Requite by E. H. Reinhard

voicemail,” he said.
    I heard the recording beep into Wallace’s ear.
    “This is Doctor Wallace from Tampa General Hospital. Mister Richwood, we tried reaching your wife earlier. Your son Jake has been admitted to our facility and we are attempting to contact you regarding his condition.” Doctor Wallace hung up the phone and stood.
    “You mind if I get those phone numbers you have listed for them? I’d like to keep trying to get into contact with them as well.”
    Wallace turned the sheet of paper with the numbers on it toward me so I could copy them down.
    I scribbled them into my notepad. “Thanks.”
    Hank and I got up to leave.
    “I’m going to leave you my card Doctor Wallace. Can you make sure to give me a call if there are any changes with him?”
    “Sure, Lieutenant.”
    Wallace took my card and examined it. He smiled. “I guess your number should be easy enough to remember?”
    “How’s that?” I asked.
    “It’s the same as my daughter’s but the last two numbers are reversed.”
    I nodded.
    Wallace looked up from the business card at me. I noticed his eyes were fixed on the side of my head.
    “You know we have cosmetic surgeons here that could clean that up a little.” He leaned in to get a better look at my scar.
    I pulled back and ran my hand across the scar. “It’s fine. Thanks.”
    He shrugged. “Alright. You officers have a good day.”
    Hank and I walked to the elevator. He reached out and hit the button to take us down. “You should grow hair on that cue ball head of yours if you don’t want people staring at that zipper.”
    “I tried. It doesn’t grow right.”
    “Maybe a hat?”
    “No.”
    “Hairpiece?”
    I gave him a look and grabbed the time from my watch—it was a quarter past eleven. “Want to grab a quick bite before we head back to the station?”
    “Sure, where do you want to go?”
    The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. We walked inside.
    “Someplace I can grab a salad,” I said.
    “Well, I’m going to eat garbage wherever we go. I haven’t had a decent meal in two weeks. Karen has been on some new fad diet. The other night we had kale chips for dinner. I figured it was punishment for something. Then, this morning she made me a spinach smoothie for breakfast. I seriously think she’s trying to poison me.”
    “Did she eat any of it?”
    Hank thought for a moment. “You know, she did have something else.”
    “Yeah, she’s trying to poison you.”

Chapter 11
    Tom pulled the van back into his shop and shut it off. On the wall, he hit the button to close the overhead door and made his way to the back office. He unchained the door and entered. She hadn’t budged. He used an entire roll of duct tape to bind her to the office chair. Her head darted from side to side at the sound of his entrance. Tom approached and crouched in front of her.
    “I’m going to take the tape off your mouth. No screaming. Do you understand me? Nod if you understand.”
    Jessica nodded.
    He ripped the tape from her mouth as hard as he could. He showed no remorse. Jessica winced from the pain but stayed quiet.
    “What do you want from me?” she asked.
    Tom leaned in, putting his face inches from hers. “Justice.”
    She choked at her words. “I don’t understand.”
    “You’ll understand soon enough.” He stood and pushed the side of her head. Tom walked a circle around her. “Now Jessica, can you think of any reason why you’re here?”
    She began to cry. “No.”
    Tom grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back. “Nothing?”
    She shook her head and gasped for air from her mouth. “No.”
    “So you’ve never done anything wrong to anyone?”
    Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “I’ve never done anything. Why are you doing this?”
    “You’re about to find out. Are you ready?”
    “What do you mean ready ? For what?” Her voice came in between short breaths from her mouth.
    Tom rolled Jessica from the office to the drain in the floor at the