CHAPTER 10
A week later Daryl sat on a chair in a room that had been set up as a basic interrogation room. Obviously he couldn't observe behind one way glass the way Leaonora had explained was the manner of profilers back in the day, but he was seated in the shadows and the bright lights on Negan would hamper his view of the rest of the room. Leanora sat beside Daryl in order for Daryl to suggest questions if he thought of any that should be asked.
Negan sat manacled at a table, with two men facing him and four others within striking distance of the table. He sat there quietly, a small smirk playing about his lips as if he thought he had a way out of his current situation.
"This is what I want from you," one of the men seated at the table said quietly. "I want an account of where you were when the shit hit the fan and every place you've been up until we brought you in."
Negan nodded thoughtfully. "That's it?" he questioned.
"Yep. That's all we need from you," the man replied.
"And what do I get in return?" Negan said, laughing slightly.
The man shrugged. "Nothing. This isn't a bargaining session. There aren't any deals to be offered. You simply give us the information we want."
Negan frowned. "So, I don't get a promise of a better cell? Better food? Something? Why would I tell you anything without any incentive?"
"How about instead of drawing and quartering you, we just make it quick and shoot you in the head?" spat one of the men standing. The man sitting at the table who had been talking burst out laughing and gave a high five sign to the man who had spoken.
Negan frowned, his smirk all gone by now. "Fuck you," he spat out.
Leanora stood suddenly and strode over to the table. "Not so fun when you're the one being forced to kneel is it?" she snarled. "Would you like us to get your bat and wave it around so you feel more comfortable?"
Negan froze, glaring at her. Then he frowned and closed his eyes, thinking. After a few seconds of silence he opened his eyes and smiled broadly. "I know now where I've seen you," he said, his smirk back.
Leanora frowned. "Of course you do, I'm the one who broke up your party a few weeks ago," she snapped irritably.
"No, I've seen you before then," Negan continued smoothly. "In a picture. Yes, yes that's where I saw you," and he paused and nodded.
"A picture?" Leanora puzzled.
Daryl stood up suddenly, a bad feeling overwhelming him. Negan was teasing her, taunting her. Hoping to get her off her guard. He was manacled, but who knew what that bastard was capable of? Daryl started across the room, his heart starting to thump loudly in his chest.
"Yes," Negan answered. "In Graham Wilson's office. That's where I saw you, a picture on his wall. You graduated from the Academy and he had a picture of your class on his wall," Negan continued.
Leanora shook her head in confusion. "What are you talking about? How would you have ever been in Graham's office?" she said dismissively.
Negan smiled broadly and shrugged carelessly. "Why when I slit his throat. That's when I saw your picture," and he sat still and gazed at all of them with interest.
Leanora started as if someone had slapped her. The other men moved restlessly and mumbled angrily. Daryl reached Leanora's side and gripped her arm tightly to keep her from getting closer to the table. "Don't listen to him," he rasped at her.
Negan glanced at Daryl and laughed again. "Oh no, she should listen to me. You want to know where I was when all of this happened? I was being tracked by your precious Graham Wilson. Wasn't there a case you were working on with him? Men being murdered with little clues left behind?"
Leanora gasped and the two men sitting at the table stood suddenly and stepped back away from the table. "That's not possible," one of the men mumbled uncertainly.
Negan nodded. "Yes, yes it is. I was the man you were tracking. The serial killer who had killed men at random up and down the East Coast, or so it seemed. I thought I had left enough clues for you to realize what I was doing-that I was in fact doing society a favor by getting rid of these men. But for some reason you people just couldn't catch on." He paused, taking in their shocked and appalled expressions. Daryl tightened his grip on Leanora's arm and attempted to pull her away but she stood rooted to the spot. "I finally paid a visit to Graham to try to point him in the right direction. I heard him on the phone with someone, I'm guessing now that it was you," and he nodded at Leanora and Daryl observed what remaining color that was left in her face drain completely away. "I had him point you out in that picture, I wanted a face for the name," and at this Negan sighed sardonically. "Ah love. Such a folly! Men leave their wives for someone they think will make them happier. Isn't that what the two of you were discussing? All the machinations involved in getting that divorce so the two of you could be together? And how the two of you could keep everything quiet and out of the news?"
Daryl felt Leanora sag beside him, certain that if he hadn't been gripping her arm she would have fallen to the floor. "Shut him the fuck up," Daryl spat out finally. "He's fucking with all of ya. Trying to get ya ta do something stupid so he can get the upper hand. Take him back to his cell and get yer heads right before ya talk ta him again," he snarled.
Negan laughed loudly. "A voice of reason!" he exclaimed, obviously happy that his statements had left his interrogators unsure of themselves and confused as to how to proceed after this information.
"C'mon," Daryl said roughly as he began dragging Leanora toward the door of the interrogation room.
Negan watched Daryl wrestle a stumbling Leanora toward the door. "What was that little nickname he had for you again? Let me thinkā¦." He began.
Daryl growled angrily. "Shut yer fuckin' mouth or I'll shut it for ya with yer own fuckin' bat!" he snarled. He yanked the door open and shoving Leanora roughly through it he slammed it behind him. Turning to her he grasped both her arms and shook her roughly. "You can't let him do that to ya! Ya can't let him get into yer head!" he rasped.
Leanora gazed up at him, an anguished look on her face. "The only way he could know all that is if he really was in Graham's office," she choked out. Daryl noted immediately her familiar use of the man's first name, and wondered how he could convince her to leave the interrogation to the others in their group. Negan had too much information he could screw with her head about-it wouldn't be safe for her to be anywhere near that man again. Leanora began to sob harshly and Daryl instinctively pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her while she wept.
