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“What does that mean? He made her get out of the shower to say goodbye?” All eyes turn to me, and Vortex shakes his head.

“No, my love. It means they were having sex just before he left.”

“Maybe he forced her.”

Pattie takes her turn to shake her head. “You don’t kiss someone like that at the front door if they just forced you to have sex, Allegra. She was a willing participant is what I’m saying. This makes this a different kind of mission, doesn’t it guys?”

The men look at each other and nod. “I think this has just gone out of your realm of capability, ladies. Vortex and I had better take over.”

“The hell you will. Pres put us in charge of the interrogation of Candi, and this changes nothing. It just means that our choice of interrogation method went up a notch. No more missus nice guy for us. We just go in there and get her away from the estate with as little disruption as possible. Take her straight to the clubhouse and do our stuff there.” I take a moment to think. “There will be cameras everywhere, so Pattie and I go to the house, headscarf and sunglasses. We get Candi, headscarf and sunglasses on her, back in the vehicle, and leave. Three girls are going on a drunken lunchtime spree. Perfect. What do you say, Pattie?”

“Perfect. I’m in. When we get her to the clubhouse, she goes straight to the shed, and we get started on finding out everything she knows. Back home for supper. She will have to stay with us or…not.”

“You two are ruthless, you know that?” Twang looks at us, amazed.

“You sound surprised? Pres obviously knows what we’re capable of,” Pattie tells him and shrugs. “Give us your glasses and see if there’s a pair anywhere else for the bitch.” Pattie pulls her sweater over her head and then strips out of her tee. Vortex has the decency to look at me while she does this, but Twang can’t tear his eyes away.

“Seen enough, bro?” Pattie asks him.

“I regret that we never clicked on another level now. Very nice, sis. You’ll make some guy a very happy man.”

“I’ve made enough fucking men happy. It’s time the boot was on the other foot, I think.” Pattie slips her sweater back on and rips her tee in two halves. “Here, that’s your scarf.”

“Ha. Brilliant. I wondered what was happening.” I admit, I watched her nakedness. She is a very good-looking young woman. “Do you think we need to let the police chief know what we’re doing?”

Once again, all eyes turn to me. This time they all shake their heads and mutter, tsk-tsk.

“She was showing real promise, too,” grins Vortex.

We leave the men and Pattie’s shotgun at the entrance to the driveway and tuck our pistols into our waistbands, just in case. Driving up to the door, we make an exhibition of stumbling from the vehicle and up to the door. Pattie tries the handle, and the door swings open. Once inside, we hear singing from the top of the stairs. Still acting unsteady on our feet, we make our way upstairs. There is a door open halfway down a hall on the left, where the singing is coming from. Peeking around the door, we see Candi, now fully dressed, putting makeup on in front of a mirror. There are two glasses and a half-empty bottle of champagne by the side of her.

Pattie strolls in quickly and quietly and is beside Candi before she knows we are there. Sticking her pistol hard into Candi’s side, she whispers something to her, and Candi nods her head vigorously. As I stand there, I search for a scarf and see one hanging in an open closet. Pattie asks Candi where she keeps her sunglasses, and Candi looks at her blankly.

Quick as a flash, Pattie wraps her hand in Candi’s hair and drags her head back. “We’re not here to play games, bitch. I’d just as soon kill you where you’re sitting, but you have questions to answer first. You can answer them in one piece, or I can start ripping pieces of you, right now. Where are your sunglasses?”

Candi points to a drawer and Pattie rips it open. “You didn’t get all these Ray-Bans on a Home and Hearth salary, did you?”

Finally finding her voice, Candi makes a huge mistake with her next words.

“You’ll live to regret this. Brandon won’t stand for me being taken from here and treated like this. I’ll make sure he does more to you than you do to me. In fact, I’ll help them.”

I don’t know where the idea came from, but I respond, “Just like you helped them hurt Chris, you mean?”

“How did you know…” My grin gives the game away.

“I didn’t until now, but we can discuss that later, too.” I smirk and Pattie has an evil grin on her face as she drags Candi to her feet.

“We’re three friends going for a few drinks. Try anything, signal anything to a camera, and you won’t make it through the front door. I haven’t killed anyone in a while and that’s an itch that desperately needs scratching. I would be more than happy for you to scratch that itch.”

We have no issues getting into the vehicle, picking the guys up and heading home. We park at the rear of the clubhouse and check that no one, meaning Chris in fact, is around to see Candi going to the shed. Pattie and I take her there and secure her to a chair over the grate in the center of the floor. Candi looks at the grate and Pattie explains, “For bodily fluids. You know, it’s surprising how much piss and shit comes from the human body when it’s put under duress. Then there’s the blood and vomit. Yuk. All so unpleasant and usually unnecessary.”

“If it’s so unnecessary, why do you do it?” Candi demands.

“Oh, it’s not unnecessary for me, bitch. It’s you people in that chair, not me. They always talk in the end. They could save themselves so much pain and duress by telling us what we need to know, but they always think they can endure so much more than reality allows. Anyway, don’t you worry your pretty little head about such things. I need the practice, so you just hold out for as long as your little heart can stand it. Come on, Allegra, let’s eat. I’m starved.”

Locking the door loudly behind us, we head back to the clubhouse.

“I’ve never tortured anyone before…”