"I deserve this," he said. "I have done bad things, terrible things. She wasn't the only one. You do what you need to do. I get it." The words came out in a rush. I could sense the sincerity behind them, the liberation he felt in uttering them, the release he expected from me.
" I need information," I said flatly.
"About the last job?" he looked at me. I nodded.
"James Colborne contacted me a few days ago. I do a few jobs for him now and then - he pays well, and doesn't expect too much. Anyway, he said he had this deal lined up. He had a long term contact, guy by the name of Jack, who had a standing order for a certain type of girl. James said he'd delivered one a few years ago, and he'd heard that another one was going to be visiting his brother's house this weekend. He wanted to set up a meeting with her, and take her. Jack was supposed to meet us later today at the workshop Colborne owned. But the girl escaped, and Colborne and I had to go to hospital. Colborne apparently left a message for Jack on his mobile, telling him it had all gone pear shaped. Complete bloody disaster, the whole thing. She bit me, you know, severed some tendons and nerves in my wrist. Doctors say my hand will probably never work properly again. I'm supposed to be having surgery on it tomorrow." He stopped suddenly, and chuckled. "Guess I don't need to worry about that now."
"Probably not," I agreed. "Where is your mobile?"
"In my left pocket. Give me a second." He straightened his body out slightly and reached into his pocket, hauling out a new phone, which he passed across his body to me. His right arm rested on his belly.
"Thanks. Did Colborne ever contact you on this phone?"
"Yep. Last two calls were from his mobile." I nodded. "What were you planning to do to me?" There was a hint of excitement mixed with the fear in his voice, as if he had eagerly anticipated this evening for some time.
"I was going to set you on the camping chair on a railway line, and snap your neck just here," I touched the skin of his neck briefly. "You would be able to breathe, but not move. You would be helpless in the face of the death that rushed towards you. So you could undersand how the girl you abducted would have felt as her fate hurtled towards her."
"Wow," he said after a while. "You really thought this one out."