Blindsighted (Grant County #1) - Karin Slaughter Page 0,105

his lips. “I only pick the pretty ones.”

“It’s an older case,” Jeffrey said, trying not to let himself get baited.

“Amy? Is it my sweet little Amy?”

Jeffrey stared. He recognized the name from the case file. Amy Baxter had taken her life after being raped by Jack Wright. She was a nurse who had moved to Atlanta from Alexander City.

“No, not Amy,” Wright said, putting his hand to his chin as if in thought. “Was it that sweet little—” He stopped himself, looking over at Jeffrey’s car. “Grant County, huh? Why didn’t you say so?” He smiled, showing one of his chipped front teeth. “How’s my little Sara doing?”

Jeffrey took a step toward the man, but Wright did not take the intimidation.

Wright said, “Go on and hit me. I like it rough.”

Jeffrey stepped back, willing himself not to punch the man.

Suddenly, Wright scooped his breasts into his hands. “You like these, daddy?” He smiled at the look of disgust that must have been on Jeffrey’s face. “I take the Depo, but you know that already, don’t you, honey? You know what it does to me, too, don’t you?” He lowered his voice. “Makes me like a girl. Gives the boys the best of both worlds.”

“Stop it,” Jeffrey said, glancing around. Wright’s neighbors had come out to see the show.

“I got balls the size of marbles,” Wright said, putting his hands to the waist of his blue jeans. “You wanna see ’em?”

Jeffrey lowered his voice to a grumble. “Not unless you want to take the word ‘chemical’ out of your castration.”

Wright chuckled. “You’re a big, strong man, you know that?” he asked. “You supposed to be taking care of my Sara?”

Jeffrey could do nothing but swallow.

“They all wanna know why I picked ’em. ‘Why me? Why me?’ ” he trilled, his voice higher. “Her, I wanted to see was she a real redhead.”

Jeffrey stood there, unable to move.

“I guess you know she is, huh? I can tell by looking in your eyes.” Wright crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes on Jeffrey’s. “Now, she’s got some great tits. I loved sucking them.” He licked his lips. “I wish you could’ve seen the fear on her face. I could tell she wasn’t used to it. Hadn’t had herself a real man yet, know what I mean?”

Jeffrey put his hand around the man’s neck, backing him into the car. The action was so fast Jeffrey wasn’t even sure what he was doing until he felt Jack Wright’s long fingernails digging into the skin on the back of his hand.

Jeffrey forced himself to take his hand away. Wright sputtered, coughing, trying to catch his breath. Jeffrey walked a tight circle, checking on the neighbors. None of them had moved. They all seemed entranced by the show.

“You think you can scare me?” Wright said, his voice raspy. “I had bigger than you, two at a time, in prison.”

“Where were you last Monday?” Jeffrey asked.

“I was at work, brother. Check with my PO.”

“Maybe I will.”

“She made a spot check on me around”—Wright pretended to think this through—“I’d say around two, two-thirty. That the time you looking for?”

Jeffrey did not answer. Sibyl Adams’s time of death had been printed in the Observer.

“I was sweeping and mopping and taking out the trash,” Wright continued.

Jeffrey indicated the tattoo. “I see you’re a religious man.”

Wright looked at his arm. “That’s what caught me up with Sara.”

“You like to keep up with your girls, huh?” Jeffrey asked. “Maybe look through the newspapers? Maybe keep up with them on the Internet?”

Wright looked nervous for the first time. “You been in my house?”

“I like what you did with the walls,” he said. “All those little Jesuses. Their eyes just follow you when you walk around the room.”

Wright’s face changed. He showed Jeffrey the side that only a handful of unfortunate women had ever seen as he screamed, “That is my personal property. You don’t belong in there.”

“I was in there,” Jeffrey said, able to be calm now that Wright was not. “I went through everything.”

“You bastard,” Wright yelled, throwing a punch. Jeffrey sidestepped, twisting the man’s arm behind him. Wright pitched forward, falling face first into the ground. Jeffrey was on top of him, his knee pressed into the man’s back.

“What do you know?” Jeffrey demanded.

“Let me go,” Wright begged. “Please, let me go.”

Jeffrey took out his handcuffs and forced Wright into them. The clicking sound of the locks sent the man into hyperventilation.

“I just read about it,” Wright said. “Please, please, let