with our lies easily enough that I never thought anything more of it. It’s been so long since all of this happened, I thought that was the end of it until Sami died. That’s when I realized something more was going on. Looking into it, I found out the feds had shut down the operation Anna had sold the blueprints to. I have no idea if the organization or company or whatever they are still even had the blueprints in their custody, but it was the only thing that tied us to them.
“Once it went public that they went under at the hands of the feds, Sami came forward and said she had proof of our involvement. But if we paid her off, she’d keep it quiet. At this point, I doubt she had shit, but next thing I know, she ended up dead and it sure wasn’t by my hands. That’s when the others started to get anxious and they pointed fingers at me because, to their knowledge, I was the one who started this thing years ago. I don’t know if Anna is behind their accusations or if she’s pushing them toward me. After Sami died, I knew it wouldn’t be long before she came for me, so I started hiring guys to protect me.”
I turn to Leland, curious on his take of it.
He seems thoughtful as he watches Hutson. “He is right about Anna’s parents. She’s definitely not the person she painted a picture of herself to be. If you want to be positive, I can torture him for a bit,” Leland says so nonchalantly that Hutson looks panicked.
“No. Fuck. Please, I’m telling the truth! I swear! I’ll… I’ll…” He seems to rack his brain for a moment. “Let me figure something out. I swear I’m not lying. Oh! I’ve got some emails. Old emails. I never delete anything. Can I get my laptop?”
“I’ll get it. Tell me where it’s at,” Leland says.
He points over to the safe room and I look at Leland, not sure I want him out of my sight, even for a moment.
“Keep a gun on him, don’t let him move,” Leland says.
“I won’t. Please be careful.”
“I will,” he says as he slips into the safe room. Hutson tries nothing while he’s gone. Honestly, he looks a bit defeated and it’s such a strange look on him. Leland returns with the laptop and sets it in front of Hutson.
“Just try something,” Leland whispers as he runs the flat side of a playing card down Hutson’s cheek and over his lips. The man is nervous to even open his computer as Leland pokes him a little in the eyelid with it. “Stabby stab if you annoy me,” he says.
“I’m trying not to, but I can’t even see.”
“You’ll be able to see even less when I pop your eyeball.”
“Jackson, you were so damn normal and nice and this is what you settled for?” Hutson asks.
I raise an eyebrow as I watch Leland whisper something surely awful in his ear by the look on Hutson’s face. “I didn’t settle for anyone. I’m the luckiest man alive to have found him.”
Hutson seems rather horrified with a tinge of confusion as he works on his computer. He pulls up some email exchanges with Anna. They don’t tell a whole lot but the last one from her asked if he’d been in contact with Sami and if he’d heard where I’m at.
“I mean… it’d make sense,” Leland says. “The guy who we met that was supposed to hand me the money in exchange for you caved extremely easily. He blurted out Aidan’s name immediately, so I could see Anna having paid him to say that. His job was probably to get it into our heads where to go next and we went along with it.”
“She played us?” I ask.
“She fucking played us. Can I kill Hutson just to make sure it wasn’t him?” Leland asks.
“Not yet. We might need him. Let’s take him with us or have him arrested or something so he can’t get away. I don’t know. What’s a good choice?”
“Have I ever told you about my Crazy Eight Castration?” Leland says.
“You didn’t castrate anyone with playing cards,” I say.
“Not yet, but Hutson volunteered to be my first test subject if he fucks up.”
“It’ll be interesting if he fucks up,” I realize. I call Henry but seeing as we’re forty minutes from home, he has to rely on a different department to assist us. Hutson is far