brother and son, as if it meant nothing. And she supposed it did mean nothing to Lily. None of them meant anything to her; except a means to upset Vincent, but for what? Before she could ask that question, the car began to slow and she glanced around sharply to see where they were.
They were no longer on the highway. Apparently, they'd left it while she'd been distracted listening to Lily. It looked to her as if they'd left the city altogether. Now they were on a road that appeared rarely traveled. There was an occasional house, but mostly there were trees and the occasional glimpse of ocean seen through bald patches in the woods along one side. It was a coastal road, she realized with confusion, and wondered what they were doing there.
Jackie somehow doubted it made any difference that they weren't in the hills. While Lily had killed the woman Vincent had fed on and left her body in the hills, she didn't think for a minute that because they were at the beach rather than the hills, the production assistant had different plans for her. It appeared Lily had decided to change her pattern and kill Jackie on the beach.
Suitable, she supposed, since the first attack had taken place on the beach as well.
Lily had gone quiet. Jackie glanced at her to see that she was concentrating on the side of the road, appearing to look for something. When the woman stiffened and her eyes shot to the back of the driver's head, Jackie turned to peer at the side of the road, her heart sinking when she saw the dirt road they were approaching. Her gaze slid back to the driver now that she could actually look at him, and Jackie peered at his blank face. He was young, perhaps eighteen, with short brown hair and a long face.
"Does he drive you to all your murder scenes?" The dry question had slipped from Jackie's mouth before she realized she was going to ask it.
Lily turned hard eyes her way, then slowly smiled. "No. For the other one I took control of a taxi driver. I'd never seen this young man before tonight when he pulled up to the gate to buzz. I slid into the car while he was waiting for the gate to open."
"How did you know I'd open the door and it wouldn't be Marguerite or Vincent?"
"Because it was your voice that answered over the intercom when he buzzed. Besides, I knew it would be either you or Tiny to open the door. Neither Marguerite nor Vincent would have ordered the pizza."
Jackie supposed that meant Lily hadn't figured out they'd been having Vincent feed off delivery people in an effort to keep from marking anyone else for death. At least, she'd done something right, Jackie thought grimly, then realized she shouldn't be thinking such things. Lily might read them and then go after the delivery people. Fortunately, she seemed to be distracted controlling the driver.
To get these thoughts out of her head, Jackie asked, "And what if Tiny had answered the door?"
"Then it would be him sitting here tonight and I'd have saved you for another time," Lily said easily.
Jackie felt her stomach roll over at this news. Tiny was a target too and if Lily succeeded at killing her tonight, Tiny's days were numbered. If that were the case, there was little hope for him, especially since Lily wasn't on the list of people on the New York play, and they'd been concentrating their efforts that way.
Unless Tiny had seen her getting into the car with Lily, Jackie reminded herself. If he'd seen her... She frowned to herself with worry. It was possible he hadn't.
"What were you doing in the house the night I caught you in the office?" she asked suddenly.
Lily glanced at her with amusement. "You didn't catch me in the office. You followed me out of it and fell on me coming over the fence."
Jackie managed not to wince at the description. It made her sound completely incompetent. When she showed no reaction to her words, Lily shrugged and said, "I'd followed you that night, but lost you after your little rendezvous in the storage room with Vincent." She tilted her head and asked, "Is he a good lover? I presume the two of you snuck in there for hanky panky?"
Jackie started to recite "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in her head. She so wasn't revealing anything that personal... or endangering anyone