“ID’d him as who?”
“Oh, Erica…”
“Who is he?
“The Dark Web Assassin.”
Chapter Twenty-four
I closed my eyes and pressed the palm of my free hand toward the floor … trying, I guess, to keep the crazy from rising up and swallowing me whole. “The Dark Web Assassin. The Dark Web … Rhonda, that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.” I said the words, but I was also suddenly remembering the feeling of dread I’d had when the bodyguard was standing—no looming—over me.
“I know, but dark web assassins are a real thing. And he’s The Dark Web Assassin.”
“Dark web assassins are not a real thing.”
“How do you think people go about finding killers? Google?”
“I was going to say Craigslist.”
“This is no time to be joking. Amos looked it up on the regular web and showed me the guy’s picture. It’s him. They think he has some sort of military slash mercenary background. He’s wanted for multiple murders. In one case, he—” She cut herself off again.
“In one case he what?” I asked, eyes jumping around the empty room.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t think it will help.”
“Maybe you should let me decide what will help.”
“No, I—”
“Rhonda!”
“He killed an entire family of five in one night.”
I slumped back against the wall. “You’re right. I didn’t want to know that.” Suddenly I felt very cold. “Are you sure? Like really, really sure? It’s not like some grainy photo that could be anyone?”
“I’m like ninety-nine, okay maybe ninety-five, ninety-four—”
“Stop!” I snapped before dropping my voice. “The number’s not important.”
“I’m pretty sure.”
I rubbed my hand over my mouth. “So … so one of the family did know Rayner was planning on changing the will…”
“Will? What will?”
I chuckled weakly. “I didn’t tell you about the will?” I filled Rhonda in as quickly as I could.
“Holy crap, Erica!”
“I know.”
“This is bad!”
“I know.”
“You really are going to d—”
“So help me if one more person says I’m going to die, I will kill everyone here,” I barked before realizing that that didn’t exactly make a whole lot of sense. “And then, you know, it will be settled.” I made a slicing motion with my hand at the fridge, just in case it was getting any ideas.
“Sorry. Sorry. But wait … this is actually good news, isn’t it? I mean, if he’s already killed the old guy, his job is done. He should be on his way to some tropical island by now. At least, that’s what they always do in the movies. I think in real life, though, assassins would probably have trouble relax—”
“Stop! And no. The job’s not done.” I peeked back out to the living room. Hmm, they were huddled in a bit of a circle, tossing suspicious glances in my direction. Great. Good. Well, at least they were unified in their distrust of me. “Kyle has all the money, and he doesn’t have a will.”
“But the bodyguard left before he knew any of that.”
I shook my head. “Everybody has a phone here.”
“Huh.” Rhonda made a clicking sound with her tongue. “So who stands to inherit if the kid is, you know, done in?”
“I’m sure they’ll all make a claim in court. His nephew probably stands the best chance.” The nephew who was currently missing and could be looking at me right now through the kitchen window! I whipped around to face the darkened pane of glass above the kitchen sink.
Nothing.
“But you saw the guard leave?”
“Yes…” I stopped and thought about it. “Well, I didn’t see him leave with my own eyes, but the boat was gone.”
“So, he could still be on the island.”
I swallowed hard, letting that new reality sink in. He could very well be. I mean, if he wanted to use the boat as his getaway, it wouldn’t be wise to anchor or just tie it off to some tree in this storm, but who knew what dark web assassin resources he had! I felt my eyes widen just before my brain caught up to a new thought. “We heard a noise earlier. I thought maybe something had just been knocked over in the wind, or maybe even Jake Day was trying to freak me out, but—”
“Okay, that settles it. You need to get the kid and go to the twins’ place. Now.”
“What about Grady? Does he know what’s going on?”
“I’m having trouble getting through to him.”
“But … if the killer’s out there, aren’t we safer in here?” I took half a step toward the window, peering again into the darkness.
“No,” Rhonda said. “You don’t know who you can trust. Besides, didn’t you hear the bit about this guy murdering a whole family in one night?”
“I heard that,” I said, placing my hand on the lip of the sink. “I really, really, really heard that.”
“So don’t make it easy for him!” She took a breath. “The best thing you can do is get the kid out of play. Actually it’s the best thing for everyone. He might stop murdering if he can’t get the kid first.”
“I don’t think it matters if he’s supposed to kill every—”
Suddenly a new voice cut me off. “What’s going on?” I heard Julie call from the other room. “When are the police going to get here?”
“Soon,” I shouted over my shoulder, before dropping my voice again. “As I was saying, if he has to kill everyone, does it really matter what order he does it in?”
“Yes! Erica, listen to me. The kid is the most important target. The other kills are irrelevant if he doesn’t get him. You follow?”
“I don’t follow any of this.” I was supposed to be with Grady right now … drinking wine, by the fire … maybe on the floor in front of the fire … a floor that didn’t have a dead body covered with an afghan. “I don’t know anything.”
“That’s why you are going to do what I say.” Her voice sounded like it was giving me a good shake through the phone. “You can do this. You have been in tight spots before.”
“With, like, amateur murderers! Not military-grade assassins!” I yelled, suddenly catching my own reflection in the window. Wow, that chick looked scared.
“Calm down.”
“Oh my God, first you tell me I need to go, go, go because I’m trapped with a serial killer, and now you tell me to calm down? I will not calm down! I will not!” I suddenly understood Ronnie’s feelings about those two words. They were really aggravating.
“You can do this. Just get the kid and leave. You have the advantage. You know the island better than anyone. I mean,” Rhonda went on with a nervous chuckle, “unless this guy has night vision goggl—” She cut herself off again. “I guess it is possible that he has night vision goggles. Probable even. Kind of sounds like something a paid assassin would have.”
My eyes shot back into the darkness, fully expecting to see the greenish glare of night vision goggle lenses on the other side of the window.
Nothing that I could see.
I backed away slowly to my safe spot by the fridge.
“Forget I said that last part. Just get the kid and go.”
I peeked around the fridge to look back into the living room. Hmm, their huddle had grown tighter. I shot them a little wave in an attempt to ease some of the tension. Nope, by the looks on their faces, that hadn’t worked. “Rhonda, it’s going to be kind of hard to do that without everybody noticing. Are you sure we can’t just wait for help?”
“Listen, I know it seems like you’re only a fifteen-minute boat ride away from civilization, but with this storm, well, for Lake Patrol, you might as well be on the other side of the moon. I’d come myself,” she said, voice full of emotion, “but they ordered me to stand down.”
“But didn’t you tell them about
The Dark Web Assassin?”
“I tried. I mean I called them back. But I, maybe, sometimes, come off as a little…” She sighed, in a way that made me think she was frustrated with herself. “They didn’t believe me.” She paused a moment. “But you do, right?”
I shook my head. I didn’t know what to believe. This was Rhonda. And Rhonda was … Rhonda. But she had come through for me at times in the past. And I did know with absolute certainty that her intentions were good. But dark web assassin?
I shook my head. Time to focus on what I knew for sure. There was a dead man on the floor. An unconscious man on the sofa. Two people missing in a storm. And a half a billion dollars on the line. The way things were going, anywhere was probably safer than here. “I believe you.”
“Okay, so no more talking. Get going.”
I swallowed hard. “Right.”
“Tell me you can do this, Doom.”
“I can do this,” I mumbled over the thumbnail I was still working on chewing off.
“Say it again. With a little less fear this time.”
“I can do this.” I smacked the kitchen counter. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the fork there that I sent flying into the air then clattering to the floor. Someone in the other room screamed.
“Good,” she said, sounding more reassured. “Text me when you get there. I’ll keep working on things on this end.”
“Okay.”
“Again with less fear.”
“Okay!”
“Good luck. Oh! And don’t move the guy with the head injury because—”
“Already did.”
“Gah!” Rhonda hung up on me.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket, but didn’t move. I could do this. I just needed to get Kyle and go. I had walked the path a hundred times. I could probably do it without a flashlight. Not that I wanted to try. I—
Suddenly I realized I was staring at something.
Something I had been seeing on the counter … without really seeing it.
A bag with a Third Act logo on the side.
Julie’s bag.
I twisted my hair behind my neck. I should probably just get going, but there it was, just sitting there. It wouldn’t take much for me to walk over and take a quick peek. Granted, if I did walk over, I would only be partially shielded from the view of the others. But if I was quick?
I chewed my lip. It probably wasn’t worth it. I mean, I doubted she was a dark web assassin too, and how much worse could her secret identity really be?
But, then again, could I really be sure of anything?
I sidled over to the counter as quietly as I could, positioning my body to block the view. I reached up with one hand to make it look like I was going for something in the cupboard while my other hand dipped into the bag.
“Ow!” I hissed quietly. “Frick!”
The pointy end of some tweezers had dug under my fingernail. I brought it up to my mouth as I quickly shot a look over my shoulder to the living room. I could see Julie still. She was seated by Kenny on the couch, but the rest must have moved back to the table because I couldn’t see them anymore.
I gripped the handle of a mug with my decoy hand as my other dropped back down into the bag again and rifled around.
Papers. Folders. A laptop. I felt around to the next compartment. Gum. Noisy, noisy keys. Tissues. Where was her freaking wallet?
I risked a look down. Oh crap. A pocket book with a zipper. A fiddly, little zipper.
“Hey, squirrel?” Ronnie’s alcohol soaked voice called out again. “What are you doing in there? We want to know what the police said.”
I thought I heard someone else mutter, “I’m telling you she’s up to something,” just before I heard a chair scrape across the floor.
“Hang on … uh … I just…” I almost had it.
“Are they on their way?” Chuck asked.
The freaking zipper was caught!
“They … uh … just said … mainly good, reassuring type things…”
I was going to hell.
Screw it. I grabbed the little pocket book with both hands, unzipped it, and …
Bingo! Driver’s license!
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Chapter Twenty-five
Crap! Julie! Right in the threshold!
“Hi there.” I slowly slipped my hand out from its guilty, guilty hiding place. “I … I…”
Kyle suddenly came up to Julie’s side. “I told you she was going to snoop around in your bag.”
My eyes snapped over to him. “You little—”
“What?” he said. “I told you earlier that you wouldn’t find any weapons in Julie’s bag, but you wouldn’t listen.”
What? Weapons? My eyes darted from his face to Julie’s then back to his.
“She’s not trying to stir the pot,” Kyle said, “by freaking people out with a gun. You’re wasting your time.”
My eyes met Kyle’s. He widened them just a smidge, obviously trying to communicate the fact that he was saving my butt, and I was not making it easy for him. It wasn’t exactly the best cover story, but then again, it was better than the nothing I had up my sleeve. “I guess you’re right,” I said, pushing the bag carefully back on the counter. “I didn’t find any weapons.”
“Told you,” Kyle said matter-of-factly, but his shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch. Guess, he was a little worried about my ability to keep up. Hard to blame him.
Julie didn’t say anything as she pushed her glasses up her nose, but the look on her face spoke to all sorts of suspicion.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “But, given the circumstances, I don’t think it’s all that surprising that we’re a bit suspicious of each other.”
She stared at me a moment longer, then shot a look back at Kenny. “Next time just ask. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Of course.”
She rubbed her arms. “Did you tell the police about him?” There was no denying that Kenny was more to Julie than just a co-worker. Man, all these secret romances would almost be heartwarming if we weren’t about to die.
“I did. They’re doing everything they can to get here,” I said, but she was already moving back to her seat on the couch. Ronnie and Chuck turned away too. I shot Kyle a big smile and flipped my hand around to show him Julie’s license while mouthing, I got it! with a big smile.
He shot me a wobbly thumbs-up.
I could tell he was impressed though … you know, deep down, in that place where teenagers still had souls. I stepped back into the part of the kitchen that was hidden from view and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, “Kyle, hang on a sec. You can help me get some snacks ready.”
“Okay,” he said in a low voice, hurrying forward, “I know you think you’re being subtle, but the entire time you were talking on the phone, Ronnie and Chuck were discussing whether you were just funny weird or like dangerous weird.”
“I’m totally fine with that. Give me one second.” I pulled out my phone and quickly texted Julie’s real name and birthday to Freddie. “Okay, there. So,” I said, meeting Kyle’s eye again, “We need to get ready to go.”
Kyle’s head dropped down to his chest. “What?”
“There’s been a development.”
“What kind of development?”
I studied his face a moment, debating how much I should tell him. Despite all of his sarcasm, he was still a kid. I couldn’t have him freaking out. Not if we were going to make it to Kit Kit and Tweety’s in this storm. But even more than that, there was just something inherently wrong with kids being scared.
“Well,” I said, trying to buy myself more time. “We … we might not be as safe here as I would like.”
He shook his head. “What do you mean?”
Just then my phone buzzed. I took it out and looked down at the message.
Kimberly Winters? Are you sure that’s not the fake name?
I quickly typed back, Nope, that’s the real name.<
br />
“Who are you texting?” Kyle asked.
“A friend. His name is Freddie. We, I mean, he has a security business. He’s going to look into Julie’s identity for us.”
My phone buzzed again.
Wow. Very eighties soap opera. I like it.
I shook my head and shoved the phone back in my pocket. I felt a little weird about not telling Freddie about the maybe hired killer on the island, but I so didn’t have time to deal with the fallout of that, so why worry him? “Okay, where were we?”
“You were about to tell me why you’re acting like some kind of meth cat trying to get us to risk our lives in a blizzard?”
“Meth cat?”
“You know,” he said erratically flailing his hand around the room. “A cat. On meth.”
“Of course,” I said with a little scoff. “But why would a cat be on meth?” I so did not understand this younger generation.
“It doesn’t matter! Just tell me what’s going on!”
“It’s nothing.” That wasn’t a complete lie. It could absolutely be nothing. I couldn’t even think the words Dark Web Assassin without tacking on a Really? In fact, the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it all seemed. I mean, maybe Rhonda was still just getting carried away. And as for the new guy working at the station—Amos—well, I couldn’t be sure he could be trusted to identify his own mother properly. Actually, that probably wasn’t fair, but it sounded nice and reassuring in my head. I really didn’t want to tell Kyle all of this if I didn’t have to. “Well, it’s like you said, you are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars.” I gave him a little congratulatory punch on the shoulder before gesturing to the other room. “But they all are not.” I ended with a nod and some pretty big uh-oh eyes.
He tilted his head. “I thought you were clinging to the whole it could have been an accident theory?”
“I am. I am,” I said with my most convincing expression, which probably meant it looked painfully the opposite. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t play this safe.”
Snowed In with Murder Page 14
