Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

hadn’t noticed him approach. “Davis is ready now. I can take you back to the interrogation room.”

“Thank you,” I responded as I moved to stand up. He nodded politely before walking me back to the room. As we moved through the police station, I could feel a tension in the air that hadn’t been there earlier. Officers glanced at me out of the corners of their eyes and over the tops of their computer screens.

I sighed in resignation. I couldn’t blame them for being wary. They were probably all thinking of Charlie as the stereotypical image of an American FBI agent, rampaging his way into their country and doing whatever he pleased. I knew that wasn’t him. I knew that, despite his short temper, Charlie had never laid a hand on a suspect unless it was strictly necessary. They’d only seen the absolute worst of his behavior, and I wondered if perhaps Davis had orchestrated it to be that way.

That might explain why he’d appeared so calm when we’d been attempting to interrogate him earlier. Perhaps he was banking on Charlie abandoning the investigation when he heard about what had happened. He’d been right about that, at least, and we’d very nearly blown the entire investigation as a result.

It irritated me to think that we might have played right into his trap, and I was more eager than ever to bring him and his entire organization crashing to the ground.

“Thank you,” I smiled politely at the blue-eyed police officer as he opened the door for me to enter the interrogation room.

I could see Davis sitting back in the chair. His face was bandaged, and his shirt was bloody. Part of me wished there was a way I might have been able to take a picture of his sorry state to show to Charlie later. As much trouble as his stunt had landed us in, I couldn’t argue that it wasn’t deserved.

As I observed him through the glass, I noticed that he didn’t seem as relaxed as before and kept glancing around the room nervously. It was understandable, given the beating he’d just been subjected to, but something was off. Even as Charlie had been punching him, he’d been laughing and taunting him. Why would he be displaying signs of unease now, after the fact?

I realized that something must have gone wrong with his plan. The more I considered it, the more the pieces started to shift into place. Davis was somehow connected to whoever had been tailing us, and that’s why he was so confident before. He knew he could distract Charlie from the investigation by going after Amber. He couldn’t have guessed that Charlie would physically attack him in retaliation and thereby run the risk of ruining the case, but he was most likely counting on this derailing the investigation. Perhaps he’d suspected that we would both head back to the United States, and the fact that he was still here was rattling him because it meant his plan hadn’t worked.

Armed with my newfound suspicions, I steeled myself before entering the small interrogation chamber. Davis’s eyes widened as he looked up at me, as though he was surprised that I was still here. That confirmed my suspicion that he’d expected me to be gone by now. The shock lasted only a moment before he quickly schooled his features into a nonchalant mask. It wasn’t the same as before, though, and I could tell he was rattled.

“Agent Patel,” he greeted me with a smile that made my skin crawl. “What a surprise to see you. I would have thought you would have departed with your friend. It sounded like he received some pretty troubling news.”

“I don’t have friends, Davis,” I replied curtly as I settled into the chair across from him. I leaned back and crossed my legs as I looked down at him in a display of uninterested scorn. “I had no reason to go back with him.”

“Surely you aren’t as cruel as that?” Davis retorted, his smile still plastered in place but his tone trembling with uncertainty.

“You have no idea how cruel I can be,” I sneered. “So you kidnapped his niece. Why should I care? He’s just my coworker. I’m not about to let his family drama get in the way of finishing my mission.” It was viscerally painful for me to say those horrid words, but I needed to scare Davis. I mentally apologized to Charlie but kept my expression cold.

“You’re bluffing,” Davis chuckled. “Do you really think you can trick me so easily?” His words were confident, but they were belied by the throbbing vein in his neck and the way his leg was beginning to bounce nervously under the table.

“Believe what you want,” I shrugged. “I would have thought that you of all people would understand how foolish it is to put stock into familiar relationships. You’re a man who dedicates himself to the kidnapping and trafficking of children, after all. There’s no way someone would be able to stomach that kind of work if they had children they cared about.”

Davis stared at me for a long while without saying anything, as though he were trying to gauge how genuine I was being.

“I’m afraid you’re wrong,” he finally said, still smiling but with less vigor than before. “Like I told your partner before he so viciously assaulted me, I haven’t done anything to any children.”

“So you have no intention of telling me about your organization,” I surmised. “Or about what’s happened to Charlie’s niece, Amber Monroe?”

“I thought you didn’t care about his family?” Davis countered.

“I care about solving this case,” I corrected. “And I care about making sure you never see another sunrise. This is a game to me, Davis. I don’t care about the details, so long as I win.”

“I’m afraid I will have to disappoint you then,” David replied. “I don’t intend to lose to you.” His slimy smile slipped back into place, and I answered it with one of my own.

“You