“Don’t you dare,” Nancy seethed, her delicate features hardening.
Charlie watched the interaction, not moving so Nancy wouldn’t feel threatened. As it was, Cedric Hawkins was currently laid out on the floor unconscious. She didn’t know if he’d be breathing for much longer, but she wanted to believe he would. If only she knew the extent of his injuries, she might be able to gauge what she should do next. When she’d come into the house, he’d appeared to be conscious, surprising Charlie with his presence. He was the man they’d been looking for, and here he was, alive and well. Only he didn’t look all that well anymore.
“This is your fault,” Nancy told Annie. “This was all your idea.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Annie declared haughtily, her gaze snapping to Charlie again. “I think he drugged her or something. She’s not making any sense.”
Oh, yeah. Definitely the master manipulator.
“And you!” Nancy bit out, glaring at Mallory Jacobs. “You went along with it. Did you even know she was sleeping with our husbands?”
Based on how Mallory’s red eyebrows launched skyward, Charlie would take that as a no.
“She’s insane,” Annie stated, looking right at Charlie. “You know that, right? She’s insane. Anything she says is a lie. She’s been abused for years. That makes her crazy.”
Charlie remained completely still, trying to get a read on what was going on here. She didn’t know if anyone was outside preparing to breach the house, but she had to believe her team would come for her. They would get her out of this and hopefully get everyone else out of it as well. And then she could apologize profusely for jumping the gun and not bothering to clue them in when she should’ve.
Nancy glared at Mallory. “Did you know she was screwing Seth when she killed him? In her own bed.”
Mallory’s green eyes were wide as she stared over at Annie.
“It’s a lie,” Annie said, again sounding bored with the conversation.
“Peter told me,” Nancy admitted, stabbing the air in Peter’s direction. “You called him when you needed help removing his dead body. From. Your. Bed.”
Annie’s eyes narrowed infinitesimally before she schooled her expression. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Seth died at the club. In the locker room. You read the report yourself.”
“Seth was never at the club,” Charlie noted.
That appeared to be news to Mallory. “What?”
Keeping one eye on the knife-wielding Nancy, Charlie told Mallory about her visit to the club on Tuesday. No sooner were the words out than she realized she wasn’t helping the situation at all.
“Peter did that, too,” Nancy admitted, glaring at the lawyer. “You paid someone to falsify the report. You were protecting her!”
“You were sleeping with him?” Mallory asked, her voice small, almost childlike.
Charlie watched the exchange, wondering who Annie wasn’t sleeping with.
Annie shook her head but didn’t look at Mallory.
“You told me he was sleeping with someone else,” Mallory accused. “And it was you?”
“Does it matter?” Annie retorted. “He wasn’t faithful to you, Mal.” Annie looked at Nancy. “And Brian. He was trash. He beat you, for chrissake, Nancy. He would’ve killed you if he had the chance. I had sex with him to take the edge off his frustration.”
Ouch.
“He hated you,” Nancy growled softly. “He called you a slutty whore.”
Annie’s eyebrows rose as she sucked in air, clearly taken aback by the statement.
“This was your idea,” Mallory whispered, staring blankly. “It was your idea to kill them. You said they were all cheating.”
“They were cheating,” Annie snapped.
“With you,” Nancy shouted back. “You were just pissed that Cedric was planning to leave you for his secretary.”
“She’s not his secretary,” Annie countered hotly. “She’s a brainless bimbo who answers the phones. She was screwing him for his money, that’s all.”
“You can’t handle the fact that he loves her,” Nancy whispered. “He loves her, and he was going to leave you.”
“He was not,” she bit out.
Charlie shifted, hoping her phone was still on and someone was listening to this.
Annie sucked in air. “You’re crazy.” She looked at Charlie. “She’s crazy.”
Yes, they were all crazy, Charlie realized. Certifiably nuts.
From his spot on the floor, Cedric groaned, clutching his chest.
Charlie looked up at Nancy. “I need to help him, Nancy. I need to make sure he’s all right. You don’t want to be responsible for his death, do you?”
Nancy’s eyes filled with tears. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill him. She wanted me to. It was my turn. I was supposed to kill him because she killed Seth and Mallory killed Brian, but…”
Oh, boy.
Nancy turned to Annie. “I called him, just like you told me to. He met me at the gas station.”
Well, that explained how her burner phone got into his car.
“Then I drugged him,” she continued, her gaze lowering to the floor as though she might find solace there. “He was too heavy. He fell when I tried to get him in my car. Hit his head.” She touched her head with her other hand. “Hit it hard. Then that guy helped me. He helped get Cedric in the car.”
Charlie wasn’t sure who she was speaking to, but again, she hoped someone was listening on the other end of the line.
“I was going to kill him,” she muttered almost incoherently. “But I didn’t want to. I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Her eyes were wild when they lifted to meet Charlie’s. “I didn’t want to.”
“You didn’t kill him,” Charlie said softly, wanting to take control of the situation. “Right now, you haven’t done anything wrong. But we need to make sure he’s all right, Nancy. He needs to go to the hospital.”
Nancy shook her head.
“My team is gonna come looking for me,” she said, speaking directly to Nancy. “You don’t want them to find us like this. You don’t want to be holding anyone hostage when they get here. Put down the knife, Nancy. Put it down, and let me look at Cedric.”
For a brief moment, Charlie thought she had a handle on the situation. Nancy turned, her hand lowering, the knife down at her side. She looked remorseful, a sob tearing free. It was coming to a close without any harm being done, and Charlie wanted to exhale a sigh of relief.
That breath didn’t come out easily because the next thing she knew, Annie launched herself at Nancy, taking the woman to the ground as she screamed and railed.
Charlie didn’t hesitate, shooting to her feet, grabbing Annie, and dragging her off of Nancy. It had lasted all of a few seconds, that was it. It should’ve been an innocent catfight. Over before it really started.
Only there was blood pooling on the floor beneath Nancy. Pooling fast.
Charlie dropped to her knees, turning Nancy over to find the wound, to see where it was coming from. The knife was wedged into her stomach, her face already turning an ashy gray.