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“Let me put it simply, sweetheart,” Vale said. His voice was lower, but somehow that seemed even worse. “This—” he waved one gun in the direction of the table, “—is a goddamn mess. Here we have a special ops who can’t do his fucking job of killing people, even though that’s the thing he loves best.”
He smacked Rien again on the back of the head with the gun and blood ran down Rien’s cheek. I wanted to attack Vale. I had just met him, but I wanted to punch him through the face. He leaned forward and yelled into Rien’s ear.
“I’m not even supposed to know about it, but I do. Because I’m the one who sends you jobs. Only you haven’t done your goddamn job!”
“Vale—” he started, but Vale cocked the gun that was aimed at me and Rien’s mouth slammed shut. He looked more terrified that Vale would shoot me than anything else.
“I’m sorry, Rien. You’ve been good. It’s been good working with you. But this is a mess I need to get rid of. I’ve got a federal witness half-dissected on an operating room table who just admitted to killing his wife, whose body I’mstillmissing.”
I inhaled sharply. He had been about to tell me. He had. I racked my brain for what I could do to make Vale stop.
“And we’ve got a civilian who’s going to blab about this whole fucking thing to Rolling Stone so she can get her name in the papers.”
“I won’t!” I cried.
“Yeah? You’re an actress. You’re smack dab in the middle of a murder scene. You’d get a shitload of attention if you spread this shit around. And what, you’re just going to frolic out of here and not tell anyone? I don’t want to kill you, darling, but there’s not a lot of options here. I’m sorry, I really am. If there was any other way, I would take it.”
“Trust me, I won’t—”
“How do I know I can trust you? Huh? Convince me.”
“I—“
“Five seconds to convince me. Or I start my cleanup with the good doctor here.”
How could he trust me? I couldn’t let him kill Rien. I couldn’t let him kill me. I saw Rien breathing deeply, and I could see the terror in his eyes. I looked down at Mr. Steadhill, who was still straining against the straps. And I knew what I had to do.
Stepping forward, I pressed the scalpel against Mr. Steadhill’s neck. And I followed the line Rien had drawn for me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Rien
I gaped as blood spurted from Mr. Steadhill’s neck.
“What thefuck,” Vale gasped beside me. He lowered his gun to his side, amazement on his face.
Sara stepped back, the front of her green dress already soaked in blood. The scalpel dropped to the floor with a clatter.
“Sara—”
I rushed to her side. She stumbled back, clutching at my arms, and I caught her. Blood pooled on the ground, and Mr. Steadhill’s eye stared up blankly at nothing. He was dead. Sara bent over, retching air. I held her by the waist. Finally she shuddered and stood up shakily. She looked at Vale.
“I won’t. Tell. Anyone.”
“Jesus,” Vale said breathlessly. “Jesus.”
Sara swallowed, her eyes darting back to the blood that still dripped from the table.
“There,” I said to Vale. “Are you satisfied?”
“What about Susan Steadhill?”
“I think… I think her body is under the Santa Monica pier,” Sara said. She spoke softly, but in the silent room her voice carried.
“Did he tell you that?”
“No, but when we first met, he said that that’s where they went before their last fight. I didn’t think anything of it, but… but…” Her teeth chattered, and her whole body shivered again. She couldn’t stop staring down at the dead body.
