Page 44 of Bad Girl
He glanced up at me and began to wring his hands.
“I was drunk when I got there. Angry.” He looked at the wall again.“But she had no fucking right to do what she did.”
I tapped my pen against the notepad.
This bastard had done something.
“It’s okay. It was the alcohol, not you. What did you do?” I asked him gently.
“I—” He paused.“Look, I didn’t mean to. It just happened.”
I waited.
“I hit her,” he mumbled.“It was all just for show, you know. The knife. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Kael went still.
The pen stopped moving in my hand. I made myself start it again before he could notice.
He’d taken a knife into her flat.
A knife.
I’d had her in my conference room and watched her hands close into fists on either side of her laptop. I’d watched the muscle twitch in her cheek. I’d assumed everything I needed to know about Nika Horvat from the cold and the disdain and the murder in her eyes—and at no point had it occurred to me to wonder what someone had done to put it there.
I refocused. I was Cuán McKinley. I was here for a testimony.
“Is that when she set her dog on you?”
He began to blink rapidly.
He’s about to fucking cry, Kael chortled.
I bit my lip as Finley’s eyes welled up.
“Sh-sh-she turned into a d-dog,” he cried.“Th-those long t-teeth. She tried to tear my dick and balls off.”
“And what breed was she?” I asked, raising my pen.
His head swivelled around. Eyes wide. Tears running down his cheeks.
“You believe me? No one believes me. They tried to have me evaluated after the drug test.”
“I believe what you believe, Mr McAdam. I am here as your representative. Now—the breed? Or describe the dog. Height, colouring, ear shape, snout features.”
“It all happened so fast,” he sniffed.“And the pain—”
He closed his eyes. I sighed.
“My balls will never be the same again. What if I can’t get a hard on because I’m so conscious of my mutilated ball? I only have one left.” He covered his face and sobbed into his hands.
Tell him to hurry up or I’ll bite the other one off, Kael growled.
“You have a strong case, Mr McAdam,” I murmured.“But you must be brave if you want to be compensated for your—loss. No man should bear this indignity.”
“Sh-she was large. Like those foreign breeds.” He hiccupped.“Grey snout. Bits of brown around her face. I could only see death in those black eyes, Mr McKinley. The nightmares won’t stop.”
They’re so fragile, Kael muttered.
