Shaken but not stirred, Maisie sat up, glaring at Brennan, who stood in disbelief, as if he were watching someone rise from the dead. She yanked the front of her shirt up, flashing him the bullet-proof vest beneath, pleased with both her performance and with Brittany’s.
MacDougal removed Brennan’s gun, slid it over to Maisie, and then pinned Brennan against the wall, cuffing him. He dragged him down the hallway, thrusting him on the living room floor.
“How long had you and Jayden been raping women together?” MacDougal said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Your gun is going to be tested, and when it matches the bullet we removed from Zoey Marshall, it won’t matter what you say. You’ll be tried and convicted for her murder.”
“Whatever. I’m not talking.”
MacDougal aimed his gun at Brennan.
“You are talking. Now.”
“You can’t fire at me! You’re a cop.”
MacDougal glanced at Maisie. “What do you say? Should I shoot him?”
She shrugged. “It’s a hardwood floor. It’ll clean up just fine. Do what you must.”
“Are you kidding me?” Brennan said.
“Last chance,” MacDougal said.
When Brennan still refused, MacDougal fired his gun, shooting Brennan in the leg. Brennan screamed. “Screw you! Both of you! I’ll tell everyone what you did.”
“What we did? What about what you did? I don’t know what you saw, but what I saw was you drawing on a detective.” Maisie looked at MacDougal. “Isn’t that what you saw happen?”
“That’s exactly what happened,” MacDougal said. “Then again, maybe he came at me twice, and I needed to pop him a second time.”
“Whatever it takes,” Maisie said.
At the thought of being shot again, Brennan curled into a ball, shouting, “All right, all right!”
“You said you didn’t run in the same circles as Jayden Conrad,” MacDougal said. “So how do you know him?”
“We lived near each other when we were teenagers. Not for long. Six months maybe. Used to talk about some of the dark fantasies we both had and realized even though we came from different worlds, we had a lot in common. I moved away and we didn’t see each other again until college. We got to talking about the past, and one day we decided it would be fun if we could actually corner a girl. Jayden didn’t care whether any of the girls saw him. He thought he was untouchable. I knew I wasn’t. That’s why I wore a mask.”
“And you didn’t talk to each other on campus or mingle in the same groups, so the two of you could never be connected to each other.”
“Yep.”
“How many women were raped?”
Brennan hesitated.
“Spill it. We’ll find out eventually anyway.”
“In total, maybe six. We were careful, only two or three a year. We picked the girls, planned it out. It was part of the thrill.”
“What about Zoey? You said Jayden was the only one who raped her. True or false?”
“I didn’t touch her. He saw her with me a few times when we were all going out together, and he told me he wanted her. I tried to talk him out of it, but then he went and did it on his own.”
“Why was she any different to you than any other girl?”
“I had genuine feelings for Linda. I love her. I knew it would hurt her if something happened to Zoey, and it did.”
Maisie noted he hadn’t said he loved her, past tense, he said he loves her, present. Could Linda still be alive?
“You say you didn’t want to harm Zoey because of Linda, and yet you killed Zoey anyway.”
“She opened her big mouth, and that’s why Jayden’s dead. She had to pay, and Lane had to pay. I thought Linda would never know any different, never know my involvement.”
“Why didn’t you kill Zoey the night you killed her husband? Why wait?”
“I ran out of bullets, and I couldn’t leave her there, alive. She ripped my mask off, saw my face.”
“Just one more question before I take you in.”
“Yeah? What?”
“Where’s Linda Perry?”