by Chelsea Cain
The smile on Jack’s face had finally faded. “Easy,” he cautioned Razor Burn.
Archie heard another magazine page turn. “Did you know that Christie Brinkley remodeled her home in the Hamptons?” Karim called from the couch.
Razor Burn looked confused. Susan exhaled dramatically and crossed her arms. “I’ve had a really bad day,” she said to Jack. “Your party sucked. I think my boyfriend and I are breaking up. I got taken hostage by a serial killer. I have spiders in my hair. And you’re being a pigheaded asshole. I’m telling you,” she added, with a glance over her shoulder at Razor Burn, “if someone points a gun at me again, or threatens me in any way, I’m going to lose it.”
Archie couldn’t help but smile. She was something else. Jack raised his eyebrows at Archie. Archie shrugged. Jack turned back to Susan. “A pigheaded asshole?” he said.
“Think about it, Jack,” Archie said, seeing his opportunity. “Gretchen was here Saturday night. Why is it so hard to believe she’d come back?”
Jack frowned. He pulled at one of his earlobes. Then his eyes moved uncertainly to Cooper.
“We didn’t see anyone else down there,” Cooper said.
“She must have heard you coming and run down the opposite hall,” Archie said.
Cooper frowned. “It’s a labyrinth,” he said to Jack. “There are tunnels no one’s been down since the thirties.”
Cooper had opened a door. Jack pulled at his ear some more, thinking.
Archie heard the magazine snap shut and looked around at Karim, who had stood up from the couch. Karim walked over to Archie and Susan and extended the Town & Country between them. “Would you like some reading material?” he asked.
“I’ve read it,” Susan said.
Karim turned to Archie.
“No, thanks,” Archie said.
“Well, then, since we won’t be enjoying magazines, may I ask you a question?”
Jack looked on with interest.
Archie had a bad feeling about where this was headed.
Karim went for his jacket pocket. At first Archie thought he was going for his gun. The pocket of his gray suit was cut deep—custom—large enough to stow a couple of 45s if you didn’t mind what the bulge did to the cut of the suit. But instead Karim withdrew some sort of camera. He held it between Susan and Archie. “What’s this, then?” Karim asked.
Archie glanced at Susan. Her eyes were on the device.
The camera was the size of a pool ball and mounted on what looked like a pedal with an antenna on it. “I have no idea,” Archie answered.
“It’s a webcam,” Susan said quietly.
“It’s a webcam!” Karim said triumphantly. “Yes, that’s right. Brilliant.” Everyone leaned in to get a closer look. “It transmits footage wirelessly,” Karim continued, now talking more to Jack than to Archie. “It was in the room where we found them.”
Archie could feel the mood in the room blacken.
“Gretchen set that up so she could spy on me,” Susan said. “She held me in that room, and she monitored me with that thing.”
Karim was turning the webcam over in his hands, studying it.
“You’re tampering with evidence,” Archie pointed out.
Karim’s face registered no emotion. He had stopped listening to Archie. This was entirely for Jack. “He was setting up surveillance,” Karim explained to Jack. He handed Jack the webcam and then stood up fluidly and brushed the wrinkles from his slacks. “Sheridan is a cop,” he added. “He wasn’t down there chasing serial killers. He was down there installing surveillance as part of an ongoing investigation into your activities. We’re all aware that you’re being watched. We’re aware that they’re building a case. Obviously, Detective Sheridan is participating in that effort.”
Jack was frowning at Archie, his knuckles white around the webcam in his hand. Archie tried to look trustworthy but his exasperation was making it difficult.
“Are we all familiar with the principle of Occam’s razor?” Karim asked the room.
Razor Burn coughed.
Susan sighed. “When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better,” Susan said.
“That’s not helping us,” Archie said to Susan.
“What?” she said. “I took philosophy.”
Jack’s face reddened and he hurled the webcam hard against the wall. It hit a framed photograph of a boat and then scattered on the floor in pieces.
Everyone flinched except Karim.
“I don’t have my badge,” Archie said emphatically, “or my gun or my phone or a walkie-talkie.” He glanced at Susan. “I’m here with a civilian. Without backup. You don’t use those tunnels. Why would I want to monitor them?” He pointed at the remnants of the webcam. “That’s not mine.”
Jack turned to Cooper, and for a moment Archie thought Jack might draw his finger across his throat and Cooper would shoot Archie in the back of the head.
“If I were here as a cop,” Archie said, “I’d be asking you to explain the bloodstains in your basement.”
Jack looked back at Archie. Archie had, for the first time, his full attention. The room was quiet.
“They didn’t tell you?” Archie asked.
Karim and Cooper had spent ten minutes alone with Jack when they’d all first come up the stairs from the tunnels. Susan had insisted on peeing, and Razor Burn had insisted on standing outside the bathroom with a gun while she did, and Archie had insisted on staying with Razor Burn, to ensure Susan’s safety. Then Susan had slurped down about fifteen cupped hands’ worth of water from the bathroom sink, and had to pee again. It was enough time, Archie figured, to get Jack pretty up to date.
Judging by the perplexed expression on Jack’s face, apparently not.
“What’s he talking about?” Jack asked Cooper. Karim was standing next to Jack, but Jack didn’t ask him.
“There were some stains on a mattress on the floor,” Cooper said matter-of-factly. “And spatter on the walls. It could have been blood.”
“Lisa Watson was murdered down there,” Susan said. “And she’s not the only one.”
They all turned to look at her. She had her feet on the chair and her knees lifted to her chest with her WORST HALLOWEEN COSTUME EVER T-shirt pulled over them. Mud scarred the chair’s upholstery from her dirty sneakers. She wasn’t hiccupping anymore, Archie realized.
“The girl from the dock?” Jack said slowly.
Razor Burn rocked back nervously on his heels. “So the Beauty Killer’s been taking people out down there?” he said. He looked questioningly at Karim. “We can’t get in trouble for that, right?”
“Don’t be a fool,” Karim said.
Archie didn’t think that Gretchen had killed anyone down there. But he kept that to himself. He was finally getting through to them. Jack was boring a hole in the floor, clearly deep in thought. Archie didn’t want to risk confusing the issue. He exchanged a look with Susan. She gave him a little nod.
“Every second that we sit here talking,” Susan said to Jack, “Gretchen gets that much farther away.”
Jack lifted his eyes to Archie. There was something new in his face. Something hungry. “She’s really down there?” Jack asked him.
Archie resisted the urge to scream, Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying, and instead simply said, “Yes.”
Jack seemed to contemplate that. He and Leo had the same pale penetrating eyes. His fondness for whiskey had left tiny red capillaries visible on his nose and cheeks. His mouth tightened. His nostrils flared. He was nodding to himself. Pumping himself up. His face looked hot to the touch. He grinned at Archie, like they shared a secret.
Archie had a terrible feeling that he knew what Jack was thinking. “She’s dangerous,” he said quickly. “You can’t go after her. Let me call for a SWAT team.”
But Jack was already up, already moving around his desk. “She’s an intruder on my property,” he said. He reached back and pulled open a desk
drawer and lifted out a semiautomatic handgun. “I’m going to do what you should have done a long time ago, my friend.” He pointed the gun at Archie. It was a SIG P226. No safety. A big gun. “I’m going to shoot her.”
Jack laughed and lowered the SIG and then started going through more drawers. This was going very wrong. Archie looked around at Karim, Cooper, and Razor Burn. They had to know this was nuts, but none of them said anything. Susan looked over at Archie, eyes wide. Archie searched for something to say to Jack, some way to defuse this. “I’ll go with you,” he said, starting to stand.
Archie felt a hand on his shoulder before he’d even made it to his feet, and then was shoved hard back into his chair. Pain radiated through Archie’s abdomen and he winced and brought his hand to his wound.
“Sorry,” Cooper said softly from behind him.
Archie shifted his weight in his seat, and concentrated on Jack. “She’s armed,” he told Jack. “She’s got a scalpel.”
Jack slid a box of ammo out of the drawer and put it in the pocket of his sweatpants. It bulged awkwardly from his hip as he came back around the desk. He stopped in front of Archie.
Cooper’s hand seemed to get heavier on Archie’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” Jack said with a lascivious smile. He nudged Archie with the barrel of his gun and the smile turned into a sneer. “You can fuck her dead body when I’m done with her.”
“Don’t do this, Jack,” Archie said.
“Who cares?” Susan asked loudly. There was a pink spot on each of her cheeks. “Let them kill her,” she said, and the viciousness in her voice made Archie cold. Her eyes dared him to disagree, to challenge her. “Unless you don’t want her dead,” she added accusingly.
There was nothing Archie could say that she wanted to hear. He didn’t have time to explain that right now he was far more worried about Jack’s prospects than Gretchen’s. “Give me a gun,” Archie urged Jack.
Jack rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, delighted. “See?” he crowed to Susan. “He just wants to be the one to do it.” He slapped Archie hard on the shoulder, and Archie winced in pain again. “Not a chance,” Jack said.
“She’ll kill you,” Archie said quietly. Blood oozed from the wound under his palm.
“That’s why I hire commandos,” Jack said brightly. “For just this kind of thing.” Jack jabbed a finger at Razor Burn. “Collins,” he said. “You’re with me. Get Ronin and the others up. I’ll meet you all at the elevator.”
Razor Burn responded with a clipped nod, executed a military turn, and headed for the door, already unholstering his Glock.
“Shoot her in the head,” Susan called as the door closed behind him.
Jack was pulling on a windbreaker with a yacht race emblem on the chest.
Karim had picked up the Town & Country again and was paging through it.
Outside the window behind the desk, it was still dark. It would be an hour before dawn. “Don’t go down there,” Archie said. “I’m not going to warn you again.”
“She killed my Isabel,” Jack said, and for a moment Archie saw a trace of the man he’d visited more than a dozen years ago, the man who’d fallen to his knees after Archie told him that his daughter was dead. Maybe that man was always in there, under the surface.
Archie hesitated. “What if I told you she didn’t?” he asked.
A shadow fell across Jack’s face. “That would be a riot, coming from you. I heard about you this summer. Trying to convince everyone that she didn’t kill all her victims.”
“You know,” Archie said, leaning back in his chair. “Do what you want.”
Cooper’s hand lifted from Archie’s shoulder. “You want company?” Cooper asked Jack.
“I need you two to stay here,” Jack said with a glance at Karim. Karim was engrossed in his magazine and barely seemed to hear. “Stay with them,” Jack told Cooper. “Make sure they don’t call anyone until I get back.” He cocked his head at Susan. But she refused to meet his gaze. Jack’s tongue flickered. He didn’t like being ignored, which Archie knew was exactly why Susan was doing it. Jack moved directly in front of her, took her by her chin, and forced her to look at him. He smiled, satisfied, and released her. “If they’re uncooperative, kill them,” he instructed Cooper. Susan’s chin had a mark where Jack had grabbed her. Archie kept his hands tight around the ends of the arms of his chair.
Jack started for the door.
“Good luck,” Archie said darkly.
Jack hesitated and turned back around. “Give me your extra gun,” he said to Cooper.
Cooper hesitated and then bent over and lifted a pant leg to reveal an ankle holster. He unholstered the weapon and handed it to Jack.
Jack put a gun in each pocket of his yachting jacket and then glanced back at Archie. “No one knows you’re here, my friend,” he said to Archie. “Don’t test me.”
Then Jack grinned madly. He drew each of the guns out of his pockets and, two-fisted, headed for the door to the hall. Halfway out, he caught Archie’s eye one last time. Eyes bright, face ruddy, a spring in his step, he looked like a kid about to enter Disneyland. He looked happy.
For an instant, Archie was jealous.
“Help yourselves to a drink,” Jack called merrily. And then the door closed and he was gone.
For a moment, no one said anything. Then Cooper reached into his pocket and tossed Susan a deck of cards. “Stay busy,” he said. “It might be a while.”
CHAPTER
42
Archie poured himself a double shot of Jack’s forty-one-year-old single-malt scotch. There was a mirror in front of him at the bar, and he could see Cooper watching him, his gun still drawn. Susan had moved to the gold-striped settee, where she now sat playing hearts with Karim. She was staring at her cards intently. Karim’s gaze was fixed on her, clearly waiting for her to make some sort of move.
“I can’t do this with you glaring at me like that,” Susan said.
Karim leaned forward on the settee and set his cards delicately on the table next to his gun. “Do you want me to refresh you on the rules?” he asked.
Susan narrowed her eyes at him over her cards.
Archie replaced the cap on the whiskey bottle and pushed it back in line with the other expensive liquor bottles. He’d blotted the scalpel wound with all the cocktail napkins on the bar and it appeared to have stopped bleeding. He could have thrown away the bloody napkins—each napkin was square with a drawing of a sailboat in one corner—but Archie left them in a stack next to the Tanqueray instead. He checked the reflection in the mirror again. Cooper was still watching him. Archie could see the silver glinting in his mouth. Anyone with teeth like that had done some hard living at some point.
“Do you want a drink?” Archie asked him.
“No,” Cooper said.
“AA?” Archie asked.
“Ten years,” Cooper said.
Archie lifted his glass and toasted Cooper in the mirror. “Congratulations,” he said. The whiskey was bright and smooth in his throat and he savored it for a moment before he turned around to face the room. The house was quiet. They hadn’t heard anything since Jack had left. No voices. No footsteps.
Cooper cracked his neck.
The clock ticked.
Susan pulled three cards from her hand and then made a face and picked one back up. “One more second,” she said to Karim.
Karim hooked a finger under his yellow bow tie and loosened it slightly.
Archie walked over to where they were playing and sat down in one of the two black leather club chairs that faced the settee.
Cooper followed him, and sat down in the chair next to Archie’s.
“He does that,” Susan said, indicating Cooper as she glanced up from her cards. “He followed me around during the whole party. You get used to it after a while. It’s like when a stray follows you on a walk. You know it’s not your dog, but it’s kind of nice to have him along.”
“Clever T-shirt,�
� Cooper said to Susan.
“Thanks,” she said, looking down at her orange Halloween T-shirt. “Goodwill. Two-ninety-nine.”
A distant thud echoed through the house. Archie and Susan jumped, and Cooper stood, gun raised toward the door.
Karim was the only one who hadn’t flinched. He arched an eyebrow over his cards at Cooper. “A bit on edge, are we?” he asked.
A long moment passed and then Cooper exhaled slowly, lowered his weapon, and sat down again, resting his gun on his knee.
Archie listened, but didn’t hear the noise again.
Susan settled on a third card and laid it down with the other two she had discarded, and Karim picked them up and added them to his hand. “You don’t believe this business about Gretchen Lowell, do you?” Karim asked Cooper, as he looked at his cards.
Cooper was still eyeballing the door.
“It’s rubbish,” Karim continued, laying down a card. “Creative. But total rubbish.”
Susan laid down a card on top of Karim’s. “You guys should get a cat,” she said. “You know, a pet to ease up the tension around here.”
“The bloody pythons would eat it,” Karim said.
Susan made a little strangled sound of fright.
“Told you,” Cooper said to her.
“There are no pythons on this island,” Archie said.
Susan gave him a dubious look.
“Listen,” Karim said to Archie. “Jack’s not here. Why don’t you tell us why you were really down there?” He played another card, and then Susan followed, and they traded like that back and forth until Susan smiled smugly and transferred the entire pile in front of Karim on the settee.
“I told you why we were down there,” Archie said. He set his drink down on the Town & Country magazine. “Why were you down there?” Gretchen had said that the tunnels they were in weren’t used anymore. They certainly appeared abandoned. Now the obvious question occurred to Archie. What reason would Jack’s men have to search them?
Karim’s expression didn’t change. He brushed something off the knee of his gray slacks.
He was stalling.
Cooper cleared his throat and sat forward. “We monitor the traffic near the house,” he said. “We’re aware of the FBI surveillance, so we pay attention to unfamiliar cars. We noticed a black Audi parked near some undeveloped property Jack owns. As that property happens to be the location of one of the old tunnel entrances, we checked it out, and discovered that the area around the entrance had been disturbed. It appeared that someone had entered the property. So we put a team together to patrol the tunnels. We hadn’t been down there long before we saw the light go on under the door of the room you were in.”
