"This time," Bishop said, "I got it from the horse's mouth. And by horse, I mean Brittney herself."
"That bitch!" I said. "I knew it!"
Lawton and Bishop turned to look at me, almost as if I'd been momentarily forgotten. "Well, she is," I muttered.
Lawton's face had gone a shade paler in the last couple of minutes. He looked at me as if he had no words to convey whatever he was feeling. "Chloe, I –"
"Forget it," I said. "Now are you gonna let me go or not?"
"No," he said.
"What?" I snapped. "You're kidding, right?"
"I mean," he continued. "Yeah, I'll let you go. I'm so sorry about this. But I don't wanna let you go, not like this, I mean in the other way." His eyes were haunted. "I am so fucking sorry."
"Oh please," I said. "You're a total psycho. I should've known better. Now, seriously." I spoke very slowly, as if he were too stupid to understand even the most basic of instructions. "Let. Me. Go."
Glancing away, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. "I wasn't really gonna hold you here, you know."
"Whatever."
"Wait," Bishop said.
I turned to glare at him. "For what?"
"Before you leave, there's something we need to discuss."
But Lawton was already behind me. I heard the sound of a key working against the cuffs, and a moment later, my hands were blissfully free. Gingerly, I changed position, wrapping my sore arms around my equally sore body and tugging the blanket around my shoulders just a little tighter.
I pushed away from the chair, standing, a little wobbly, but more or less okay. I turned to Bishop. "And what, exactly, do we need to discuss?" My voice was a cold, strange sound in the dim basement.
"Are you gonna call the police?" he asked.
"Well, you two seem to have some sort of problem with the police," I said. "I wonder why that is."
"Call 'em," Lawton said. "Whatever happens, I deserve it. I mean it. Whatever you want." He reached out for me. "I'm so sorry."
"Stop saying that!" I pushed his hands away. "Don’t. Touch. Me." I glared at him. "Ever."
As if oblivious to the drama with me and Lawton, Bishop said, "You never answered my question."
"Yeah?" I said. "That's because I don't know the answer."
He nodded. "Fair enough. But I want to remind you of something. That little party, or whatever it was in the house, along with that picture of him you took. Well, it doesn't make you look exactly like an innocent young thing."
I glared at him. "What are you saying?"
"Just that if you start something, you'd better think it through. And I'm not just saying it for Lawton's sake."
"Liar."
"Think what you want," he said. "But I’m telling you, and Lawton can tell you too, things can get ugly real quick in a situation like this."
Lawton turned to glare at him. "You threatening her?"
"Oh, this is special," I said in the snottiest tone I could muster. "Sonowyou're coming to my defense? Gee, thanks. Where were you when some psycho handcuffed me in his basement? Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot, that guy was you. Asshole."
Bishop made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
