Almost Dead (Lizzy Gardner #5)(91)

“Too bad for her.”

“Why’s that?”

“Unless she has a key to your place, she won’t even realize you’re home.”

“She’ll see my car parked outside. That’ll be enough to make her kick the door down if she has to.”

“Your car isn’t out there. Remember the underage girl you were going to rape before I interrupted your little party?”

“You’re talking gibberish. That girl was at least twenty-five, and she climbed into my car of her own will.”

“You are so full of shit.”

“It’s the truth.”

“Well, good, because the truth shall set you free,” Hayley said, then coaxed out another smoke ring and watched it roll up toward the ceiling. This time it made it all the way before it vanished. When she looked back at him, he seemed uncharacteristically agitated. “What is it?”

He was trying to wriggle free, but that wasn’t going to happen. Hayley had used his own personal roll of duct tape that she’d found in his car to bind him to the radiator.

Thank God for old buildings. Nothing like a cast-iron radiator to anchor a hostage securely.

His ankles were also duct-taped, but they weren’t attached to anything, and he kept kicking the floor, which was why she’d also duct-taped his calves and feet to a pillow. The hollow thumps he raised with all his thrashing were comical.

“Where are the keys to my car? If you did anything with my ride, I’ll be forced to f*ck you in the ass.” His face reddened; his brow scrunched as he struggled to get loose. “I’m going to make you pay, you motherf*cking bitch of a whore.”

Hayley smiled. “You are a ballsy one, aren’t you? All tied up and making threats.”

“You’re going to regret ever showing your face to me. I’ll make sure of that.”

“That’s my line.” She stood and made her way into his bedroom. On top of all its other odors, the room smelled moldy. The stench was nearly unbearable. She needed to step up her pace and get this over with. On top of his dresser she found another roll of duct tape, ropes, a dildo the size of a small cannon. What a f*cker.

“You never told me what you did with my car! Get back in here right now and tell me where it is.”

He was becoming belligerent. She never should have removed the duct tape from his mouth.

She left his room and made her way to the kitchen, grabbed a plastic bag filled with a few random grocery items, dumped everything out into the sink, and then realized the plastic bag was too thin. She looked through a few more drawers until she found a thicker bag used for weeds and debris. She walked back into the room, where he was still thrashing about, and then pulled up a chair in front of him and took a seat.

“OK,” she said. “Let’s start. Tell me: Why do you rape people?”

“You are f*cking insane. Let me go right now, and I’ll consider not pressing charges.”

“You’ve said it yourself,” Hayley went on. “You’re easy on the eyes; you know a thing or two about carpentry. Overall, I think we’d both agree that you could have a decent life. Is it about power?”

“Fucking cunts—all of you. Every woman I’ve ever f*cked wanted it. Wanted it bad, enjoyed every minute. You’re no different than the rest of them.”

“You know damn well that no woman would want you. That’s why you have to drink and do drugs and go for the women you know you can easily manipulate and control.”

“You’re as stupid as the rest of them. You think I care what you say?”

“I’m going to give you one more chance to explain why you do what you do. Make it good, because somebody needs to stop you from raping women, and I really don’t want it to be me.”

“I don’t do anything the guy next door doesn’t do. I’ve never hurt anyone in my life. Go f*ck yourself.”

“Tell that to the eighty-two-year-old widow you left with broken ribs and bite marks. According to the newspaper, you kicked the shit out of her and spent three hours forcing her to carry out perverted sex acts.”

“That stupid bitch loved every minute of it. You should have heard her. She kept begging for more, practically wept with joy.”

“You really are one of a kind. And you’ve made it very clear. You’ll never stop degrading women, hurting people, making everyone else pay for your inner pain. You deserve to die.”

Hayley took in a sharp breath as she came to her feet and readied the bag.

“What’s that for?”

“You’ve given me no choice.”

“I do it for the f*cking thrill,” he said, panic lining his voice. “There. I answered your question. Happy?”

Hayley set the bag to the side and ripped off two pieces of duct tape. She put one piece of tape over his nostrils.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” he said. “People have sex all the time.”

“Rape isn’t sex.”

“I bet you’ve been raped. And you liked it, didn’t you? I saw you watching the other night. You could have stopped me sooner, but you were enjoying yourself.”

“You’ve said enough.” She pressed the other piece of tape over his mouth.

The man was almost dead the minute she’d watched him carry the young girl into this dump, but he didn’t get that. He didn’t understand that Hayley didn’t have a choice. It had taken her years to come to grips with the fact that the police wouldn’t or couldn’t do anything about scumbags like him. It was up to her to stop him. She put the bag over his head and sealed it tightly around his neck.