Page 77 of The Attercop
He fell silent before adding, “You’re never at The Greek these days and you don’t get drunk and pick up guys at Bar-None. He’s domesticated you. You’ve become a cute little sheep instead of the horny ram you used to be.”
His captor started to walk away.
“What are you going to do to me?” Declan called out.
“I’m going to make sure that the last moments of your life are spent experiencing the pleasure you could have had if you’d made a different choice. And, as punishment for taking you away from me, I’m going to make Charlie watch—”
“No!” Declan yelled.
“Oh, yes. And just to make him suffer even more, I’m going to make him watch you die. But don’t worry, I’m not without compassion. I’ll kill him soon after he knows you are good and dead. It’ll be a real Romeo and Juliet ending,” he spat out.
Declan rocked the table, trying to tear free of his bonds. It was useless. He heard a door open, then the sound of a person’s feet on the concrete floor.
“Hey, brother. How’s it going?”
The voice was higher pitched. It was familiar. “Jules!” Declan called out. “You’re all right!”
“Well, isn’t he the smart one,” she replied. “I hope you enjoyed my little performance.
So, bro, have you had your fun yet?”
Declan shifted his head to see if he could get a glimpse of her through the gap at the bottom of the hood but he couldn’t tilt his head back far enough. He felt a finger run across his right nipple. He heard her inhale.
“Stop that!” the other person screamed out. “He’s mine.”
“Party pooper. You were always lousy at sharing your toys. Anyway, I just dropped by to let you know that I’m heading off to get Charlie. I should be back here in a few hours. And then we can take care of both of our playthings.”
“Please don’t hurt him. Leave him out of this,” Declan begged. “He’s done nothing.”
“He’s done more than you know,” she said. “God, you are as self-absorbed as he is. You know, this is a lot bigger than just you, Declan.”
“Come on,” the man said to Jules. “I’ll lock the door after you.”
They walked away.
“Jules, who the fuck is with you?” Declan yelled.
The retreating footsteps paused.
“Me?” the male voice asked. “I thought the brilliant Declan Hunt would have guessed that by now.”
His footsteps slowly approached. “I’m the unwanted. I’m the disposed of. I’m the reviled…I’m The Attercop!” The last words were screamed with absolute pain. “And my bite will be the last thing you feel before you die.”
He heard The Attercop walk off, then the sound of a metal door opening, closing, then being locked.
Chapter Thirty-One
Charlie sat at his desk. For the first time in hours, the office was silent. Mrs B and Duck had gone home. Mr Vanstone was working on getting the list of properties held by Monarch Holdings and he’d promised to send it to Mrs B as soon as he had the information. Charlie had also reached out to Abela, but with no positive results. She didn’t know which vet clinic Jules worked at, and she said that she hadn’t spoken to Jules, or heard anything else from her since she’d last seen Charlie. He had no idea what to do next, so he sat at his desk and waited…for something…anything that would lead him to Declan.
The downstairs door alarm chirped and Charlie got to his feet and rushed to the outer office. Sam and Gary walked through the door.
“Any news?” Charlie asked nervously.
“I tried to get in to see Simon Griffin at Calgary Remand,” Sam replied, “but it isn’t possible until Monday morning unless I want to drive up to Edmonton. He’s been transferred up there for a hearing. I’m hoping I can at least reach him by phone in the morning.”
“I’ve got better news,” Gary said. “I was able to get access to those phone records you wanted to see. It’s just a list of numbers, though. No names.” He handed it over to Charlie.
Charlie glanced down at the list, which had hundreds of calls and texts logged. It went back almost a month. “Thanks, Gary. I’ll see what I can do with them.” Charlie looked at the mostrecent entries on the log. “It appears that no calls have been placed since Thursday evening after Jules disappeared.”
