.”

“Well golly gee willikers, now you’ve got me all kinds of curious.”

“We’re here to hire you,” I said.

Meadow blinked. Then she squinted, as if she didn’t think she’d quite heard me right.

“Lauren’s gravy train is coming to its last stop,” I said, “and trust me, you want to jump off before it gets there.”

She snorted. “Damn right. That’s a little too much crazy even for me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think she’s got a snowball’s chance in hell of pulling this off. When she messes it up and dies, though, eventually a hundred dead bums are gonna lead right back to her front door, which means they’ll eventually lead to
me
. No, I’m taking my cash and going somewhere with sunny skies, frosty drinks, and no extradition treaty with the US.”

“Guess again,” I told her. “Lauren’s going to win. Once she ascends, there won’t be anywhere on this planet you can hide. There won’t be much of a planet left at all. I hate to say it—believe me, you have no idea how much I hate to say it—but we need your help.”

I walked behind her. Most people would tense up a little, losing sight of their interrogator like that, but she was cool as a cucumber. I uncuffed her. She rubbed the red lines around her wrists, looking dubious.

“A hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars,” I told her.

“Bullshit,” she said.

“A hundred and twenty-five thousand, in the currency of your choice, deposited to the bank of your choice, once Lauren is dead.”

“Bull. Shit. You’re piss broke, Faust. You don’t
have
that kind of money.”

“No,” Caitlin said, “but I do.”

She strode slowly across the room, stepping out where Meadow could see her. Meadow’s eyes widened. It was the closest thing to fear I’d ever seen on her face.

“You’re that succubus,” Meadow said, “the one Lauren bound. Why are you still here? Faust, why is she still here?”

Caitlin nodded. “Right. Nicky Agnelli told you he found some random bottom-feeder to enslave, didn’t he? Never trust a career criminal, they’re always working an angle of their own. Let me properly introduce myself. I am
Caitlleanabruaudi
, the Wingtaker. Hound of the Court of Jade Tears.”

“Hey,” Meadow said, “what happened back there, that was all Lauren. Her plan, her magic. I was just along for the ride. Nothing personal.”

“Just along for the ride,” Caitlin mused, looming over her. “Much like Carl Holt and Artie Kaufman. Would you like to know what’s happening to them, in hell, right at this very moment?”

She leaned close and whispered in Meadow’s ear.

Now I knew what Meadow looked like when she was afraid.

Caitlin stepped back and folded her arms. “Almost every single person involved in my abduction has been delivered to their doom, or soon will be. You’re a very lucky woman, Meadow Brand. You’re in the right place at the right time to make history. The one human to ever tempt my wrath and escape.”

Jennifer and I might as well have been invisible now. Meadow only had eyes for Caitlin. She rubbed her hands, trying to hide the way they shook.

“What do you want from me?” Meadow asked.

Caitlin nodded my way. “As Daniel said, we want to hire your services.
I
will guarantee the sum. You will help facilitate our plan. Once Lauren is dead, I’ll wire the money to the account of your choosing, in the currency of your choosing.”

“Then what?” Meadow said, uncertain.

“Then you’re free to leave. Which you will. Make no mistake, Meadow Brand, your sins are not forgiven. I want you gone. Where you go is up to you, but you will never set foot in my territory again.”

“You lost your Vegas privileges,” I added.

Meadow thought it over. A bit of her old cockiness came back as she shook her head, glancing between us.

“No way,” she said. “Hundred and twenty-five grand? Might as well offer me a million. You won’t pay. I’ve been in this game long enough to know that ‘payment after the job is done’ is just another way of saying, ‘We’ll kill you and keep the money.’ I want the payment up front. All of it.”

“So you can stab us in the back and skip town with the cash,” I said. “Not happening.”

“You gotta admit, we’re a little more trustworthy than you are,” Jennifer said.

Meadow barked out a laugh. “A witch, a sorcerer, and a fucking
demon from hell
say I’m not trustworthy.”

“You’re a psychopath,” I said.

She shrugged. “I’ve been told that means that I
know
the difference between right and wrong, I just don’t
care
. Hey, that description sound like anybody you know, Faust?”

“You’re not getting the money up front,” I said.

“Then I guess you’re not getting my help. What a predicament.”

I reached into my pocket and took out a USB stick. A black little rectangle, sheathed in transparent plastic tinted the color of smoke.

“How about I put up some collateral?”

“I’m listening,” Meadow said.

“On this stick is a scanned document. That document, handwritten by me, confesses to two outstanding murders. Full details, full disclosure. You give this to the cops, I go to prison, period. Once you walk out of here, take it to your favorite lawyer. Instruct him that if anything happens to you—like you die or disappear for any reason—he should turn it over to Special Agent Harmony Black of the FBI. She’s leading the Agnelli task force, and she’s already got a hard-on for me.”

“Risky.” Meadow eyed the USB stick and licked her chapped lips. “What’s to stop me from just going straight to the feds the second I walk out this door? You ruined my
face
, Faust. You think I don’t want payback?”