The Devil's Bounty: A Ryan Lock Novel by Black Sean

Author:Black, Sean [Black, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781446487266
Publisher: Sean Black Digital
Published: 2012-08-04T15:00:00+00:00

Thirty-nine

‘I DON’T GET it.’

Lock rose from the couch, walked five steps into the tiny kitchen and rinsed his coffee mug in the sink. ‘They take girls off the streets, then rape and kill them. Why?’

‘I’ll give you my answer, but you won’t like it,’ said Rafaela.

Lock dried the mug and placed it carefully on the counter. ‘Try me.’

‘They do it …’ she sighed ‘… because they can and because they believe that no one’s going to touch them. When the public outcry gets too much, they have one of Zapatero’s men in the department pick someone up. They threaten his family or torture a confession out of him, he’s convicted and everyone quietens down. In terms of why you’d want to rape and murder, I don’t think the attraction’s hard to grasp, if you think about a certain type of man.’

‘So where does Mendez fit in?’ Ty said, his long legs stretched out, fingers steepled under his chin. ‘He ain’t one of them.’

‘I don’t know,’ Rafaela confessed. ‘That part is strange. They can manipulate the courts here, but by protecting him, they’re inviting the Americans to look at them more closely.’

‘Well, there has to be a reason,’ said Lock. ‘And it’s got to be more than that they’ve found a kindred spirit.’

‘You think?’ said Ty. ‘Why couldn’t it be that? He’s as sick as they are. He comes down here, they work out who he is and offer him an invite into the club.’

Rafaela shook her head. ‘No, Ryan is correct,’ she said to Ty. ‘There’s more to this.’

Lock and Ty took turns to shower in her tiny bathroom and then Rafaela suggested they get some rest. Lock took the couch, Ty the living-room floor and they grabbed a meagre few hours’ sleep. Rafaela slept in her bedroom, or at least she tried to, but her mind was over-occupied. Part of her wanted to drive the Americans back over the border, but another part told her that finally she had people she could trust, whose interests were broadly aligned with hers and that this opportunity might never arise again. She could probe the killings but eventually the group of men, or those around her, would tire of her interference, or she might gather too much evidence and she, too, would be gone. If she was killed that would be one person fewer to protect the young women who were asleep in their beds tonight – with a bloody future awaiting them.

All the horror and despair of recent years had cemented rather than eroded her belief in God. She believed in Him and in the grace of the Holy Mother. Perhaps He had sent these two men to help her. Their arrival might be a sign that the Almighty had grown tired of the wickedness, that He wished Rafaela to call the killers to account.

She got out of bed, clicked on the lamp and began to make a list of places to check. Yesterday she had been one but now she was three.

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