She turned a circle, thinking. “Because they can. They know how to move fast, to do a job like this fast, so any potential witnesses see mostly a blur. Couple of guys in black, big black van. Pow, pow. Might not have figured that anybody'd do more than scratch and spit over it in that neighborhood, too. Nobody reports, it takes more time for anybody to realize Newman's among the missing. Longer yet to make any connection to the Swisher murders.”
Eve looked at the blank walls, the lonely, neatly made bed. “They've got her somewhere, right now. When they're done with her, she'll be as dead as this room.”
Eve pulled out her communicator. When Baxter came on, she snapped: “Private communication. Get to a secure location or go to text only.”
“Just me and Trueheart here, Dallas. Kid's downstairs. We've got her on monitor.”
“The social worker on her case has been grabbed. Unsubs match description of our suspects. I don't want the wit out of your sight.”
“She isn't and won't be. Do you expect they'll come after her?”
“If they can find out where she is, they'll try. I want her inside, at all times. Stay on this until the next time you hear from me.”
She clicked off, called Roarke. “They've got the social worker,” she said when he went to private. “She doesn't know the location, and it's a big leap. But I've alerted Baxter.”
“Understood. I'll pass this on to Summerset,” he added in a tone that told her he was in a meeting. “I can be there myself in thirty minutes.”
“I don't think they can move faster-and Newman just knew I took her, not that I took her home, but watch your back. They put the kid with me, they put you with me. Another grab isn't out of the question.”
“I'll offer you the same advice, and say that in both cases it's unnecessary.”
This time it was Roarke who ended transmission.
“Scoop up her discs, address books, memo books. Contact EDD for a pickup on her equipment. Let's do this by the book.”
“How long do you think she's got?”
Eve looked around the stark, soulless room. “Not long enough.”
When Meredith surfaced, she thought there was an ice pick dead center of her forehead, radiating sharp shards of pain. The headache was so blinding, she assumed at first that was the reason she couldn't see.
Her stomach rolled a bit, as if she'd eaten something past its expiration date, but when she tried to press her hand to it, her arm wouldn't move.
From somewhere, far off, she heard voices. A watery echo of voices.
Then she remembered. She'd been walking on Avenue B, on her way to a home check, and something… someone…
The fear came fast, spearing through the pain. When she tried to scream, the only sound she could make was a wild, whimpering moan.
She was in the dark, unable to move her arms, her legs, her head. Unable to see or speak, and when something brushed her cheek, her heart punched against her ribs like a fist.
“Subject's conscious. Meredith Newman, you are in a secured location. You will be asked questions. If you answer these questions, you will not be harmed. I'm going to remove the tape from your mouth at this time. Once I do, tell me if you understand.”
Having the tape ripped off in the solid dark brought on a scream that was more from utter terror than pain. She was slapped, open-palm, on one cheek, followed by a quick answering backhand on the other.
“I said tell me if you understand.”
“No. I don't. I don't understand. What's the matter? Who are you? What-” She screamed again, her body straining against the restraints as pain exploded. Like a thousand hot needles jabbed into her bones.
“It will hurt every time you refuse to answer, any time you lie, any time you don't do as you're told.” The voice was quiet, flat. “Do you understand?”
“Yes. Yes. Please, don't hurt me.”
“We'll have no reason to hurt you if you answer our questions. Are you afraid, Meredith?”
“Yes. Yes, I'm afraid.”
“Good. You've told the truth.”
She couldn't see, but she could hear. She heard little beeps and pings, his breathing-steady. No, someone else, too. She could hear, she thought, movement-but not where the breathing was. Two of them. There'd been two of them.
“What do you want? Please tell me what you want.”
There was another jolt, shocking, quicker, that left her gasping. She thought she smelled something burning, like raw meat. And thought, through the shocking pain, she heard a woman laugh.
“You don't ask questions.”
A second voice. A little deeper, a little harsher than the first. Not a woman. Must have imagined. What does it matter?
God, oh God, help me.
Her eyes wheeled, and she saw there was faint light, just a slit of light to her left. Not in the dark. Thank God, not in the dark. Her eyes were taped as her mouth had been.
They didn't want her to see them. Didn't want her to be able to identify them. Thank God, thank God. They weren't going to kill her.
But they would hurt her.
“I won't. I'll answer. I'll answer.”
“Where is Nixie Swisher?”
“Who?”
The pain struck like a fiery ax, slicing her up the center. Her screams burst into the air, and tears of shock spilled down her cheeks. Her bowels went to water.
“Please, please.”
“Please, please.” It was a woman's voice, a sneering mimic of her own. “Jesus, she shit herself. Pussy.”
Meredith screamed again when the icy water struck her. She began to weep now, thick, wet sobs, as she realized she was naked, wet, soiled.
“Where is Nixie Swisher?”
“I don't know who that is.”
And sobbing, she braced for the agony that didn't come. Her breath came in pants now, her eyes tracking back and forth, from the dark, to the sliver of light, to the dark, to the light.
“Your name is Meredith Newman.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” Her skin was on fire, her bones were like ice. “God. God.”
“Is Nixie Swisher one of your cases, as an employee of Child Protection Services?”
“I-I-I get so many. There are so many. I can't remember. Please don't hurt me, please, I can't remember.”
“Register blue,” one of them said from behind her.
“Overworked, Meredith?”
“Yes.”
“I understand that. The system sucks you up, sucks you dry. The wheel of it runs over and crushes what's left of you. Revolution comes because of all it crushes. You're tired of the wheel, aren't you?”
“Yes. Yes.”
“But it's not done with you yet. Tell me, Meredith, how many families have you destroyed?”
“I-” Tears spilled into her mouth. She swallowed the salt of them. “I try to help.”
Impossible, unspeakable pain seared into her. Her screams were mindless pleas for mercy.
“You're a cog on that wheel. A cog on the wheel that crushes out the lifeblood. But now it's turning around to crush you, isn't it? Do you want to escape, Meredith?”
She tasted vomit on her tongue, in her throat. “Yes. No more, please, no more.”
“Nixie Swisher. Let me refresh you. A girl, a young girl who wasn't in her bed as she was told to be. Disobedient child. Disobedient children should be punished. Isn't that right?”
She opened her mouth, unsure. “Yes,” she said, praying it was the answer he wanted.
“Do you remember her now? Do you remember the little girl who wasn't in her bed? Grant and Keelie Swisher, deceased. Executed for heinous acts. Their throats were slit, Meredith. Do you remember now?”
His voice had changed, just a little. There was a fervor that hadn't been there before. Part of her brain registered the fact while the rest gibbered in fear. “Yes. Yes, I remember.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know. I swear I don't know.”
“In the blue,” the other voice reported.
“Jolt.”
She screamed and screamed and screamed as the pain tore into her.
“You reported to the Swisher residence on the night they were executed.”