"Who knows where you were tonight?"

Gertie's phone had been gone when she regained consciousness, so Ken had almost certainly looked at it and probably seen her text messages. It would be stupid to lie. "My friend Charlene."

"Ah, the other amazing hero. And was Ms. Charlene expecting to hear from you again tonight?"

Now she was going to lie. She looked Viv directly in the eye. "No."

"Hmmm."

"We thought your husband wanted to interview me for a web series. There are a lot of sleazy people out there pretending to be producers, so I checked in with her to let her know that he wasn't a scumbag. I had no reason to text her after that."

"All right. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I broke up with my ex three months ago and haven't met anybody since then."

"Hmmm."

"It's true."

"I didn't say I didn't believe you. What about Charlene? Is there a man in her life?"

"No."

Viv looked unconvinced. "Both of you are single, huh?"

"Yes."

"Give me your hand."

"I'm telling the truth."

"Give me your hand."

"Charlene isn't into men. She'll never have a boyfriend."

"You should have clarified that when I asked the question. I'm going to consider that withholding information. Give me your hand."

"Fuck you."

Viv smiled. "Oh, well, if you use the F-word with me I have no choice but to back off, huh? I'm so intimidated by the little girl in the cage that I'll just let her decide if she takes a knife blade under the fingernail or not. You know, it doesn't have to be like the first time. I can stick that knife in all the way up to your knuckle. Is that how you'd like this to play out?"

"I didn't lie to you."

"And I'm being honest with you when I say this: I don't care. Give me your hand."

Now the tears were flowing. Gertie put her hand back outside of the cage.

Viv did not jam the knife in all the way up to the knuckle of her ring finger, but she didn't withdraw the blade as quickly as before. It took several moments for Gertie to stop shrieking.

"Tell me about the men in your life," said Viv. "Is your father still alive?"

"Yes."

"Does he live close?"

"No."

"Anybody at work? Attractive co-worker? Boss?"

"Fuck you. I'm not sending you after anyone."

"I like the defiance. If I were a lesbian like your friend it would be a real turn-on. You realize that I can very easily find this information out with a quick online search, right? It'll take almost no effort to find out who'll be the first man to miss you when you don't come home. So why not make things easy for yourself and tell me?"

"Go to hell," said Gertie.

"I'm sure there are pliers in the garage. I can loosen up your fingernails with the knife and then tear them off."