With no hesitation, Nick lunged forward and grabbed the woman by her kicking feet, hauling her back onto the tiles of the bathroom floor. There was an awful-sounding thud as she cried out in pain.
“We’ve got her,” Evie said, almost smiling as she watched Nick restrain the Black Widow. “We’ve actually got her, and the police are on their way.” It felt unreal—unreasonable, even. There was just nothing natural about things going right for her, but this time she felt as though she had struck gold.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nick fought against her struggle. Every time the woman tried to wrestle, he only clamped down tighter. He took her to the bed, threw her down onto the mattress, and then stood by the door, guarding it.
Evie stood over her after she finally stopped thrashing. She hadn’t expected her to look this way. For some reason, she had built up the image of a straw-haired lady with dead eyes, so gaunt that her cheekbones protruded from her face. Instead, she was looking down at a radiant and attractive woman in her twenties with reddish-brown hair and full lips.
“Are you police?” Black Widow asked, her wide emerald eyes filled with terror. She brought her knees to her chest, looping her pale arms around them.
“Police are on their way.” Evie remained blunt, never once forgetting this woman was a cold-blooded killer.
“And… Barry Marsh?”
“Alive. No thanks to you.”
And then the unexpected happened. The killer nodded slowly, an act of understanding… and then a lonely tear spilled from her eye to run in a sad rivulet down her cheek. “They’re going to kill me.”
Evie looked to Nick, who looked back at her with mutual confusion. He shrugged, and Evie sat down on the far end of the bed before she turned back to the murderess. “Who’s going to kill you?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Is it… Sanyasi?”
Black Widow looked up but said nothing.
“What’s your name? Your real name.”
Another sob. “Teresa.”
“Well, Teresa, I think you’ve got less than five minutes to appeal to my empathy. The police will come, and you will be convicted—there’s no question about that. But if it’s protection you need, then you had better get explaining.”
Nick unfolded his arms and spoke loudly. “You can’t seriously be feeling sorry for this bitch?”
“Shut up,” Evie said, not affording him a glance. “Teresa, clock’s ticking.”
There was an elongated silence, during which Nick’s heavy breathing filled the air around them. Gusts of disdain and censure flowed over Evie as she waited for Teresa to explain the unexplainable. Teresa kept her head down, probably at war with herself, and Evie only waited patiently for this crying young woman to say anything that might make sense.
“I owe a debt,” Teresa finally said.
“To Sanyasi, right?” Evie spoke calmly, softly. At the heart of it, she knew that this girl had to have the mind of a monster, no matter what her reasons for killing those men. But if she had only been playing someone else’s game, she needed to make her think she cared. Lull her into talking. Otherwise, the trail would end right here, and they’d never be able to cut the head off the snake.
“My sister fell ill and needed heart surgery. We didn’t have the insurance to cover it, and I desperately needed the cash. Someone tipped me about this Sanyasi guy. At the time I didn’t know how I would afford to pay back what I owed, but I wanted my sister to get help. What would you have done?”
Evie stayed silent, intent on listening and gave a slight shake of her head.
“When I missed my first payment, they…” Teresa wiped a tear from her cheek. “They went straight down to the hospital and shot my sister. They shot her! I… I tried to run, and they caught up with me. They said that if I missed my second payment, then I would be next.”
“I’m guessing you missed that, too?”
“Yes. I went to see Sanyasi personally, thinking that maybe he would appreciate me being direct and respectful. Plead my case. You know, show him that I’m struggling, rather than trying to worm my way out of it. That was when he did it.”
“Did what?” Evie leaned forward. “What did he do?”
Teresa lay back and buried her face in the pillow. It was probably shame that led her to do so. She could barely speak the words, and they came out in a tortured tumble of rasp and breath. “He had me kill those people.”
“This is crap!” Nick interrupted. “You don’t honestly believe this, Evie? She had sex with them, remember. If you were forced into killing someone, would you really spread your legs for them first?”
“Please, Nick,” Evie said, “go stand outside and wait for the cops.”
Nick huffed but did as he was asked, slamming the door behind him with a violent shudder of wood and hinges.
“He’s right,” Teresa said, rolling over to lean on her side. “I did sleep with them. I can’t explain why I did that. I guess I was just… I don’t know. I felt sorry for them, I suppose. Somewhere in there”—she pointed at her head—“I thought it was redemption for the thing I was about to do to them.”
“You killed fourteen people, Teresa. I want to help you, but I’m not sure that’s even a possibility in a situation this dire.”
“No.” Teresa shook her head. “I killed six of them. The other eight were two different people. See, Black Widow is only a name. A front, if you like, to keep the police looking for a woman. It keeps the scent away from Sanyasi and his gang. I’m not the only assassin on his payroll.”
Evie studied her, trying to decipher whether that was a lie to cover her tracks. But as much as she could blame this woman for the murders, there was no denying that she came across as a victim. “There are more Black Widows?”
“Exactly.”
“Could you name them?”
Teresa looked up at her, the desire to trust was evident. “You can really keep me safe?”
“I’m in the good graces of the local police. They usually grant leniency to witnesses who turn state’s evidence, if they cooperate and testify against the heads of the organization. It would require rolling over on Sanyasi.”
A minute went by where neither of them uttered a word. Evie wanted to ask the question again, anxious to get this whole thing over with. When Teresa finally spoke, she did so with urgency, springing up off the bed.
“Then we’ll have to go now. The police may be on their way, but Sanyasi’s men keep an eye on me. They’ll know that I failed to kill Marsh, and they’ll send in their gunmen. They’ll kill us both.”
“You’re serious?”
Teresa nodded, going for the door.
“All right. But stay in front of me.”
They headed outside, collecting Nick and realizing that Barry Marsh had vanished. In the distance, a car’s headlights lit up the road. It was speeding their way, leaving them with only a few seconds to get out of there, before they became victims themselves.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sanyasi sat in the back of the Mercedes, blowing perfect rings of smoke from one of his Cuban cigars. The windows remained closed—a preference of his, so as he could further enjoy the sweet scent of the smoke.
“We’re here,” Paolo said, pulling to a stop outside the motel.
“I can see that.” Sanyasi climbed out, crushed the cigar under his foot, and stalked over to the nearby truck. As he approached, the doors opened and two men greeted him.
The first was Georgie, who made up in courage what he lacked in height. Beside him was his older, bigger, and frankly, better brother, Marty.
Sanyasi demanded answers as to why he had been summoned, his expensive Italian loafer tapping on the cement in annoyance.
“We were keeping watch,” Marty said, trembling as he explained. “Marsh came running out of there, and a couple ran inside the motel room.”
“What couple?” Sanyasi asked.
“A man and a woman. Those same people who came by
the restaurant a few days ago with their nosy questions.”
“The journalists?”
“I fucking told you they were cops!” Georgie exploded with excitement, hopping up and down and gloating like he’d won a war. All it took to settle him was one stern look from his boss, who disliked Georgie at the best of times.
“Are you armed?” Sanyasi asked.
“Yes, boss,” Marty said.
“Then what are you waiting for? Come on, I don’t pay you to stand around and twiddle your thumbs.”
The brothers drew their pistols and stormed into the motel room. The way they carried their guns, Sanyasi could imagine them being taken down easily by any old amateur. They were clumsy at best, but he hadn’t hired them for their marksmanship, more so for their willingness to do what others wouldn’t.
A few short moments later, they both returned to the car. Sanyasi knew as soon as he saw them that he’d be pissed off by the news. Not only had they come back empty-handed, but they were both avoiding eye contact. “What is it?”
“They got away, boss,” Marty explained.
Sanyasi drew his own gun then. He had given these cretins more than enough chances to prove their worth. And they’d failed. Time and again. Requesting his presence had been totally pointless and had only served to bring him out in the open.
He aimed the pistol, began to squeeze the trigger, and then… “Do you hear that?”
The brothers looked at each other, quietly seeking comfort during their last moments on this earth. Marty shrugged, and Georgie said, “I don’t hear anything.”
But the sound was unmistakable. In the distance, the desperate wail of police sirens rang through the night. “Get in the car, and meet me at the restaurant,” he said. Before they got a chance to respond, he was back in the Mercedes and sparking up a new cigar.
“To the restaurant,” he ordered Paolo, who eased the car away from the curb and then punched it, sailing forward into traffic. Into obscurity. “And remind me to take care of those morons as soon as we get back.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The thorns scraped at her bare arms as she struggled through the trees. Barely visible red lines drew across her skin in perfect strikes. The road lay just beyond the thicket, and with Teresa’s hand in her own, Evie knew they would soon be safe. Evie didn’t really understand what had made her put her trust in the woman—a known killer—but she had.
They came out onto the blacktop. Nick sprinted in front of a slowing cop car to flag it down. The acceleration waned, but the siren didn’t. The red-and-blue lights still blinded her as an officer emerged, drawing his gun.
“Get down on the ground!”
Nick’s gaze darted everywhere. “What? No, we’re the ones who called you.”
Evie felt Teresa squeeze her hand—a signal to get out of there?
“I said get down!” the officer insisted.
Hesitant, Evie dropped to the cold road on her stomach and clamped her mouth shut to protect herself from eating loose dirt. It still got in her eyes, however, but she couldn’t rub it out without moving her hands and risking a fatal shot to the back. Not while there was a boy in blue with a superiority complex looming over her prone body.
“Listen carefully,” Nick said, twisting his neck to look up. “We need to speak to Captain Moore. You need to get hold of him, and tell him that we’ve found Black Widow.”
The officer looked up from his pad, paying only a little attention.
Nick licked his dry lips. “We have her right here, and we need to negotiate some terms with him. She’ll come in quietly, but we’re under his protection. So you can go ahead and arrest us if you want, as long as you take us directly to your superior.”
For a moment, the officer looked over at both of the ladies. It looked like he was trying to decide which one was Black Widow, but then his attention dropped back to the bossy journalist by his feet. “Wait here. You move, I’ll shoot you. You’ve been warned.”
As the cop headed back to the car, Evie craned her neck to see Nick. “Risky.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But what else could I do? He was going to arrest us, anyway. I had to throw the Hail Mary.”
Evie quietly watched the cop talk on his radio. He yelled into it and then waited for some kind of answer from the person on the other end. Getting nothing from that view, she tilted her head to her side, looking at a teary-eyed Teresa. “You okay?”
“A little scared.”
“Don’t be. You’re finally doing the right thing.”
“I guess.”
A few minutes dragged by, and the officer returned with three sets of handcuffs. “Get up one at a time, starting with you.” He nudged Nick with his foot. “You’re going to be cuffed and set into the car, before I come back for you girls. Understood?”
Evie nodded along with the others. They were filed into the back of the police car—a terribly familiar scene for her. Over the years, when she had acted as her brother’s informant for his PI business, she’d had run-ins with the police one too many times. But now was no better—now, she was on her way to the police station in handcuffs, and only if she was lucky, would she get a chance to talk to Captain Moore before she was charged as an accessory.
Chapter Thirty
It took an hour to gain an audience with Moore and another two for Teresa to fill in the missing details on the Black Widow murders. Evie’s word had been broken, however, and there was no promise of freedom from the police captain, only lenience on her sentence and guaranteed safety from the Sanyasi gang.
After sitting in the stiff silence of the interrogation room the entire time, Moore finally removed his glasses, leaned back in his chair, and exhaled. “How many targets are left?” he asked, not quite giving Teresa the benefit of the doubt that Evie had granted her. There was nothing but a cold contempt in his hard stare.
“Two more.”
“Who are they?”
Teresa shook her head, swallowed. “I don’t know.”
“And why not?”
“I would always have a motel room set up for me, and I would be told to wait there until a man came. I would get handed a file, and that would be it. I would have a target, a deadline, and an extension on my lifespan.”
Evie listened to this conversation with great sympathy for Teresa. In her heart, she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive her for all of those murders. But could she understand it? Absolutely, without a fraction of a doubt.
“If you obtain a search warrant for the restaurant,” Teresa continued, perspiring now, “I bet you would find all the evidence you need for an arrest.”
Moore looked to Evie and then Nick. “Listen, here’s what I’m going to do: within an hour, I’ll have that search warrant and enough men to hunt through the place. But if nothing’s there, Sanyasi will have our heads for breakfast. That’s me giving you a little faith, Teresa, but don’t expect to get away with what you’ve done.”
Evie placed a hand on Teresa’s shoulder, giving a gentle pat, ignoring Moore’s lecture.
“If we do find sufficient evidence, we’ll have him arrested immediately and—”
There was a knock on the office door, and before Moore could answer, it swung open. An officer stood in the doorway. His expression was flat and unreadable, but the fountain of sweat across his forehead spoke volumes.
“What is it?” Moore asked, seeing the same thing Evie had.
“We’ve found Barry Marsh, sir.”
Evie and Nick leaned forward, almost as if doing so could pull the words from the man’s mouth. It didn’t seem like good news was coming their way.
“That’s great,” Captain Moore said, sounding relieved. “Where is he?”
The officer removed his hat. “In a body bag, sir. He was found in the middle of the road not far from the motel, with two bullet wounds to the stomach and one to the head.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“Stay here and keep an eye on this o
ne, but these two are free to leave,” Moore said as he grabbed his coat. “Miss Black, go home and stay out of trouble. We’ll figure out some kind of deal when all this is over.”
Sure, Evie thought as she watched him leave, but not fast enough. I might be assassinated before you even come back.
The arresting officer crossed the room and took up residence in the captain’s chair. It was obvious that he wanted the job, sitting bolt upright while he tried to decide if the shoe fit. Evie wanted to tell him it didn’t.
“I know you’re cooking something up,” Nick said to Evie, as if they were alone.
“What gave me away?”
“Just… you being you.”
Evie suppressed a playful grin and turned to Teresa. “You okay?”
Teresa just shrugged. “I think so. I never expected to get away with it, but the idea of a prison sentence scares the living shit out of me. I don’t think I would survive long.”
“Play your cards right and you may not have to for long.” As soon as she had said it, Evie knew that it was a bad form of comfort. So before that morbid thought could settle, she added, “Why don’t you throw Nick and me a bone?”
“What do you mean?”
“Yeah, what do you mean, lady?” the cop said, trying to assume control.
Evie ignored him. “I could tell you were holding back with Moore. There’s something you’re not telling us, isn’t there?”
“Nothing important.”
“Then what? You told him where to find the files on the next target, you’ve agreed to confess in exchange for Sanyasi’s arrest. What more could there be?”
Teresa shot a worried glance over at the police officer. Her eyes went stale, having finally emptied the waterworks. She leaned in close to Evie’s ear and whispered, “Sanyasi’s home address.”
From the third floor of the parking lot across the street, Evie and Nick stayed cloaked in darkness under a broken bulb. They could see the entire apartment building from here and a flickering light in the penthouse window, where Sanyasi spent his downtime.
Hard Press: The Evie Black Files Page 13