Jase pulled a zip tie from his back pocket. “Hands behind your back,” he said. With no other choice, Eli complied, and Jase slid the tie around his wrists. While Bran controlled Zepeda, Jase zip-tied Valenzuela and Peyton, both still unconscious. He also bound their ankles. Working beside him, Kate tore off strips of silver duct tape, slapped one over Valenzuela’s mouth, then did the same to Peyton.
Jase dragged the unconscious men behind the dumpster. They wouldn’t be making trouble for a while, long enough for them to finish with Zepeda.
“Let’s go,” Jase said to Kate, urging her through the back door, across the hall to where Bran waited with Eli by the elevator.
They rode up to the fourth floor, Eli quiet along the way. He was biding his time, hoping they would make a mistake. But with the barrel of Bran’s Glock digging into the flesh beneath his chin, he was wise enough not to make any sudden moves.
Jase used Eli’s key to open the apartment door, and they walked into the living room. Jase turned on the overhead light in the kitchen, whirled a chair around, and Bran slammed Zepeda down in the seat. Jase handed Kate a couple of zip ties, and she secured Eli to the chair. So far so good.
“The girl, Tina Galen,” Jase said. “She worked for you?”
Eli grunted. “So what?”
“So she’s dead. That’s what. And you killed her.”
Eli’s big body tightened. “What the fuck you talkin’ about? I didn’t kill the bitch.”
“No? Word is she was with you the night she was murdered. Someone beat her to death. That someone was you.”
“Bullshit. She was alive and breathing when I left her.”
Bran stepped close, grabbed the front of Zepeda’s shirt and jerked him up from the seat as far as he could go with his ankles bound to the chair. “You like hitting women. Everyone on the street knows that. Keeps ’em in line, right? They know better than to fuck with you. That’s what happened to Tina. You were teaching her a lesson, and you got carried away. You hit her too hard and killed her.”
Eli shook his head. “That ain’t right. That ain’t what happened. No, sir.”
“So what did happen?” Jase pressed, and Bran let Zepeda go.
Eli swallowed. “Okay, so I hit her a couple of times, slapped her around a little, gave her skinny ass a couple of kicks. Tina thought she could just up and quit. Bitch owed me. I give her a place to live, fed her. Got her the skag she needed. Bitchowedme.”
Jase wrapped a hand around Eli’s thick neck. “You hit her, all right—with a fucking bat! She was only eighteen years old!”
Kate stepped closer, set her hand gently on his arm. “Maybe it was an accident,” she said, her voice soft, but her eyes were cold as ice.
Jase released his hold on Eli’s neck and let her run with it. Maybe she could get something he couldn’t.
Kate focused on Zepeda. “Is that what happened, Eli? You didn’t mean to do it. You were just trying to make her understand who was boss. But something went wrong and she died.”
“Is that what happened?” Jase pressed. “You didn’t mean to kill her. It was just an accident. Because if it was, that’s understandable. Shit happens. Things get out of control.”
Eli firmly shook his head. “I didn’t do it. No way. Tina was alive when I left her.”
“Where?” Kate asked, a damned good question, Jase thought. Where was the primary crime scene?
“Where did you leave her, Eli?” Kate pressed.
“In front of Reuben’s Liquor Store. It was late. Place was closed. Nobody around. Somebody must have followed us, come along and killed her after I left.”
Jase heard the slide ratchet back on Bran’s semiauto. Bran caught Eli’s jaw, forced his mouth open and stuck the barrel of the pistol down his throat. “You’ve got ten seconds. Admit you killed her or I pull the trigger.”
The blood washed out of Kate’s face.
Eli gagged and wildly shook his head. “Didn’t do it,” he said, trying desperately to talk around the barrel of the gun.
“Five seconds,” Bran said.
Eli fought against his restraints and tried to shake his head, his teeth clicking against the metal. “I didn’t do it...didn’t do it...but...but I know who did.”
Bran pulled the gun out of Eli’s mouth. “Talk,” he said.
