of it in his own good time. In the meanwhile, I had to get to the house. I ran back, went upstairs, and changed into my pajamas. No sooner had I done that, this lunatic arrived.” She glared at Rusty.
“Forget him,” Arden said. “Tell me about Dad.”
“After Rusty left, I went back to the grove. I was exhausted.”
“I don’t care,” Arden shouted. “Tell me about Dad.”
“He was dead.” She said it with benumbing finality. “He was exactly as I’d left him. I couldn’t believe it, but…” She raised her arms helplessly at her sides. “There was nothing I could do, Arden.”
“Except to let everyone think badly of him instead of you.”
“Yes! It seemed a perfect answer. A solution that was so…neat.”
“No fuss, no muss.”
“If I had been sentenced to prison, what would your life have been like?”
There was nothing Arden could say to that. “What did you do with…him?” She swallowed thickly.
“Put him in the boat. Weighted him. Then—”
“Stop. I don’t want to know.”
Lisa looked like she would protest, then said softly, “He loved the lake.”
After a beat, Rusty whistled. “You had a busy night, gal. You had a body to dispose of, and a bag of money to hide.”
“You walked all around it, Rusty. You came this close.” She made an inch with her thumb and index finger. “I was holding my breath.”
It seemed to Arden that his temperature rose several degrees within seconds. “And later? What did you do with it?”
“I told you. I spent it.” She smiled. “Every last cent.”
He flipped his aim to her and fired.
Shock registered on her face.
Arden didn’t even realize what had happened until her sister pitched forward and fell to the floor.
Then Arden screamed.
While driving with heedless ferocity, Ledge had placed repeated calls to Arden’s cell phone. They’d all gone to voice mail. So he wasn’t surprised when her house came into view and he saw Rusty’s car in the driveway, blocking in both her and Lisa’s cars.
His impulse was to roar up in his truck and barge in. But without knowing what kind of shit show was going on inside, not knowing what kind of danger Arden was in, he left his pickup at the end of their drive. As he alighted, he saw other vehicles speeding from different directions toward the property.
The cavalry. God bless Don.
He didn’t wait for the backup, but proceeded up the drive on foot, revolver drawn. It was still loaded from last night when he’d left it with Arden to defend herself while he’d dealt with Hawkins.
The only light on inside the house was coming from the window in the room where Arden slept. Running in a crouch, he approached it cautiously, now glad for the pelting rain that helped obscure him.
Through the window, he saw the three of them in an arrangement that nearly caused his heart to burst. Rusty was holding Arden with a nine-millimeter crammed into the soft tissue under her chin. She could die. At any second.
But no sooner had Ledge processed that dreadful thought, Rusty suddenly turned the gun on Lisa instead and pulled the trigger. Ledge reacted as he’d been conditioned. He fired. The bullet shattered the window and accomplished exactly what he’d intended: It startled Rusty into releasing Arden.
The instant Ledge saw an infinitesimal space between them, he fired a second shot. It struck precisely where he had aimed.
Rusty was neutralized.
Ledge crashed through what was left of the window.
Rusty released Arden so abruptly, she reeled into the wall, bashing her elbow. But she was impervious to the pain and only dimly aware of two additional gunshots reverberating in the small space, the racket of glass shattering, the thud of footsteps.
She stumbled over to Lisa and dropped to her knees, but she was helpless to touch her because of the hand restraints. Frantically, she pulled her hands against them in a maddened attempt to break free.
A voice she had come to know well said from behind her, “Be still.” She looked over her shoulder. Ledge was kneeling behind her. He snapped the restraints apart with his pocketknife.
Then gently Arden and he turned Lisa onto her side. When Lisa blinked, Arden sobbed in relief.
Ledge, who’d located Lisa’s wound, raised his eyes to Arden, and what she saw in them made her tremble.
He said, “Ambulance is coming up the drive.”
She looked back down at Lisa, who was moving her hand in a restless, groping motion until she found Arden’s. Realizing what her sister was attempting, Arden hooked their little fingers together. Lisa