Page 97 of Identity Unknown
“What are you doing…?” Ryder bellows as Piper storms back into the bedroom, pointing the pistol at their daughter. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING…?”
“Making sure I don’t leave any marks…!”
BANG!
The video abruptly stops. Then Carrie is back on the monitor, her scarred face twisted by a mix of hatred and ecstasy.
“All those antique dolls on shelves in there?” she says, the cheetah rubbing against her. “They have hidden cameras looking out of their pretty little glass eyes. Piper and Ryder liked to keep a close watch on their prisoner daughter. They liked to witness the power they had over her. They got off on hearing her cry herself to sleep. After the bad thing happened, they deleted the video, of course. And I undeleted it, naturally. I’d been watching what was going on for a while, you see. It’s important to know who you’re working with, don’t you agree?”
“You gave Luna candy while you were at the house,” I reply.
“As I had before, would sneak her a little bag of it when herdaddy and I discussed the various big ventures we’re involved in. I happen to like candy-coated peanuts myself, and I’d share them with her. There’s video of that too, if Lucy’s ever smart enough to find it.”
Carrie goes on to explain that Piper Briley was furious when she walked into the bedroom after lunch and found Luna eating candy. But that’s not what tipped the scale.
“It was finding out that her loving husband is fucking his jailbait helper Mira Tang. Well, he won’t be anymore, and you can thank me for that,” Carrie says with a contemptuous smile that’s crooked because of the damage I caused.
“I don’t intend to thank you for anything,” I tell her.
“You’re secretly just as pleased as I am. Let’s be honest, the Brileys are bottom-feeding scum.”
“You have no idea how I feel about anything. You just think you do.”
“Speaking of bottom feeders, reminds me of that poor pilot on the bottom of the bay. I can’t recall his name.” Carrie sighs. “Nobody special but there was no need to kill him. I wouldn’t have done that. But Ryder insisted on tit for tat with that overblown TV journalist.”
Carrie tells me I’ll find the same B-52 cocktail in the vitamin water that Mira Tang spiked. The vials of haloperidol, lorazepam, the liquid Benadryl are in a gym bag at her house under her bed.
“I assisted Ryder Briley with one last favor before he and his trashy wife rot in prison. And believe me, that’s the worst thing for them.” Carrie feeds the cheetah from a plate of ground steaktartare. “Terrible to imagine how they’ll be treated for the rest of their days, depending on how long they last. All because of me. Payback.”
“For what?”
“They didn’t do as instructed. And I know about being a helpless child when you’re trapped in a nightmarish home, completely controlled by fuckers.” She feeds Choo Choo another raw steak meatball.
“You didn’t deserve to be mistreated as a child, Carrie. But how tragic that you’ve turned into the same monster,” I reply as pounding sounds in the background…
Then wood splinters… Voices shoutPOLICJA!as the monitor blinks out. I look down at the phone in my lap, reading Lucy’s last text.
We got her,it says.
CHAPTER 35
By early afternoon the volatile weather has moved on, the sun slipping in and out of clouds as Marino and I drive through the Shenandoah Valley. Lucy, Tron, Benton and other key federal agents have landed in Warsaw. Before that they were monitoring my remote chat with Carrie Grethen.
“Pretty damn smart.” Marino has his Ray-Bans on, chilling in shorts and a T-shirt. “Carrie Grethen must be so pissed she can’t see straight.”
“It was brilliant.” I’m in a baggy tracksuit and sneakers after stopping by my office.
I took a last look at Luna Briley’s body, the marks on her upper arms and neck vivid after more time in the cooler. They verify what I saw in the video Carrie Grethen played for me early this morning. Moments before Luna was shot to death, her mother grabbed her violently in a fit of rage directed at her cheating husband.
The Brileys and Mira Tang are being held without bail, and Marino and I are taking the rest of the day off, sort of. This isn’t a pleasure trip to the mountains in the western part of Virginia. It’s something I have to do. I won’t have peace until Iknow why Sal had been making trips to Weyers Cave, carrying thousands of dollars in cash, since last June.
“Whatever Lucy cooked up with Janet, the two of them caught Carrie Grethen, end of story,” Marino is saying. “They set up something in cyberland, and the psycho fell for it hook, line and sinker. But I’m surprised Lucy did it.”
“What do you mean?” I look out at the range of Appalachian Mountains rolling in the distance, thinking about what Lee Fishburne said about volcanic rock.
“She basically turned Janet into a honeypot.” Marino slides open the ashtray, digging out a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. “She used Janet to seduce Carrie into letting down her guard. Hell, the two of them have probably been talking for a while depending on when the hacking started.”
“The two of who have been talking?”