I make a face. “I don’t believe that at all. I may look dumb, but I’m not. Anthony wouldn’t have brought someone here who is just a bartender. He’d have just murdered you and then set you on fire like everyone else.”
Jax interrupts. “We grabbed her because she was one of the few people in the club after it closed. She was behind the bar and piped up when Tish asked her something. We figured she might know something.”
I turn back to the young woman and arch an eyebrow. “Hm, well then. Again, I’m asking you. Name and association.”
“I—Virgin and I’m just the bartender, I swear.”
“Virgin, huh?” I ask, and Jax snorts.
“Are you really a virgin?” I ask. “I’ve never met one of those before…”
“It doesn’t matter,” she says, almost breathless with fear. “I’m just a nobody. I have no idea what you want or why I’m here. Iswear.”
“Um, well, that’s silly. You’re here because someone is trying to sabotage the Costello family, and we want to know why and we want to knowwhois behind it. Duh.”
“I don’t know anything. I was just hired. Tish just wanted me to stay back and make sure I had stock of all the liquor. That’s what I was talking to her about. I promise.”
I sigh and then nod toward Kit. “She’s a liar. Go on. She’s obviously not going to tell us anything. Start with her thumb and see how she screams.”
The woman’s nostrils flare, her body shaking as Kit takes the tool and places it in his hand.
“You can totally do this. I believe in you,” I say, my heart starting to race. Kit takes a step forward and then another.
“Yeah, I guess I didn’t expect to be learning how to take people apart today. I just figured I was delivering a package for Georgiy and then grabbing something to eat on the way home.”
“I’m the best package.”
Jax laughs lowly, and Kit blushes. “I don’t usually spend time with the victims. I usually just end them. Quickly and mostly efficiently. Sometimes I miss and, you know, they bleed out, but…” He huffs a breath, and I pat his back as he bends down, placing the tip of the tool near the woman’s thumb.
She inhales sharply, and then suddenly her head lolls forward, and she passes out.
“Fuck. Is she dead?” Kit asks.
Jax’s fingers go up to her neck, and he sighs. “I mean, she’s alive, but passed out. Must have some kind of condition.”
“Well, that’s not fun,” I pout, Kit standing up and handing me the tool.
“I guess I won’t get a chance to use this.”
I hand it back. “But we have others. Come on. Let’s go meet them. Jax, you should come, too. That way, you can check Kit out better when he bends over.”
I try to say that softly, but my voice echoes off the walls, and they both turn to me and say simultaneously, “I’m not gay.” Then they look at each other and turn their gazes away quickly.
Well, in my opinion, they doth protest too much.
“Yeah. Yeah. Come on. We have two more people we can interview. Make them talk. Then we can go back to Tish. And I promise, when she wakes up, she’ll be blubbering.”
3
BANE
“You need a shower,” Kit says as he takes me in.
I look down at my bloody clothes and swipe at my ruined shirt. Alas, it’s a hazard of the job. I’ll have to throw this one away. But it’s not a problem. I have lots more in my makeshift closet down below the house.
“I think it’s not as bad as it could be. Plus, Anthony will want to know what they told us. He won’t want to wait for me to change.”
I move up the stairs from the catacombs and right into my boss’s office, appearing through the wall. Kit and Jax follow behind, ignoring each other intently. But I can feel the tension, thick and undeniable.
