He blinks. “But.”
I grab his throat with my right hand and squeeze. “You are going to start talking.Now.”
Webb slides his phone from his pocket and holds it close to his leg. He glances down at it and turns the recording app on. Because that’s another thing we discussed. Making damn sure this guy goes away for what he did.
“Let’s start with your name,” I say. “My guess is you have your ID on you, so I could just find out that way. But I figure we can start with an easy question. So. Who are you?”
The man’s gaze jumps between my face and my gun. He swallows hard. “Manny. Manny Davis.”
“Good.” I flash him a menacing smile. “See? That wasn’t so bad. Was it?”
Manny tries to shake his head, but my grip on his throat keeps him still. “I can’t go to jail,” he says. “I can’t.”
“You should have thought about that before you broke in, shouldn’t you?”
“I thought it was my?—”
“STOP. LYING!” I roar.
Manny yelps. A dark spot spreads between his legs.
Webb groans quietly. “There goes the security deposit.”
“Tell. Me.” I add more quietly. “Why are you here?”
Manny makes a low, keening sound. Indecision flickers in his eyes. “I came to find the woman,” he admits. “Beatrix.”
Rage pulses hot inside me. “And what were you going to do to her?”
He gulps. “Kill her.”
Though I knew it was likely, his confirmation threatens my self-control. I take several deep breaths before I ask, “Why did you want to kill her?”
“Because she ruined everything.”
“What do you mean, everything?”
Like a dam breaking, his words spill out in a rush. “She was supposed to take the fall. For the woman’s death. She’d go to jail; case solved. But she escaped. She talked. Now the police are still looking for the killer. The plan is all fucked up. The only way to fix it is to kill her. Make it look like she committed suicide out of guilt.”
For a moment, I’m speechless.
So many terrible things all at once.
Webb must sense my shock, because he jumps in. “Why did you kill the physical therapist to begin with?”
Manny looks at Webb in confusion. “The physical therapist?”
Anger hardens Webb’s features. “The woman who died. In the locker room. If you killed her, you should know who she is.” He pauses. “Didyou kill her?”
I move the barrel of my Sig to Manny’s forehead. “Don’t lie.”
Manny whimpers. After a brief hesitation, he replies, “Yes. I killed her. I had to.”
“Why?” I demand. “Why did you kill her?”
“Because she saw me. Giving the injection to the patient. So she’d know it was me when the man died. I couldn’t let her identify me. So I killed her.”
“You killed her,” I repeat. “Was anyone else involved?”
