“Bordelon did,” the standing scary guy, Richardson, said. He didn’t look away from her, though, like it was supposed to be some kind of threat.
Lauren couldn’t keep up with who was going to try to kill whom. It was like she’d fallen into some kind of alternate universe and no one actually made sense.
“Bullshit,” Finn said. He scowled fiercely enough she saw hints of the bear, and he swiped up his rifle to use as a stick to stand up. Lauren started to help but froze when the other men tensed. Finn grunted as he straightened, brushing snow off his clothes. “Richardson shot them in cold blood and he’s trying to pin it on me. I won’t fucking stand for it.”
“Sounds like a big misunderstanding,” the newcomer said. Shotgun turned narrow eyes on her. “And who is this tasty little treat?”
She recoiled, disgusted and almost ready to do something about it. He sucked on his teeth, practically rocking back on his heels, and smiled like he knew perfectly well how awful he was.
Finn’s upper lip curled and if there hadn’t been a very clear wound in his shoulder, Lauren figured it might have been all over for Shotgun and his friends. The bear didn’t react with uncontrolled rage, though, which made her feel better. “My associate. Mind your manners or she’ll fuck you up.”
Lauren did her best to look unimpressed and hopefully a little intimidating, although she didn’t think it worked from the way the other man snorted and a sneer curled his mouth. Richardson and his two pals at least started to look nervous; they must have expected to blame Finn or kill him before Shotgun arrived. She didn’t know enough about therelationships between them all, but none of them seemed particularly trustworthy except Finn.
Shotgun spat again, then glanced down at the ground next to where Finn had been. “So these are the last of ‘em. Everything else is accounted for?”
“Near enough,” Finn said after the silence stretched. “Except for the payment.”
“Well, seeing as how Richardson had to handle…”
“You paid me to find them, not arrest them.” Steel filled Finn’s voice and Lauren shivered under her coat. She hadn’t seenthatFinn before, not even when he confronted the guys who wanted to hurt her. He didn’t move. “And seeing as how your associate here murdered three detainees in cold blood and I have it on video, you’re better off paying my fee and never contacting me again.”
Shotgun’s eyes narrowed again and he looked over at Richardson, who just shrugged. The shorter man exhaled in annoyance and jerked his chin back the way he’d come. “Get the fuck out of here. Give me fifteen, then send in the team to clean this shit up. I’m fucking tired of your messes, asshole. This is the last time.”
From the way the other three paled, Lauren wondered if maybe an executioner waited for them in the woods, too. She wasn’t able to move her legs as the three briefly hesitated, like they wanted to argue, then retreated. Before they got too far, Finn said, “Leave the rifles. On the ground.”
Smart. He was so smart. She just wanted them gone, but it was a good point—they could shoot them both from a distance if they really wanted to.
Shotgun said, “Do it,” when the three bristled, and in a clatter of metal, the rifles and a few other guns hit the snow.
Then it was just them trudging away through the trees, muttering to each other, and Shotgun watching Finn. The shortman waited until the others blended in amongst the shadows, then glanced at Lauren. “Why don’t you take a walk, honey, let us talk business for a minute.”
Even a couple of days earlier, she would have done it. Hell, even a couple ofhoursearlier, she would have immediately turned and started walking. But with Finn wavering a little on his feet, clearly uncomfortable and in pain, she wasn’t going to leave him there with a man who didn’t even blink when he learned three of his pals literally killed people in cold blood and tried to blame it on someone else.
“She stays,” Finn said. He never took his attention off Shotgun. “Since the payment concerns her, too. Like we talked about on the phone, there are a couple of charges to take care of. I wasn’t going to raise my fee, but having the asshole triplets shoot me doesn’t leave me very generous.”
Lauren braced for a negative reaction or maybe for Shotgun to shoot them both, but he just shrugged. “Gotta be careful in the woods, dick. Your own fault for not staying aware of your surroundings.”
“And you wonder why I don’t want to ever take a call from you again.” Finn shook his head, wincing slightly as he adjusted how he stood. “So here’s what’s going to happen. There are trail cams all over this place, and we’ve got it all on video. Lauren will lose that video when you pay my fee and resolve those charges we talked about.”
Her heart dropped. Charges? Did he meanthercharges? She didn’t dare look too closely at Finn, just in case she panicked at him being hurt and made things worse. It was okay. It would all be okay. She just had to be brave a little while longer, maybe help him hike up to the trail. Then…then something good would happen or maybe Kira would show up to help and then she wouldn’t have to make any more decisions for a long time.
“I never agreed to deal with the charges, you never told me what they were for.” Shotgun lost some of that jovial threat as it faded into real threat. “So start with that and we’ll talk.”
“Attempted manslaughter,” Finn said calmly. “All a misunderstanding, of course, much like…” and he nodded at the bodies on the ground. Lauren swallowed a taste of bile and carefully adjusted her grip on the shotgun. She couldn’t feel her fingers but that didn’t matter. She just had to keep it together a little longer. “And failure to appear, a couple of other things. Nothing you haven’t dealt with before.”
“Manslaughter?” He turned a jaundiced eye on her. “What the fuck could you possibly have done to catch manslaughter? Did your dolly make you mad? Someone post something mean about you online?”
She really disliked that guy. Lauren wished she thought of something clever, but didn’t want to waste the brain power on it when she needed all her concentration to stay upright and breathing. “Guess you’ll find out.”
He snorted, then glanced at Finn. “Can’t make something like that go away, mate. Not anymore. Prosecutors are up our asses about that nonsense, I’m sure you can bankroll a good defense lawyer with…”
“You’ll fix it, or I’ll call the rat squad,” Finn said. He glanced at his watch, like he was bored with the conversation. “I’m sure they’d appreciate seeing the footage of Richardson shooting three perps already detained. Seems like it wasn’t so long ago you dodged similar rumors, so I’m guessing this one will stick. You’re going to go to the prosecutor and inform them Lauren Tucker was working for you as an informant when the bullshit at the site went down, and she kept her mouth shut about what you tasked her to do even when she should have told the public defender who shit the bed on her case. I don’t care what kind offlex you have to make, you’ll do it. Once you’ve fixed it and she’s clear, we’ll delete the footage.”
Shotgun’s eyes narrowed as he looked between them. “Why should I believe you about the footage? Who the fuck is going to believe either of you?”
Lauren’s cheeks felt frozen solid as she forced a smile, then tapped the black square on her shoulder strap. “Bigfoot research requires very small, almost unnoticeable cameras. I’m sure you didn’t notice any of them on the hike in, or in the meadow behind, or…here.”
The short man lost what was left of his expression, giving her a dead-eyed stare that made her nerves twitch. The silence stretched, broken only by Finn’s semi-labored breathing. Lauren’s heart sped up. What if Finn keeled over dead right here in the woods?
