CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Brenda was sitting in the interrogation room in the downtown station of the NOPD. The two giants who brought her in had no sense of humor at all, and the bitches who helped them were even worse. She hadn't been allowed her one phone call, and the truth was, she wasn't sure who to call.

If she called Frank, he'd be implicated in all of this. Hell, he might not even come for her. The other two definitely wouldn't. She was on her own. She'd tried to get those two big, tall, sexy drinks of water to let her take care of them, but they wanted nothing to do with her.

The door opened, and the tattooed chick and the other big one walked in. The Hawaiian was standing outside the door, speaking to one of the officers. Along with the two women, her hot male escorts walked in.

She tried to give a coy smile, but both men sneered.

"Please, don't make me lose my dinner," said Whiskey. "I have zero interest in you. But let me tell you what you're going to do for me."

"Anything, honey. Name it," she smiled.

"Don't call me honey. You're going to tell me who you're working with on the dating app." That got Brenda's attention. She sat back, folded her handcuffed hands and just stared at the two men.

"Lady, if you think I won't hurt you because you're a woman, you're wrong," said Dex. "You and your friends are scamming, stealing, and breaking people just because you can. Because you're too fucking lazy to get a real job. Now, who are your friends and where are they?"

She said nothing, just staring straight ahead. Hazel spun her knife around, twisting and turning it, then slamming it into the table between her fingers. Brenda gasped, jumping back.

"Leave me alone with her. Fifteen minutes is all I need," said Hazel.

"Wait, if she gets fifteen minutes with her, I want fifteen minutes," said Piper.

"I want a lawyer," said the woman in a panicked voice.

"Too fucking bad," growled Whiskey.

"I know my rights! I get an attorney."

"You don't get it. You have no fucking rights," said Whiskey. "We're not cops. We don't have to give you shit. Now, the NOPD has been very kind to us in lending us this room, but they don't give a shit what condition we leave it in. As I said before, I have no problem beating the shit out of a woman like you."

"You don't even know me," she whispered.

"Let me guess," said Piper. "You're going to tell me how your father abused you and your mother was a drunk. Men have used you and tossed you aside for years. You deserve this." Brenda stared up at the beautiful woman. Even the tattooed woman was beautiful.

"Actually, no," said Brenda. "I had a normal, healthy childhood. My parents loved me, cared for me, and provided for me. I've never been married, and no man has ever abused me."

"Then why are you stealing from these men? They've done nothing to you," said Hazel. Brenda just stared at the room of people, wondering if they truly didn't understand any of this.

"I deserve it. It's that simple. I deserve it. If these men weren't so stupid, they wouldn't allow a woman to take advantage of them."

"That's it," said Hazel, slamming the table. She tried to reach for Brenda, but Piper held her back, Dex gripping her arms as well.

"We can't kill her. Not yet."

"I want a lawyer."

"You'll get one," said Whiskey. "But we strongly suspect that you're experiencing a psychiatric emergency, and we've asked the Parish to admit you for a mandatory seventy-two-hour observance."

"No," she whispered. "No, you can't do that. You can't."

"Oh, we can, we will, and we did," said Dex. "You're headed to the psych ward at the hospital. No phones, no electronics, no visitors. Nothing. If you change your mind between now and the end of the three days, we'll get you a lawyer. If you don't change your mind and tell us who your friends are, I'm going to make sure you get the maximum punishment of the law. You and you alone."

Brenda just stared at them, not saying anything. When the Hawaiian woman walked into the room, she held her breath. She tossed a folder onto the table, and Brenda froze.

"Brenda Oaks. Thirty-four years old. An old thirty-four if you ask me. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in business. Interesting, sweet Brenda," said Ani, looking at the woman. "An older sister, Barbara, married with three children living on a farm in Wisconsin.

"Two younger brothers, both working in Chicago. One, oh my. Really, Brenda?" smirked Ani. "One is a cop. What do you think is going to happen to him when his sister is arrested for fraud, theft, ya da ya da? Or is he helping you?"

"Leave my family out of this!"

"Oh, no, honey. Everyone is fair game when you decide to do something this slimy," said Piper.

"Dear me, Piper. Lookie here," smirked Ani. "Sgt. Brandon Oaks has applied to the FBI Academy."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," said Piper. "Since I was FBI, and you were CIA, I'm going to bet we can prevent that from happening."

"Don't do this to him. He has nothing to do with this. He's not responsible for anything I've done."

"Talk," said Ani.

Brenda nibbled on her bottom lip, looking at the people in the room. If she sold out the others, she'd be as good as dead. Frank, especially, wasn't worried about killing anyone to get what he wanted. All she could hope for was a very good attorney.

"There's nothing to tell. It was all my idea," she said.

"Well, that's going to be interesting to prove when we ask you the details of the system and how it works."

She felt the panic rising in her chest and just glared at Hazel, Piper, and Ani. Hoping that somehow the men would take pity, she turned, giving her best pout and batting her lashes.

"Bitch, please," growled Whiskey. Dex laughed, shaking his head.

"You have to give her credit for tenacity," he chuckled. Piper opened the door, waving in two NOPD officers.

"Take her to the psych ward. Our little villain seems to have a psychological disorder."

"No. No, please don't do this to me! Please!"

"Let us know when you want to talk, Brenda. Until then, just relax. The straitjacket isn't as bad as you might think," said Ani. She cried and screamed all the way down the hall, not helping her case at all.

"Straitjacket? Will they do that?" asked Hazel.

"Oh, hell no," laughed Ani. "Not unless she's a danger to herself. I just wanted to plant that image in her head."

"Anything else of value in her information?" asked Whiskey.

"No. Never married. One arrest for check forgery when she was just out of college. It totaled a little over five grand, which she paid back. Nothing after that. She's bounced around, living in a number of different places but nowhere for very long. It doesn't list any boyfriends, but obviously, she handles that herself."

"What about the cameras at Riley's?" asked Dex.

"We've got several clips of her with men. We're trying to find the ones that we don't know to see if they'll file a complaint against her. We have to make this case big if we're going to scare the shit out of her."

"What do we do if she doesn't talk at the end of the seventy-two hours?" asked Whiskey.

"Leave her in a room alone with us," smiled Hazel.

"You know, Hazel, normally, I would be all about bullying the asshole criminals, but you look like you're seriously going to enjoy this," said Dex.

"Oh, you can be sure I'll enjoy this. I've known more than a few women like her. They give the rest of us a bad name and make men distrust all of us. That shit doesn't work for me. I'm going to get her to tell us the truth, even if I have to drug the bitch."