Page 66 of Breaking Rosalind
His eyes narrow. “You first.”
“Fine,” I say with a sigh. “After you drank the oxypentanol, I snuck out through the bathroom window and walked around the grounds. Now, tell me what I need to know.”
“Not good enough,” he snarls.
“I took photos.”
“Of?”
“Windows, doors, gates, boundary walls, barbed wire, electric fence. I scoured the perimeter of the grounds, gathering anything I could find to paint a complete picture of your security.”
His eyes narrow. “Why?”
“I already answered your question. Now it’s time to answer mine.”
He glares down at me, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. I hold his stare for a few heartbeats, letting him know I’m not scared.
Feigning boredom, I let my gaze travel down to the massive skull tattooed between his pectoral muscles. Huge wings border it on either side that stretch across to his shoulders.
Each arm is adorned with sleeves of tattooed skulls. The left is more ornate, mingling with crowns and jewels and roses, while the right reminds me of the piled bones in the catacombs beneath Beaumont City.
“See something you like?” he asks with a sneer.
“I’m not playing this game.” I look him dead in the eye.
He scowls, but there’s no snappy reply.
“How do I know you’re not holding Miranda in another room?”
“She left with your friend,” he snarls.
“Tell me exactly what happened yesterday,” I say. “With proof.”
A muscle in his jaw flexes, and the veins on his temples bulge. I hold my features into a tight mask, not giving him a single opening. The drugs have worn off, and my head is clear. I need to know what he did.
“Fine,” he growls. “I picked her up outside her academy and told her I was your boyfriend. She took one look at my dazzling smile and jumped in my car.”
I shake my head. “She wouldn’t be so reckless. How the hell did you find her, anyway?”
“When you didn’t come home, Miranda went looking for you at Leroi’s apartment.”
“How—”
“You were sloppy. Somehow, she found his address.”
My mind races. I’ve been assigned to the Montesano case for months, using that time to hook up with their cousin, Leroi. I mentioned I was dating a man with that name, but gave no specifics.
“She didn’t believe me at first, but when I showed her a photo of me and my cousin at the club, she was convinced I would take her to meet you.”
Dread pools in my gut. “And where did you go?”
“I showed her the Phoenix, gave her something to eat, and we watched a movie.”
My jaw drops.
“Then you groomed her into letting you put her into one of your contraptions,” I say.
His body tenses, his shoulders rigid as though he’s taken offense. I don’t understand why, considering he stooped low enough to abduct a fourteen-year-old child from school.