I'm looking at his tattoo when he says this. The one where he's throat fucking me. The one Posie did.
"But it wasn't just Posie," Caleb continues. "Many young women dead over the past three years. All ruled accidental or OD. Cases were all closed fast. And the coroner's financials don't match his salary. He's got a new truck. A new boat. Cash deposits weekly.
"Scarletta," Ryan interjects again. "Whatever this is about, he's lying."
Caleb doesn't bother replying to him. Just continues. "They run Windows 7 on a shared network. Sheriff, coroner, county clerk. They're all connected. I had an AI agent do a simple search for me and guess what I found?"
"Lies," Ryan snarls. "This is all lies."
But I don't think it is. And Caleb is looking me dead in the eyes right now. "You were going to meet him at five AM?"
I'm nodding out a yes, as Ryan continues to protest. But I'm not even listening to Ryan. I'm watching Caleb's face go sad.
Not angry.
Sad.
"You know what an onion address looks like now, right Scarletta? I showed you how to access the site I use for the auction."
The dark web. He's talking about the dark web and how I used that long string of numbers to get to his site.
"Auction? What the fuck is he talking about?" Ryan is losing his shit.
"Well, I found an address like that in an email chain between Ryan and a deputy. Only it didn't lead to an auction house."
I'm going to be sick. "Where did it go?"
"A snuff film site. Custom orders?—"
"Lies!" Ryan screams.
"I found a calendar of upcoming productions."
"You found nothing," Ryan screams. "Scarletta, this man is a psychopath! He fucking kidnapped me! Took my clothes! Left me outside all night tied to a tree! Look at me! Look at all the bites on me! He was going to hang me from that chain. Look! Look up!"
I do look up. I see the chain. The hooks. Can perfectly imagine what Caleb was gonna do to Ryan. Like…everybit of it. Because I've seen him in action.
But it doesn't matter, Caleb is talking. "This morning, Scarletta. The next film was going to be this morning starting at five AM Mountain Time. A live event featuring a platinum blonde, fitness enthusiast."
He was going to kill me.
Kill me.
Kill.
Me.
Ryan was gonna turn those cameras on, put me on that table, strap me in, and… what? Torture me?
On film.
Then kill me to fulfill an order.
An order.
A snuff film.
I look at Ryan. The shotgun looks too.
