Hank lowers his head.
Donovan is lying down on the carpet. His ass is white, the buttocks clenched.
Billy takes a knee beside the prone man’s hip. ‘You want to stay still, Mr Donovan. Still as you can, anyway. You can be grateful I’m not going to plug this thing in. I considered it, believe me.’
‘I’ll fuck you up,’ Donovan sobs.
‘No one is getting fucked up today but you.’
Billy sets the base of the hand mixer on Donovan’s right asscheek. Donovan jerks and gasps.
‘I thought about picking up some goo while I was shopping – you know, body lotion, massage oil, even Vaseline – but I decided against it. Alice didn’t get any lube, did she? Unless maybe you spit on your hand before you went in.’
‘Please don’t,’ Donovan sobs.
‘Did Alice say that? Probably not, she was probably too roofied out to say much of anything. One thing she did say was “Don’t choke me.” She probably would have said more if she could. Here we go, Mr Donovan. Hold still. I won’t tell you to relax and enjoy it.’
12
Billy doesn’t draw it out as he thought he might. He doesn’t have the heart for it. Or the stomach. When he’s finished he takes pictures of Tripp and the other two with his phone. Then he pulls the mixer out of Tripp, wipes his prints, and tosses it away. The cylinder rolls under the round table with Martinez’s laptop on it.
‘Each of you stay right where you are. This is almost over, so don’t fuck it up on the homestretch.’
Billy goes into the kitchen and grabs a paring knife. When he comes back, none of them have moved. Billy tells Hank Flanagan to hold out his hands. Hank does, and Billy cuts the zip-tie holding him. ‘Mister?’ Hank says, sounding timid. ‘You lost your wig.’
He’s right. The blond wig is lying against the baseboard like a small dead animal. A rabbit, maybe. It must have come off when Donovan rushed him and Billy threw him against the door. Did he remember to glue it on before leaving the basement apartment? Billy can’t remember but guesses he didn’t. He doesn’t try putting it on because he has the mask to contend with, just holds it in the hand not holding the Ruger GP.
‘I have pictures of all of you, but because Mr Donovan is the only one with a hand mixer sticking out of his ass, he’s the star of the show. I don’t think you’re going to call the police, because then you’d have to explain why I broke in but left without taking any money or valuables, but if you should decide to whomp up some kind of story that doesn’t involve gang rape, this picture is going on the Internet. With an explanation. Any questions?’
There are no questions. It’s time for Billy to go. He can stow the mask and don the wig on the way to the third-floor lobby. But he wants to say something else before he goes. He feels he has to. The first thing that comes to mind is a question: don’t any of you have sisters? And surely they have mothers, even Billy had one of those, although she wasn’t very good at the job. But such a question would be rhetorical. Preaching, not teaching.
Billy says, ‘You should be ashamed of yourselves.’
He leaves, taking off the mask as he hurries down the hall and putting it in the unzipped computer bag. He’s thinking that he’s not much better than those guys, really, pot calling the kettle black, but thinking that way is no good. What he tells himself as he puts on the wig and trots down the stairs is that he’s stuck with himself and must make the best of it. It’s cold comfort, but cold is better than none.
CHAPTER 17
1
Alice must have been waiting just inside the door of her room, because when Billy knocks she opens up at once. And hugs him. He’s startled for a moment and starts to pull away, but when he sees the hurt look on her face he hugs her back. Other than meaningless bro-hugs from people like Nick and Giorgio, he hasn’t had a real hug in a long time. Then he realizes that’s not true, he got hugs from Shanice Ackerman. They were good and this one is, too.
They go inside. He told her he was okay when he called from the car after leaving Landview Estates, but she asks again now and he tells her again that he is.
‘And you … dealt with them?’
‘Yes.’
‘All three of them?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do I want to know how?’
‘None of them is going to need a hospital visit but all of them paid a price. Let’s leave it at that.’
‘Fine, but can I ask a question I asked before?’