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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

They had parked the car blocks away and then made their way into Bennett’s backyard via an undeveloped greenbelt. Lizzy watched behind a thick shrub and signaled to Hayley and Kitally that Bennett had arrived.

As she had seen the man do many times before, he parked his car near the fountain in front of his mansion. As he busied himself with unlocking the front door, Lizzy moved swiftly and silently after him. When he’d stepped inside and disabled the alarm, she rushed up from behind, put the TASER to his neck, and hit the switch.

He collapsed to his knees; fell flat to the marble floor, his body twitching. His face, turned to one side, contorted as he grimaced in pain and shock.

Kitally, Hayley, and Lizzy all wore black. They also wore dark full-faced ski masks just like the one Hayley was now sliding over Bennett’s head as he writhed on the floor.

Lizzy shut the door and locked it while Kitally wrapped duct tape around Bennett’s neck, securing his mask in place. Lizzy and Hayley stripped his clothes off. Hayley injected him with Dilaudid to help keep him under control.

They dragged him through the house, to the side door leading into the garage. His head knocked into the door frame and then clunked against the doormat covering a small section of the cement floor.

“Watch his head,” Kitally said.

They ignored her.

There was only one other car, an expensive BMW, inside the five-car garage, leaving plenty of room for them to do their work.

As soon as he stopped twitching, Lizzy hit him with the TASER again, giving him a good jolt. “How does it feel to be naked and powerless, Mr. Bennett?”

He grunted, tried to say something, but had a difficult time getting any words out. “You . . . will . . . pay . . . for . . . this,” he finally managed.

Lizzy held out her hand toward Hayley. “Give me the baton.”

Hayley did as she said.

Lizzy extended the stick and cracked it hard across the pale flesh of his thigh.

His pride did not allow him to scream out in pain. Although most of his face was covered, she could see the agony in the clenching of hands and teeth.

“Get on all fours,” Lizzy told him. “I want to see you walk around on the cold cement floor like the pig you are. Do it now or I’ll zap you with the TASER.”

He didn’t move.

She swatted him again, swinging harder this time, hitting him across the chest and then the stomach.

His knees rolled up to his chest in pain, but then he did as she said. He rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees.

“Move around in circles and squeal like a pig. We’re getting this on tape, so make it good.”

“You will die,” he said between pathetic squeals, his voice muffled beneath the mask.

She swatted him on the buttocks, leaving a red welt against his skin. “Squeal louder. We can’t hear you.”

He shrieked more than squealed. Pathetic. After a few seconds, he stopped, came to his knees, and put his hands to his neck. His fingers pulled and clawed at the ski mask covering his face.

Lizzy whipped his right arm and then his left. She swung out wide and came back hard, lashing his chest and then his side. Blind with rage, she whipped him across the shoulder. Blood spurted. An intricate network of red welts appeared.

He fell to the ground.

He was on his side, his knees curled close to his chest.

She couldn’t see through her fury, couldn’t stop whipping him, gaining no pleasure from what she was doing, just intent on stopping him from ever hurting another human being. He had been molesting young women for years. He raped and murdered and paid people to turn the other way.

Her arm was sore, her palm blistered from holding so tight to the baton, but she refused to stop.

She would put an end to this now.

She continued lashing out until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kitally.

The horror she saw scrawled across her face prompted Lizzy to stop and take a step back. Her arm fell to her side, and the baton dropped from her hands, clanked, and rolled across the cement floor.

She turned her palms upward and saw a new blister forming. And then she looked at Bennett. He was a bloody mess. He was no longer moving. She had no idea if he was breathing.

Have I become one of them?

Her stomach turned. Was she now a clone of the monsters she’d been trying so hard to get off the streets? When had this happened? What had she done? “We’re finished here,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “Let’s go.”

Hayley grabbed hold of her shoulder. “You two get out of here. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“No, you won’t. Leave him be.”

Hayley frowned. “You know he’ll just do it again. How many young lives is he going to ruin before you regret this decision?”

Silence. It took all she had to keep the bile from coming forth.

“He’s the devil,” Hayley said. “We need to finish this . . . right now.”

Lizzy couldn’t bring herself to look into Hayley’s eyes. She was responsible for these girls, and look what she’d done. She’d brought it to this.

She thought of Jared then. He’d seen evil in all forms, and yet he never would have bent down to the criminal’s level. Never. There was no excuse. “I said let him go, and I mean it.”

She went to the side door that led out of the garage, held it open, and waited for both Kitally and Hayley to come.

Kitally didn’t waste any time getting out of there.

Hayley took a little longer. She looked from Bennett to Lizzy. “This isn’t right.”

“We never should have come,” Lizzy told her. “I made a mistake.”

“Your hormones are all fucked up.”

“Let’s go,” Lizzy said again, refusing to leave without her.

Once they were outside, Lizzy shut the door and looked at Hayley.

She’d never seen Hayley direct her anger at her before, but she was seething and there was no doubt who she was pissed off at. Hayley got right up in her face, their noses an inch apart. “I know why you can’t do this. But you don’t have a clue, because you’re too wrapped up in all those distorted thoughts of yours to see the sky through the clouds.”

Lizzy opened her mouth to respond, but Hayley shut her down. “I shouldn’t have to tell you this, Lizzy, but you need to get your ass to the doctor. You’re fucking pregnant.”

Jessica greeted all three of them when they returned to Kitally’s house in Carmichael. She had Salma’s baby positioned atop her shoulder. Awkwardly, she tried to create a rocking motion and pat the baby on the back at the same time. “Where have you all been?” she asked. “I’ve been calling you for the last hour. I left messages on all of your phones.”

Kitally swept right by without saying a word.

Hayley grunted and disappeared.

“What’s wrong with everyone? What’s with the black outfits?”

Lizzy headed inside.

“I really need to talk to you, Lizzy.”

“I need some water first,” Lizzy said. “When did you get in?” She grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filled it with tap water and gulped it down.

“I arrived this morning,” Jessica told her, “but I’ve been at the office all day. Jimmy dropped me here at the house a couple hours ago.” She stepped closer. “What’s wrong with everyone?”

“Don’t ask. What do you need to talk to me about?”

Jessica asked Lizzy to follow her to the dining room table where pictures were spread out from one end of the table to the other. Lizzy had seen most of the pictures when they met with Jimmy Martin and Kenneth Mitchell downtown. There were new pictures as well.