Half-Past Dawn

CHAPTER 20

Cristos entered the room and laid a new silver tray of food and tea on the table before Mia, picked up the tray of tea and the now-empty plate, and handed it to a man at the door, who quickly departed. They were once again sealed in.

“How dare you!” Mia raged as she shook the picture of her children. “My children have nothing to do with this.”

“I see we found our voice.” Cristos’s tone was calm and proper, like a nanny speaking to a child. “Your children are fine. I have not touched them, nor will I. Provided you help me.”

“You killed my husband,” Mia finally said, her eyes filled with anger. She was not going to give this man the satisfaction of crying, letting him see her pain, seeing her weak. “They’re going to find me. The whole world of law enforcement is going to come down on your head.”

“Actually,” Cristos said in feigned sympathy, “the only place they are looking for you is at the bottom of a river.” He picked up a newspaper from the silver tray and placed it before Mia, the headline screaming out the deaths of her and her husband.

Mia sat there in shock. What was stopping them from killing her now?

“I have a very simple question,” Cristos said. “Where is the evidence case?”

Mia stared at Cristos.

“I know that you removed it from the FBI and hid it in the evidence room of the Tombs.”

“How would someone like you know that?” Mia said, channeling her pain into anger.

Cristos stood and walked around the small room. He rubbed his fingers together as he stared off in thought before finally looking back at Mia. “I want you to look at me,” he began as he took a seat next to Mia. “Where in the evidence room of the Tombs is the case?”

Mia stared at him, defiant and silent.

“Where is the case?” Cristos’s voice was barely above a whisper as his dark eyes began to bore into her.

Mia continued staring, her silence taunting him.

He leaned forward into her face; she could smell the odor of cigarettes and wine on his breath. Their eyes were inches apart as he mouthed the words, “Where is the case?”

Mia stared back, but instead of answering, she did the one thing that she did when confronting an adversary, be it her father, her husband, or a suspect.

She simply gave a false, vindictive smile.

Cristos exploded, all refinement melting away, the veins and tendons in his neck distended and throbbing. “ Where is the case?”

Mia had gotten to him. Without a single word, she had unearthed the madman beneath the silk and wool facade.

Suddenly, his hand shot out, grabbing her around the throat, while his other hand grabbed her by her hair. His trembling rage radiated down his arms, through his hands, and into her.

He slowly began to squeeze just enough to send a message that he could snap her neck with his bare hand. Her face began to redden, and although she tried not to react, fear rose into her eyes.

“Tell me where the case is, or this is what I will do to your children.”

There was a knock on the door. The lock was released, and it opened. A dark-haired man no more than thirty, dressed in a suit, popped his head in. “You need to come here, right now. You’re not going to believe this.”