Infuriating - Onley James Page 0,82
died from an infection caused by black mold.”
“That has to be it,” Shepherd said. “That’s no fucking coincidence.”
“Does it say anything about the owner?”
Calder swung the laptop around. No, but it shows the manager. Carl Frankel.”
Jackson’s blood ignited as he stared at a picture of the man from the still footage of the hotel. That was him. The man who had Day. The man who’d abused Day for years. Jackson was going to make sure he didn’t have the ability to so much as write his own name when he was done with him.
“Shepherd, you and Linc are with me. Calder, patch us into the conference room and turn the sound up so I can hear what’s happening in real time. Webster, call Jimmy. Give him this guy’s name and stats, and tell him to get as many units as he can to that motel, right now.”
Jackson gave one last look at the screen and at Day’s wide pool blue eyes. Hang on, baby. I’m coming. Just hang on.
“Can I ask you a question?” Day blurted as Carl attempted to join him on the soiled mattress.
Carl didn’t stop advancing; he simply knelt on the corner of the bed. He took the gun from his belt with a careful deliberateness that sent an icy finger of fear along Day’s spine. The room was hot and damp, they were both sweating, and Day couldn’t help but wonder about all the things he might be inhaling simply by breathing in the hot stagnant air of the abandoned motel room.
Carl placed the gun across his meaty thighs. “Sure. One question.”
“Why? Why me?”
Carl gave an almost impish smile that caused goosebumps to erupt along Day’s skin. “Are you asking if you were my first?” Day definitely wasn’t asking that, but Carl didn’t seem to care. He kept speaking as if Day had answered. “There have been other boys, younger boys. Sweet, innocent boys who stepped off that bus thinking they were different, better…but they weren’t. They all came to me eventually, letting me do whatever I wanted to them just so they could have a place to sleep. You were all so weak. So helpless. The others eventually gave me all of them, and then they were useless to me. They lacked principles. They lacked the courage of their convictions. But not you. Never you, Day.”
Carl seemed to be reliving some memory, his fingers fondling the gun in his lap as he spoke with fondness. “You drew a line in the sand, and you never let me cross it. I loved that about you. You were so special. You understood your worth. You told the world that if it wanted to touch you, it would have to pay top dollar. I was the only one you’d ever been with until then, but I wasn’t mad. I was willing to pay for my prize.” His smile turned into a sneer. “But then you had to go and let that man have you. I almost killed you both the night I broke into his apartment. Did you know that? I knew if I crept upstairs, I’d find you in his bed and then I’d have had to kill you.”
The casual admission caused Day to shiver despite the heat, his gaze darting away and his mouth falling open as his gaze fell on something. The laptop. Day’s laptop. How had he not noticed that before? The light beside the webcam was glowing, and people were already logging in. People were commenting, but Day was too far away to see what they were saying. There was no way Carl had started the livestream. He still believed that they were alone. Just the two of them.
“So, you would have killed me instead of claiming your prize?” Day asked, voice flirty. “That seems a lot like cutting off your nose to spite your face. I never let him have me…not like that. I do know my worth,” he lied smoothly.
“Oh, I’d have taken my prize, whether you were dead or alive. But it’s not as much fun when they just lie there staring up at the ceiling.”
Jesus. Fucking. Christ. This man was a fucking lunatic. A serial murderer of children. Day had always seen him as gross. Maybe a little sad. He’d felt sorry for him once upon a time, the way children do when they don’t know any better. But now, all he felt was revulsion. How many others had there been since Day?
“I can see you don’t like the