“Maybe that’s when Marilyn got him involved with Rip.”
“He ran through his savings. And that’s not a question. Lucas has a note here about that. And there are cash withdrawals that match the times Ann gave money to her parents. I need to go, Andrew. I need to focus.”
“Lilah, I don’t think you have enough to make a case against these two. Not yet.”
“My two men are missing. I might soon,” I say. “Gotta go.” I hang up.
We disconnect and I glance at the sky, heavy clouds rolling in just as dusk begins to settle. “How did it get this late?” I ask.
My cellphone rings with Tic Tac’s number and considering he’s tracking our men’s phones, I quickly answer on speaker. “The phones are on her property, and I mean solidly on the property. It looks like they’re by a pond.
“Fuck,” I murmur. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. We’re almost there.”
“Marilyn’s phone is still on the premises, but she could have left it behind. However, I used satellite, and her car and one other appear to be there.”
“One-mile warning,” Jay says, pulling into a restaurant where Enrique and the New Hampshire PD are meeting us.
“I need to focus, Tic Tac.”
I disconnect and Enrique pulls in beside us. The three of us get out of the car, me with my MacBook in hand, and form a circle at the hood of the vehicle. I pull up the satellite map to the property Tic Tac sent me and outline a plan.
When two unmarked police vehicles arrive, unmarked per my request, I meet with Detective Adams alone, without Jay or Enrique. “Did you bring what I need?”
“I did,” he says, handing me a long-distance walkie-talkie. “It’s good for sixty-five miles. We’ll set-up about a mile out from the property. And,” he reaches into a bag at his side, and hands me a small recording device, “this won’t feed to us. I didn’t have the right equipment to get you wired. We’re a bigger city for New Hampshire, but we’re still small.”
“This works. I’ll SOS on the walkie-talkie when I have the confessions recorded or if I need help.”
“Yes, ma’am, Agent Love. Happy to help. God be with you.” He motions to my bracelet. “And a little luck.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
I let Jay and Enrique off a short distance from the cottage and I drive straight up the drive to park. The cottage is blue like her old family home. I wonder if that was her grandmother's doing or her own. I shrug out of my coat, more concerned about ease of movement than I am about the weather. But my bag is at my hip, a gun inside. A knife in my waistband. We all know that’s my weapon of choice.
Unease burns in my belly as I exit the vehicle and walk toward the house, intending to tell Marilyn I was worried about her and wanted to check on her. I step on the porch as a plank squeaks, a wind chime clamoring about with a gust of the wind, the taste of rain in the air. I ring the bell but no one comes.
I peek in the windows and see no movement. I rotate and scan the grounds, spying the pond, a hanging swing that seems to be swaying unnaturally even in this wind. Someone is calling me.
I grab my phone and call Jay. “I’m going out to the pond. Clear the house then back me up. Tell Enrique to take the far side of the pond.”
“Be careful.”
I don’t answer him. I disconnect and slide my phone inside my waistband next to my knife for ease of reach. The shadows hover but the sun has not fully set, thank fuck, but the damn the wind pushes against me as I refuse its warning. If our men are alive now, they won’t be later. I keep moving forward, but a gut feeling has me palming my knife and sliding it up one sleeve. The other hand holds my Ruger. Thick trees surround the pond. I don’t like it.
“Help!” I hear Marilyn’s familiar voice, nearby, too nearby.
Behind me, there’s a gunshot. I back up and some instinct has me turn as someone runs toward me. My blade is out instantly and the minute he’s in front of me, I drive it in his belly. Desmond. It’s Desmond. He tugs the blade from his gut and tosses it. I aim my gun at him. “FBI. Down on your knees. Hands behind your head.” Someone hits me from behind. I stumble and suddenly I’m being sprayed with mace. Thanks to the wind, it misses my eyes and mouth, but holy hell they burn anyway and my cheek is on fire.
I’m thrown to my back and Desmond grabs my arms. Marilyn straddles me. “Bitch,” Marilyn says. “You are a bitch. And now you get to die just like the rest of them. You taunted us.”
Desmond starts to tie my hands. At least one of my men has to be down. I heard the shot. “We didn’t even know Rip.”
“You were invited to Emma’s wedding. That’s how I know you were the real deal. They didn’t just throw Kane’s name around. You were friends with Emma.”
“Everyone wants Kane at their events. They’re scared of him, but they’re obsessed with him. We didn’t know them.”
“Liar,” she screams and slaps the fuck out of me, the burn right on top of that damn mace that I pray to God she doesn’t use again or I’m finished. That is unless the wind blasts her and Desmond at the same time. But bottom line, my hands are now roped. I have no knife. I have no gun I can get to. I have only my legs and my teeth. And I’ll use both.
“He didn’t deserve to be treated like that. He has Asperger’s. I just asked that you people give him a fair chance. What is it? He wouldn’t fuck you and Kane, so that was it? He was out?”
She slaps me again and again and then she leans in at my ear. “He created the perfect weapon. We leave for China tomorrow. Rip didn’t want it. Kane didn’t want it. But they want it. But you get it first.” She leans back, holds up what looks like an Advil, and smiles. “Say bye-bye.”
She maces me again, and this time she gets one of my eyes. She’s a horrible shot but it’s good enough. It burns and the burn is intense. I open my mouth with a gasp. She sticks the damn pill in. Desmond grabs my head to tilt it backward. There’s a gunshot and he falls backward. Somehow, I’ve shoved the pill into the side of my cheek but I can’t hold it long. My eyes. My throat. Marilyn moves, and I catch her legs with mine, roll with her, and then I’m on top, and at least for the moment, I’ve pinned one of her arms under her back and the other with my shoulder. With my hands tied, that won’t last long. And I still have the pill in my mouth and I need it gone. Now. I need it gone now. But it’s stuck to the side of my cheek. And this bitch won’t stop squirming. She’s going to make me swallow the damn thing. And even if I do spit it out, my hands are tied. I have no weapon. Right now, I can barely see and I don’t even know if I have help. That gunshot could have been meant for me.
Actually, I realize, I do have a weapon, but just one shot to use it.
But it’s my only chance of surviving.
I lean down and press my mouth to Marilyn’s, and puff hard over and over until the pill dislodges and flies into her mouth. She gasps in shock and sucks it down her throat. Her throat rips open a moment later. Two birds, one stone. The pill is gone. She’s dead. I roll off of her, preparing to keep rolling for cover, only to hear Kane say, “Lilah. Lilah.”