“I don’t really care. I figure you got what you had coming to you with them.”
“You think I should have lost my fucking nuts over it? ’Cause that’s what happened.”
The look in Kinzer’s wide eyes made Maggie wonder if maybe Kinzer hadn’t thought he’d deserved such a great punishment after all.
“Just tell me who sent me there, and where I can find them.”
Jerry spit, his saliva flew through the air and landed on Kinzer’s cheek.
Kinzer gritted his teeth. “Listen,” he said. “I get why you’re pissed. But if you think you’re broken now, I promise you, it’s gonna be so much worse if you don’t just tell me where the fuck that asshole is.”
Jerry gazed at Maggie, concern in his eyes.
She wanted to help him, wanted to keep Kinzer from doing anything to make him any worse. Yet she knew it wasn’t her place to intervene. She was just going to have to trust Kinzer on this, as she had with so many other things.
“I can’t tell you anything,” Jerry said. “They’ll fucking rip me apart.”
Kinzer rose from his chair and headed to a table beside Jerry, where a roll of paper towels was set.
“It looks like you’re going to have to make a choice here. Would you rather they rip you apart? Or me?”
He collected a wad of paper towels, crumpled them together. He returned to Jerry and shoved them in his mouth.
Jerry’s eyes were wide, terrified.
“Now, when you’re ready to tell me, I want you to give a little nod. Alright?”
Jerry’s face went white as Kinzer grabbed his finger.
He trembled.
Without another warning, Kinzer twisted the finger.
Maggie turned. She knew she couldn’t handle that.
SNAP!
A muffled scream came from Jerry. It was so faint, Maggie knew no one outside the room could hear it, and that meant no one would come to his rescue, so she might have to endure his torture as Kinzer made his way through all his fingers.
“I’m not wasting my time with you,” Kinzer said.
SNAP!
“I’m not gonna keep pushing. I’m just gonna keep tearing you apart until you’re ready to tell me what I want to know.”
Maggie turned just as Kinzer yanked back Jerry’s ring finger.
SNAP!
Jerry groaned, tears streaming down his face as he endured the pain.
He nodded excessively, Maggie assumed indicating he was ready to talk.
Kinzer grabbed the wad of paper in his mouth.
“Okay. I’m pulling this out. You scream, and I throw you out that window. Got it?”
Jerry nodded.
