Stockholm

Chapter 13

My hands are clammy as I take a seat in a mid-sized room. There's a handful of tables, all of them empty. Glass wraps around the room, bars on the windows, cameras blinking in every corner.

It's not the room that has my hands clammy though.

A gate rattles, voices muffled as a guard brings an inmate towards me. I've studied his mugshot a thousand times over but I'm still taken aback when Scotty Decker slumps into the chair across from me. One eye black and swollen shut, he's missing a front tooth, an angry bruise across his cheekbone and instantly I start to think that maybe I have even more leverage than I thought going into this. Looks like ole Scotty isn't having a fun time in prison.

"Why am I here?" He barks out at the guard. "Take me back to my cell."

"You don't even know what I'm going to say." I tell him.

He lets his back melt back into the chair, licking his lips as he studies me with an overall air of disinterest.

"I know you're a cop." He accuses. "Me and cops don't get along."

I smirk, I can only imagine Paul and Scotty together in the same room. They were probably at each other's throats, not figuratively.

I pull Henry Ozak's photo out and slide it across the table. Scotty doesn't even attempt to drop his eyes to it as he stares at me.

"Years ago, there was a little girl named Chloe. She went missing from a park nearby her house. Not quite three years old, just plucked right out of her home when her babysitter turned her back for a moment." I tell him. "Now I've been killing myself trying to figure out how that could be. How no one saw anything, heard anything. It's crazy right?" I ask knowing I'm not getting an answer back. "So like any good cop, I went back and did my due diligence until I came across this little girl."

Pointing to the picture of Baby as a young girl, I give my words a moment to bury themselves deep in Scotty's mind. And this time he actually looks down.

"Now she's not the girl I'm necessarily looking for but she did lead me to some interesting things. You specifically. And imagine my surprise to learn that Dwayne Decker is locked up for human trafficking charges."

I watch him swallow hard, his Adam apple bobbing in his throat but he remains still, an annoyed look in his one eye not swollen shut.

"I'm already locked up, what good is coming after me now." He grumbles at me. "Besides I don't know nuthin' about it."

Nodding my head, I make an act of accepting his answer. "I heard your new cellmate is Victor Martinez." The corners of his mouth drop just ever so slightly. "I'd be careful with that guy, he's got a track record for handing out punishments to guys that hurt kids. Remind me, Scotty..." I lean forward onto my elbows and square up my gaze with his. "How old was Baby when you raped her first?"

I don't actually know this to be true, it's an accusation but I think I got it right as I watch the color drain from his face.

"You don't got proof." He mutters.

"I don't need proof. I don't think Martinez needs it either."

Scotty folds his arms across his chest, a faded tattoo peaks out from below the orange jumpsuit he wears. His jaw clenches and unclenches, his knuckles white as he decides his next move. And I sit there, as relaxed as I can possibly be, trying to maintain the cards I've just been dealt so I can squeeze out as many answers as I can from him.

"What do you want then?" Scotty finally relents.

I pull Chloe's picture out, the one with chocolate cupcake smashed all over her face and slide it across the table to sit beside the picture of Baby as a young girl.

"What do you remember about her?" I prompt.

Scotty's reluctant to look down at the picture but he does. I'm waiting for a shift in his demeanor, anything, that'll give me an idea as to if he knows her, if he remembers, if he's involved at all or if this is just a dead end but he gives nothing away.

"She was just a little girl when she was ripped away from everything she knew. Her mom, her dad. She had an older brother. The whole family, destroyed, just like that." I push. "I've got an eye witness saying Baby was there, with her mother." I can feel desperation open up inside me like an angry monster as he remains still. "Her mother who I can absolutely link to you. The streets talk, Scotty, and they've been talking about you."

"What do I get outta this." He asks.

I don't want to give him shit but really he could ask me for a million dollars and I'd probably give it to him if he had the answers. It makes guilt form in my stomach but it's the truth.

"You give me good information and I'll get you a new cellmate." I tell him.

He licks his lips again, a snarl on his face as he pushes the photographs back across the table. He's not going to talk. I'm not sure if it's fear or anger that rushes through me but it's a heat so intense I momentarily lose my cool and slam my hands down on the table. It draws the attention of the guards, their movements a distant itch in my peripheral but I can't deal with them yet.

"Don't forget I'm a cop, asshole. How about I go chat with Martinez when we're done? I know you're used to looking the other way but don't think us cops won't too. What's another dead piece of shit inmate to us? We still get to go home at night, regardless of whether you're alive or dead."

"Everything okay in here?" A guard shouts from the doorway, hand on his pistol that lays on his hip.

I smile, sitting back down into my chair as Scotty nods his head. "Yeah, we're cool."

The guard lingers for a moment as we both sit and stare at each other. I'm shaking, filled with rage as I wait. My father was a good man, a proud man. He'd keep his word. Me, however, I am not my father.

Scotty waits for the guard to be satisfied, neither of us are going to do anything, and when we're alone again, he caves.

"I was hard up. That bitch smoked all my drugs and I had to pay up. A buddy told me about a job he got offered and didn't want to take. So I did." He shakes his head. "It was the first job I did. Honestly for how fuckin' messy I was about it, it went off pretty well considering you're the first cop that's ever asked me about it."

"What did you do with her?" The question slips out between my clenched teeth, full of venom and ready to strike.

Scotty looks at me, all the bullshit that's been ingrained in his features leaves for a brief moment as he says it like it's really that simple, "I met with this couple, they wanted a girl."

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I've been having too many late nights. I'm too old for this. I played soccer for the first time ever in my life yesterday and did too golf also. Soccer was surprisingly fun considering I'm convinced running is the devils sport. But shit am I beat this morning.