Lionel started to weep. “No,” he said. “It’s more than that, more than it sucks. I wanted to die when I realized what happened.”
“But how did you figure it out?”
“You mean, besides the pain? One of the guys showed me a picture,” he said, “I was completely buck naked, and, … and they took photos.”
“Shit.” Troy couldn’t imagine the betrayal he felt. “Do you know who it was?”
“I know a bunch of them, but I don’t know all of them. And I don’t know how many people saw those photos,” he said.
The shame in his tone ripped at Troy’s heart. “Lionel, it’s not your fault. You know? They’re abusers. These guys, they’re just abusers who get off on power trips like this, knowing they can do something to you while you can’t do anything about it.”
“It wouldn’t have been so bad, not knowing and all,” Lionel said, “until I saw the photos. And then they started to show people the photos. They started taking money for the next time.”
Troy swallowed hard. “The next time? Any idea how many times?”
“No. I never knew when it would happen. I didn’t know if it was in my food or my coffee. I didn’t know if it was in my water. For all I know, I got shot up with it too.”
“So you have no idea if it was more than three or four times?”
“No, but the last time I woke up, … bleeding,” he said. “More than the other times. It was brutal. I could hardly even move. I managed to get to the doctor, and that’s when I realized he was part of it.”
“How did you find that out?”
“Because he wasn’t even surprised. He said, ‘They shouldn’t have …’ and then stopped talking.” Lionel was too choked up to continue.
“Jesus,” Troy said, “I’m sorry. The doctor is dead now.”
“Yep, he is,” Lionel said, standing up. “And what will you do about it?”
“I’m not doing anything about it,” Troy said. “When daylight comes, I’m getting on a helicopter, and I’m leaving this place.”
“You better take her with you.”
“Why is that?”
“She was next,” he said. “I heard them talking about it. I was trying to figure out what to do for myself, when I heard them saying that they wanted a woman again, and they wanted her.”
“Do you know if they still have any plans for her?”
“Well, the four managers are dead, and I don’t know who else is involved,” he said. “But I can guarantee you, it will be at least one of the guys who’s still here.”
“Maybe,” Troy said, “I hope not. But I don’t have a problem taking them out either. The ocean can have them, for all I care. Sick bastards.” Troy stared solemn-eyed at the young man who’d been so painfully abused by the people he worked with. “But, Lionel, I need you to stop punishing them.”
“I didn’t kill them,” he said quietly. “I applaud whoever did, but I didn’t do it.”
“Seriously?” Troy felt the shock all the way through his bones.
“Yeah, seriously. I came here looking for evidence to prove what had happened, because I’m going after the company for millions. This happened on their watch, under their atmosphere of assault and abuse, and they turned a blind eye,” he said. “All I need is evidence to get money for help to get over all this,” he said. “I don’t even know if I’ll be okay ever again. The doc couldn’t do very much, and I’m still bleeding.”
“Why didn’t you run when the explosion happened? Why didn’t you take your chance to get off?”
“I wanted to,” he said, “and then I realized that, with everybody gone, I’d have a better chance of finding out who all was behind this. I’ve got one of the managers’ phones, and that told me a lot. It’s bad news, all of it. Those three women and me, and now I know they’ve been stalking Berkley.” He pulled a phone from his pants pocket. “Look at this.” Quickly he opened several photos, and they were all of Berkley. Unfortunately they were from her office, outside her door, and even in the bathroom.
“Damn it,” Troy said. “Is there any of her in her bedroom?”
Lionel nodded, switched to another set of photos, finding a picture of her bed, Berkley lying in it. And Troy knew that meant somebody could quite possibly have seen him with Berkley last night.
She was in more danger than ever.
Chapter 14
“And how are things going between you and Troy?” Axel asked.
She beamed up at him. “Great,” she said. “He’s a good guy.”
“That he is,” Axel said.
Mason nodded, a knowing grin on his face; then he looked down at his phone and swore. He bolted to his feet. “You two stay together, okay?”
“Will do,” Axel said and watched Mason disappear.
“Where is he going?”
“Either Troy or Nelson must have texted him,” Axel said. He got up and walked over to the pan of bear claws and grabbed another one. “Do you think Denny will mind if we eat them all before breakfast?”
“Well, since he’s not here to stop us, he’ll probably be upset, but, at the same time, he’ll be thrilled,” she said. “It’s one of those cases where you want people to enjoy them, but you don’t want them to enjoy them so much that you don’t have enough for everyone else.”
“Good point,” he said, yet he still grabbed another one. He sat back down with her, but she stared at him nervously.
“Do you think Troy is okay?”
“Why wouldn’t he be?” Axel said.
“Just the way that Mason bolted out of here.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” he said, as he took a big bite. “There’s a lot of bolting in our world.”
She looked around the empty dining area. “Where is everybody?”
He stopped, looked around the room, then back at her, and said, “Do you really think something has happened to all of them?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Like I really don’t know.”
“Shit,” he said. “You really know how to ruin a treat, don’t you?” But she stared at him nervously. “Okay, what do you want to do?” He picked up his phone.
She grabbed hers and sent Troy a text, asking if he was okay. The response came right back. “Well, Troy says he’s okay.” With a smile, she texted back. Good. I was just checking.
At that, a little heart emoji came right back. She chuckled.
“I’ll say again that everything is good with Troy and me,” she said.
“Make sure you take some time to get to know him,” Axel said.
“Yeah, right,” she said. “Like we’ve had a whole lot of time, haven’t we?”
“You can learn a lot about a guy in a situation like this,” Axel said. “Seriously.”
“Yep, absolutely. And, like I said, he’s a good guy.”
“Well, in that case,” he said, “instead of the barbecue on the weekend being at Mason’s, it’ll be at my place. Why don’t you bring him?”