FBI agent would lock you up when he found the bat at your old place.” A sigh. “But somehow, Chloe got you out of that predicament. The woman can work miracles, can’t she?” Admiration glowed in his eyes.
Stay the fuck away from Chloe! He bit on the rag as he tried to yell that order.
Dane leaned over him. “I have a few friends at the PD. Okay, maybe not actual friends, but guys who owe me. See, I know what they did at the Serpent. I was there for a while. Saw all kinds of things going on. Legal. Not legal. Whatever. Those…acquaintances…kept me updated on the case. That’s how I knew to plant the evidence implicating you. I even got Cinnamon to point the finger at you.”
Joel heaved against the restraints. Immediately, pain blasted through his brain.
“You’ve got a concussion. Probably a fractured skull. Had to knock you out for a moment.” His hand was still on Joel’s chest. “I hit Cinnamon a whole lot harder, but that was also necessary. I knew that if she was injured, she’d be brought here. This hospital is the closest one to the club where she works. And if she came here, I figured you and Chloe wouldn’t be far behind.” He finally lifted his hand. “It was all about getting you here, then separating you from Chloe. Pretty good plan, don’t you think?”
If you touch Chloe…Joel snarled behind the tape. Chomped on the rag in his mouth.
“Settle down.” Dane didn’t appear impressed. “You’re not going to do anything to me. And, hey, if it makes you feel better, I have no intention of hurting Cinnamon again. When she wakes up, she’ll go along with my story that you did it. You don’t have an alibi for her attack, you see. You’ll be the one the cops think hit Cinnamon. You’ll be—why the hell are you shaking your head?”
Joel kept right on shaking his head.
“You don’t have an alibi,” Dane told him. “I was watching Chloe’s place. I saw you leave alone. You were having a fight. Arrived just in time for the tail end of it. Saw you speed away. That’s why I went after Cinnamon then. I used the perfect time to attack—”
Joel kept shaking his head.
Dane ripped off the tape. Tore out the rag. “What?”
Shit. The bastard had taken some skin with the tape. “Have…alibi…” Joel gasped out. “Went…back to Chloe.”
“No.”
“Y-yes…”
“I saw you leave. You were mad as hell. I even followed you to that bar. You went in and I knew you’d get drunk off your ass—”
Joel smiled.
Dane’s face twisted. “You went back to her?”
“I’ll…always…g-go back to…Chloe.”
“Not anymore, you fucking won’t.” He shoved the tape back over Joel’s mouth. The tape, but no rag, and since the tape had already been removed once, it didn’t stick down as hard. Dane whirled away. Began to pace.
Joel craned his head so he could see the small room. Peeling paint. Bare light bulb. Exam tray with…
Scalpel.
The shiny scalpel was the only thing that looked new in the old room.
“You’re going to disappear.” Dane kept pacing. “No one will find you. I know where to put your body. Even Chloe won’t find you. The cops think you’re guilty. They’ll go with that story even if Chloe doesn’t. And if I can’t convince her to change her mind…” He stopped. “Then I’ll kill Chloe.”
“No!” Only his scream came out as more of a growl. Muffled behind the tape.
Dane fired a glance at him. “Your fault. You shouldn’t have gone back to her.” He crept toward the exam tray. Stared at the scalpel. “I’m going to make it quick. I promise. I couldn’t kill you in that corridor because I couldn’t have too much blood there. Too much blood would take too much time to hide. I cleaned up the spatter from your head wound. No one will notice anything left. Since no one uses that corridor, there’s no security camera in the area. See, I thought of everything.” His fingers curled around the scalpel. “This is what will happen. In a while, I’ll show up, wandering around all lost and hurt. I’ll have a head wound. I’ll say you attacked me. That you ran off. Cops will search for you. They won’t find you. Because by then? I’ll have killed you. Shoved your body into a body bag. And buried you.”
Joel shook his head.
Dane came back to his side. “Would you like for me to cut your throat? Is that the best way?