staring up at the sole of his elegant loafer. “It wasn’t that hard, once I’d identified the thugs that work for the Trasks. Erdinger followed one of them to the Granger Valley Hospital, and tagged his car. Followed him straight to that house where they were keeping you. So easy.”
She swallowed, keeping her face impassive. No point in responding to that.
“Yes, it’s so hard to stay on top of everything, hmm?” Gil said. “But never mind that. There was something else we needed to discuss. I got a call a couple hours ago, from the fire chief in Amity Falls. There was a fire in the Bailey Ridge house. Not only is the house a complete loss, it also appears that there was some loss of life.”
Elisa stared up at him stonily. “Yeah? So?”
“They found three bodies,” Gil said slowly. “Burned. But one of the house’s occupants was missing, so I can only assume that someone abducted Josh, and killed the men I’d hired to look after him.”
She couldn’t keep the laughter back. It barked painfully out of her chest. “Look after him? You lying snake. You tortured him.”
“Shut up,” Gil said. “Don’t try to be smart. You are out of your depth here. And you’re going to tell me where the flash drive Erasma gave you ended up.”
“I destroyed it,” she said defiantly.
“Bullshit.” His voice sounded like a whip-crack. “Even you aren’t stupid enough to throw away your only leverage. I searched your squalid apartment in Shaw’s Crossing, and the house in McLinn. And I searched your lovely body, too, you know? I touched every single inch of you. Impressive. You finally trimmed off that last ten pounds I kept telling you to shed, eh? Sleek and taut. Nice work.”
“Fuck you, Gil.”
She gazed up at her face, some faraway part of her brain amazed that she could have ever been intimate with this man. He’d talked a good game, in the beginning. He’d looked great on paper. Good looking, smart, ambitious.
But she hadn’t sensed that he was a monster.
One thing was sure. She’d never been in love with him. But it had taken falling in love with Nate to understand the difference. Thank God she knew the difference now.
Whatever happened, she’d learned one true, beautiful thing before the end.
“I looked everywhere, but I didn’t find that flash drive,” he said. “It was not on that tight, fuckable body of yours. Nor in your clothes or shoes.”
She shook her head, and braced herself, shaking inside. “Don’t have it.”
“No? So who does? Your boy toy? The big one, what was his name? Nate, that’s right. Nate Murphy, the security expert. A bouncer. A Trask hanger-on. So that’s what turns you on? Big, shaggy, knuckle-brained jarheads?” He shook his head sadly. “No wonder we never clicked in bed. It all comes clear. You like hairy brutes.”
“He’s not involved with me,” she said. “We barely know each other.”
“So he wasn’t the one who abducted Josh from Bailey Ridge? And murdered my employees? And destroyed my property?”
That was too much to take, even lying bound on the floor. “Your property?”
His mouth curved. “Just thinking ahead,” he said. “You know it’s a shame that your inheritance is a fraction of what it should have been, but once you and Josh are out of the way, I can liquidate all the property and scrape together at least ten to fifteen million. It’s better than nothing, I suppose. Gubernatorial campaigns are expensive.” He laughed and held up his hand. “Yes, yes. You don’t even have to say it. Fuck you, Gil, right? Let’s get back to Nate Murphy. Does he have the drive?”
“No,” she said. “He does not have a damn thing. I barely knew the guy. I think he went back to Seattle. They rotate their security staff regularly.”
Gil’s thin smile did not change. “In the next hour or so that you have left to live, you will learn not to lie to me,” he said. “I’m in touch with Nate Murphy already. He told me that Josh was at the Amity Falls ICU. But he was lying. And both of you will pay.”
“I don’t know where Josh is. And even if I had the drive, which I don’t, what does it matter?” she said. “It’s encrypted. No one can read it.”
“Except me,” Gil said. “You dumb bitch. You left the key with me. That was lucky. And amusing, for me.”
With great difficulty, Elisa ignored that. “The only person who knew that key was Erasma, and