"I don't mean dead, Anita. I mean arrested."
"I knew what you meant, Dolph."
He was quiet for a second. "I know you knew what I meant, but I thought I should say it, anyway. Don't kill anyone."
"Would I do something so illegal?"
"Don't start, Anita."
"Sorry. Thanks for all the info. It's more than I'd hoped for. After meeting him, I'm not exactly surprised by any of it. He is a very creepy guy."
"Creepy -- Anita, he's a hell of a lot more than creepy."
"You sound worried, Dolph."
"You're down there without a safety net, Anita. The cops are not your friends."
"That's an understatement," I said. "But the state cops are down here on the murder now."
"I can't come down there," Dolph said.
"I would never ask you to."
He was quiet so long that I said, "Dolph, you still there?"
"I'm here." He didn't sound happy. "You know how I told you not to kill anyone?"
"Yeah," I said.
"I'll deny this in court, but don't hesitate, Anita. If it comes down to him or you, make the right choice."
My mouth was hanging open. "Dolph, are you telling me to murder him if I get the chance?"
Dolph was quiet again. Finally, he said, "No, not murder, but I am saying don't let him get the drop on you. You do not want to be at this man's mercy, Anita. Some of the bodies they've found have been tortured. He's real creative about it."
"What's in that file that you haven't told me about, Dolph?"
"They found one man's head floating in his pool. There were no marks of a weapon, like the head had been pulled off. They never found the body. It all reads like that, Anita. Not just violent but weird shit."
"You going to post bail if I nail him and get caught?"
"You get caught, we never had this conversation."
"Mum's the word," I said.
"Watch your back, Anita. Niley doesn't have any limits. That's what all this paperwork means. He's a total f**king sociopath, Anita, and Beck and Hart are the same thing."
"I'll be careful, Dolph. I promise."
"Don't be careful, be ruthless. I don't want to be identifying what's left of your body after he gets through with it."
"You trying to scare me, Dolph?"
"Yeah," he said, then he hung up.
I hung the phone up and sat on the bed in the hot, hot room, and I was afraid. I was suddenly more afraid than I had been since we got here. Dolph didn't spook easily. I'd never heard him like that, not about anything or anybody.
Nathaniel touched my leg. "What's wrong?"