He grunted again. “You won’t do it, Joe.”
“What did I say about talking? You just added more time to your torture, asshole. But you like fun. It’s fun, what you do to others. All those innocent kids. I mean, why would you do it otherwise?”
He said nothing.
I raised my hand to whip him once more when the door crashed open.
I jerked toward the noise. A man in all black, including a ski mask, stood there, pointing a Glock at me.
Icy blue eyes glared. “Don’t you fucking move, or I’ll blow your head off.”
Chapter Three
Melanie
I stiffened. Had I heard Detective Lee—Ruby—right? “Gina’s uncle is your father?”
She nodded. “I’m not proud of it. I didn’t even know him until I was in my teens.”
“Then you didn’t grow up with him.”
She shook her head. “No. My mom was a single mother. She died when I was fourteen. At least that’s what I was told. I never saw a body. She didn’t have any family that I knew of or that anyone could find, so the court sent me to the man whose name was on my birth certificate. My father.”
“And what was his name?”
“My father? Who knows which one he’s going by now? He went by a lot of different names. His real name is Theodore Mathias. He went by Theo—when he was using that name, that is.”
I flashed back to a session I’d had with Gina.
“What was his name? What did you call him?”
“I called him Tio.”
“Why did he want you to call him that?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s Spanish for uncle. Was your uncle Spanish?”
“No. He was my mother’s brother. They were both born here.”
Could Gina have meant Theo? She had been eight years old when the abuse started, younger when she got close to her uncle. Perhaps to her, Theo had sounded like Tio.
“When was the last time you saw your father?” I asked.
“I hadn’t seen him since I left. He never came looking for me. But a couple months ago, he called me. I’m not sure why I agreed to see him. A glutton for punishment, I guess.” She l
aughed nervously. “Maybe I thought I could get something on him. Anyway, he came to town with a girlfriend. Some ex-supermodel who hung on his every word. It was pretty sickening.”
My stomach dropped. “Oh my God.” Had Talon been right?
“What?”
“The model. Was her name Brooke Bailey?”
“Yeah. That was her. Gorgeous, but God, so full of herself.”
Yes, that was Brooke Bailey to a T.