Conor and I stand in the elevator in silence as it takes us down to the basement, where some of our bouncers are holding the guy with the green Mohican. I feel the worry and the anger in my brother and it echoes mine. Of all of us, why choose Liam? He is probably the strongest of us physically, but emotionally, he is the most vulnerable. He is so much like our mother — quiet and thoughtful. Mikey has always had a big mouth and used his sense of humor as a distraction. But Liam was always quiet. As a kid, he would sit there and take whatever our father doled out. My heart breaks inside as I think about what he endured as a child and the man he has become in spite of it.
My fists are clenched at my sides as the elevator comes to a stop and Conor and I step out.
“Have you spoken to this guy at all?”
“Yeah,” Conor says as we make our way toward the small room near the back. “But it was real quick. He said he didn’t know anything and was only doing what this girl asked him to.”
I nod as we reach the steel door and our bouncer opens it so we can walk inside. Sitting in the middle of the room, strapped to a chair, is a kid in his early twenties, with a neon green Mohican. He has duct tape over his mouth, a busted nose, a huge gash above his eye that is causing blood to run down his face, and a piss stain on the crotch of his stonewash jeans.
Chester, one of our bouncers, is standing beside him silently. Chester won’t have touched him, because he would have been told not to by Conor or Mikey, so I wonder which of my brothers is responsible for his face. I could rip this guy’s head off his neck right now, given the mood I’m in, but I need to know what he knows.
“Take off the tape,” I say to Chester, who complies immediately, making the kid wince in pain. “Out,” I indicate the door and Chester nods his understanding before leaving Conor and me alone.
The kid in the chair stares up at us, his lip trembling and his body shivering. At least he has the good sense to stay quiet.
“What were you doing in our club?” I ask.
He blinks at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish in a tank.
Conor raises his foot and kicks the kid in the kneecap, making him surge forward as he howls in pain, but he is restrained with chains and he falls back against the chair, his head hanging limply against his chest. “My brother just asked you a question, asshole!” Conor hisses.
The kid lifts his head and looks at us. “I was there with my girlfriend.”
“Where is your girlfriend now?” I ask him.
“We had a fight. She went home hours ago.” He is crying now. “I don’t know anything. I swear.”
“I think we’ll be the judge of that,” I snarl.
I nod to Conor and he walks behind the chair and holds the kid’s head up by his hair. “What’s your name?” I ask.
“Henry Campbell,” he sniffs.
“Well, Henry. I am going to ask you some questions, and every time you lie to me, my brother here is going to take a body part. Okay?”
Henry’s eyes widen in terror and Conor pulls his head back further to emphasize that he is ready and waiting for my command. “Yes,” he finally says.
“Why did you tell my brother that someone was looking for him?”
“Because this girl named Jessie asked me to, man. She seemed like she’d been crying and everything. She looked really upset,” he babbles as he looks frantically around the room.
“If you’re looking for help, there is none,” I tell him. “The only way out of here is to help me find the people responsible for taking my brother.”
“Okay, man. I’ll help you. I’ll do anything,” he cries.
“How did you know who Mikey was?”
“She described him. Told me he was a big, good looking guy in a really expensive suit and with a beard. She said she really needed him and she was in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. She was shaking, and she looked really scared and upset, man. Said she needed me to tell this Mikey guy that Jessie needed him and to come get her. That is all I know. I swear.”
I sigh deeply before I nod to Conor and he grabs hold of one of Henry’s earrings and rips it from his ear, making him cry out in pain.
“Next it will be your whole ear,” I snarl as I step toward him, pushing my face closer to his. “Do you think we’re playing here, kid?”
“No,” he cries as he shakes his head. “But I don’t know anything. I was just standing by the dance-floor. My girl got us these VIP tickets, and I didn’t want to waste them even after she went home. Then this chick just came up to me. She looked upset, like she’d been crying. She said she needed help and asked if I could go find Mikey for her. I swear that’s all I know. I have no fucking clue who she was, man.”
I glare at him. He is fucking trembling. His eyes are wide, his pupils dilated. He’s sweating through his clothes. He blinks away a trickle of blood from his eye.
“He doesn’t fucking know anything,” I say with a sigh as I stand upright.
“I agree,” Conor sighs too and lets Henry’s head drop. “What now? Because we need to get rid of him.”
“Hmm,” I rub my jaw.
“What?” Henry shrieks. “I haven’t done anything. I won’t tell anyone anything. I swear.”
“What is there to tell, Henry? You came to our club. You acted like a complete jackass and got thrown out by our bouncers and got that nasty cut on your eye in the process, right?”
He stares at me for a few seconds until the penny drops, and then he looks at me like I have just handed him a winning lottery ticket. “Yeah. Of course that’s what happened,” he nods furiously.
“I know where you live, Henry,” I warn him. “I will find out where your girlfriend lives too.”
He nods again. “I was a jackass. I got thrown out.”
“You sure about this?” Conor arches an eyebrow at me and I signal to him that we should leave the room. “Drive the kid home and make sure you escort him inside. I want his address,” I say to Chester once we’re outside before I turn back to Conor. “We don’t have time for this. The last thing I need to be doing tonight is disposing of a fucking body. And he’s just a kid, Con.”
“Yeah, but it would have felt good, Shane.” He sucks in a breath and I wrap an arm around his shoulder.
‘Yeah, it would. But we’ll find him. Promise.”
“Yeah. Of course we will.”
“Let’s go have a quick word with the rest of the bouncers and see if we get any more information that might be useful before we go see what Jessie and Mikey have come up with.”
Conor nods his agreement and together we walk through the basement to the club.
