“I promise if you stop moving, I’ll let you go. I’ll free you from the post.”
“All right, whatever you say!” He took an unsteady breath, wanting to believe the vicious man. “I will. I swear! I’ll stay still.”
Holmes nodded. Things were so much easier to complete with a calm victim.
“Good,” he hissed, “because your squirming is ruining my souvenir!”
From the constraints of his belt, Holmes unsheathed his stiletto, slipping the five-inch blade behind Ross’s head. Then, while calming his victim with words of reassurance, Holmes lowered the razor-sharp edge to the tip of Jimmy’s ear, pausing briefly to enjoy the scene. He truly loved this part. The quiet before the storm. The silence before the screams. There was something about it that was so magical, so fulfilling, that he couldn’t put it into words.
Finally, when the moment felt right, Holmes finished the job. He removed the ear with a single slice, severing the cartilage from the side of Jimmy’s head in one swift slash, like a movie on the life of Vincent Van Gogh.
A wave of pain crashed over Jimmy, knocking him to the ground. Blood oozed from his open wound, flooding his neck and shoulder with a sea of red. That, coupled with his loud screams, caused his wife to break from formation. She rushed to his side, crying, hoping to administer as much first aid as possible, but there wasn’t much she could do.
Her husband was missing his ear, and she didn’t have a sewing kit.
“The second part of this punishment, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, was the removal of the ear,” Webster said. “As a sign of the white man’s power, it was left hanging on the post right outside the slaves’ cabins for several days. Not surprisingly, it was an effective way to get the master’s message to his slaves. If you do something wrong, you will pay for it in agony!”
Holmes stared at his souvenir, left dangling from the pole like a freshly slaughtered pig. “And that, my friends, is how the Listening Post was born.”
CHAPTER 33
PAYNE wasn’t sure about Greene until that very moment, but one look into his eyes told him everything he needed to know. The Buffalo Soldier was a member of the Posse.
“Were you always with them, or did they get to you after we showed up in New Orleans?”
Jones’s eyes widened when he heard Payne’s proclamation. “What are you talking about?”
But Payne ignored him. “Just answer me that, Levon. From the beginning or just recently? I’ve got to know. To me, it’ll make all the difference in the world.”
Greene continued to stare at Payne, no emotions crossing his face.
“Come on, Levon, just one little answer. Which was it? Before we arrived, or after?”
Greene refused to dignify the question, and to Jones, the silence was maddening. Because of his current position, he couldn’t see what was going on. “Bennie!” he called, trying to get involved in the conversation. He strained his neck, trying to find the dreadlocked servant. “Bennie! Help a brother out! Kick me closer to the action! Anything!”
“Be quiet,” Payne ordered. “If my guess is correct, Bennie’s one of them, too, so he won’t help you. He’s on Levon’s side.”
Jones’s eyes got even larger. He had no idea where any of Payne’s theories were coming from, but the mere possibility that they were true was mind-blowing. “Bennie? Levon? Guards? Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on? I’m supposed to be the detective here. Someone throw me a crumb.”
Payne shook his head. “D.J., just shut up and listen. Levon’s about to tell us everything.”
Greene glanced at Jones, then returned his gaze to Payne. “I can’t believe you, man. How can you think that after all the things I’ve done for you? I showed you my city. I let you sleep in my house. I let you eat my food—”
Payne interrupted him. “You gave us faulty guns. You tried to have us shot. You kidnapped my girlfriend. . . . Should I go on?”
“No,” Greene growled, “you shouldn’t. I’ve heard all that I’m gonna take. You called me up, and I went out of my way to help you guys. And this is how you’re gonna repay me? You accuse me of trying to have you killed? Get fucking real!”
In a burst of rage, Greene kicked a nearby rock, then stormed away in anger. But that was fine with Payne, because it gave him a chance to talk to Jones.