I drop the gun, you’ll kill us both.”
“Pull the trigger!” Jean said. “You’re right—he’ll kill us both. And then he’ll go on to kill again and again. He does have power. Henry Lawrence is in jail, keeping his mouth shut, because he believes that we can’t prove anything, and that Smith will get him out. If this bastard can’t get him out—or if it gets dicey—he’ll see that Henry Lawrence has an accident in jail, or that he gets a quick shiv from another inmate!”
Stacey couldn’t let Jean die. The woman was a good detective and a good human being. And no matter how brave her words, the terror in her eyes was real.
“Drop the gun. I’ll let her go,” Smith said.
“Did you kill Mrs. Kendrick?” Stacey asked.
“Hope so,” he said casually. “Just thumped the old bat on the head. Don’t worry, she didn’t see me. I made sure. Now, you want to talk about idiots... She could have had a new heart! I mean, this whole thing works on desperation for life at all costs, right? And if you’re rich, you can buy life. That old bitch looked as if she was being offered poison instead of life.”
“There are moral people in the world,” Stacey said. She wasn’t sure why but she didn’t know if Anita Kendrick would survive now.
She prayed that she did. Even if the woman only had a few more months because of heart disease, Stacey hoped that she would survive. She was the kind of human being who gave others hope for humanity.
“So, let’s see if I have this right. Billie Bingham and Henry Lawrence met at McCarron’s trial, all those years ago. They talked about what a wonderful business this would be. Billie was a beautiful young woman. She figured she could make some start-up capital by running her escort service. Is that how she brought you into it? And to think we thought it was your wife!”
Smith let out a snickering sound. Stacey didn’t want to amuse him: it caused him to laugh, and the deadly sharp blade of the scalpel jiggled on Jean’s neck.
“My wife! My darling wife. Well, don’t kid yourself. She made use of Billie’s escorts, too—she didn’t just hire women, you know.”
“What a perfect family—enjoying the same recreational activities!” Stacey said.
“We both enjoy money,” Colin Smith said. “And politics. You can make it work. Money helps in politics, politics helps in making money.”
“Wow.”
“Capitalism. It’s the American way.”
“As you see it. I see the American way as being a people who are born equal, with the same unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
“An idealist! See where that gets you!” Smith snorted.
The blade against Jean’s throat had moved a few times too many.
Stacey had to get him to let her go.
How? Well, at least she was keeping him talking. Keenan would call soon enough—they’d have the man’s wife. And when they did, he’d call her, or he’d return...
“Put the knife down, and then I’ll put the gun down. I’m not letting you out of here.”
“Fine. Watch me kill her. If I go down, I’m taking you both with me.”
“Oh, you will go down. Keenan has gone to get your wife, you know.”
He grinned. “Yeah, I do know. I knew that you would walk him to the door and lock it—and that Jean, here, believed the old lady. I knew the old bitch would need something, and that Detective Channing here would go to the kitchen for it. Had to clock the old woman since she wouldn’t play the game. But... I’m damned good at this.”
“But you wanted a grand finale, right? A Mary Kelly killing. How the hell are you going to do that here and now? Keenan is coming back. The FBI and other police officers will soon be swarming this house.”
He smiled. “You’re going to walk outside with me. Out back. A florist’s van is waiting. We’re going to hop in that van. When you do, I let Detective Channing go.”
“I don’t think so. Because I still don’t see how. I’m not putting my gun down until you let Jean go.”
“I’ll just slice a little deeper...”
Jean couldn’t help it; she let out a cry of pain.
Stacey winced inwardly. Shoot him. Shoot him, she told herself.
No. No matter how fast the bullet moved, he just needed to jerk and Jean was dead.
“Who else is involved in this?” Stacey asked.
He laughed softly. “Well, yes, there are others. But for obtaining the right victims—we had a pretty good