He flinched. “What are you talking about?” His gaze shifted between her and Jax, probably wondering which one of them would hurt him if he didn’t give them the right answer. That was the problem with torture, apart from it being illegal, the person—thevictim—just told their interrogator whatever they wanted to hear to make the pain stop.
“Ellayna, her mother, and hertwo-year-old brotherare somewhere, we have no idea where, locked in a metal room in the dark.” Kenna’s blood pressure was probably through the roof right now.
She had to calm down, or she wouldn’t be of any use to this case.
She set a hand over the baby, centering herself. Not just the case, but her family.
“You think I took them?” His voice rose in volume and pitch.
Meanwhile, Kenna drew in a long, cleansing breath. She held it at the top and then pushed the air out slowly.Lord, be with them. Be with us. Help us find them.She prayed Crystal wasn’t injured and that Ellayna would be able to comfort her brother.
“This is happening because of you.” Jax straightened, folding his arms across his chest. “Your interview put them in danger, so you’re going to tell us everything you know about the family andwho might want to target them. Or I’ll make sure you’re charged with all the same crimes as whoever took them.”
“You can’t…” He looked over at the cop at the door.
“You think I’ll argue?” The officer shook his head. “I heard that podcast. The lady is right; you are a piece of trash.”
Wallace looked at Kenna. “It really is you.”
“Get over it. This is all your fault.” She wasn’t going to back down. “I want to know everything you know.Now.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Iknow who you are.”
Kenna turned away and found the seat in the corner, which was, of course, as uncomfortable as it looked. She settled on the chair and looked at Wallace as if that didn’t bother her one bit. “Good for you.”
She’d spent years trying to live an anonymous life. Doing her thing as under the radar as she could. People like Wallace Lofton didn’t seem to care that she would rather live a quiet life.
A few weeks ago, she’d found a Bible verse that even said she should aspire to exactly that—a humble, quiet life. But no. People like him. Like the president. They didn’t leave her alone long enough to actually figure out what she wanted. Instead, it was about whattheythought she should be.
She gave him her most disdainful expression. “You’ve spent weeks recounting everything I’ve done for the past few years. Of course you think you know who I am. But the fact is, we just met a few minutes ago, and I can honestly say that you know nothing about me except a bunch of facts. Or what you read in a report.”
“Yeah?” Wallace Lofton dug up some bravado from somewhere. “Don’t think I read about Maizie in a report. AndI can tell you this, she isn’t some Canadian homeless girl like everyone thinks.”
Whether or not Kenna would’ve believed the story that Zeyla, Ramon, and Maizie had come up with as a cover for her background didn’t matter.
“Fine. You know everything,” Kenna said. “Tell us all of it.”
Wallace blew out a breath. His left eye had a shadowed appearance that would probably be a dark bruise by tomorrow. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Jax asked, “Do you know where Ellayna is?”
Wallace shook his head. “I didn’t even know they were missing until you told me. I had no idea.”
“Then start at the beginning,” he suggested.
The cop at the door said, “How about you start with what happened to you? I need a statement, and I need to know whether to expect someone to show up here and try to kill you.”
Kenna watched his body language and his mannerisms, as Jax was also likely doing. It wasn’t a foolproof way to tell if someone was lying or being truthful, but a trained observer could get pretty close.
Wallace said, “I thought I was getting mugged.”
“Did you see the guy?” The cop had a notebook out now, a pencil in one hand.
“It was a woman.”
Kenna’s mind immediately went to theDominatusassets she’d faced, most of whom had been women. Was that who had targeted him? He had to be a threat to something they were doing, or at cross-purposes in some other fashion, for them to think he was a chess piece worth taking off the board.
