Part 21 (2/2)
”What good will your piece do, Mercedes, without the others?” Sam had a bad feeling that Eric no longer had his piece of the game any more than Buzz did. ”Or did you kill Eric the way you did Buzz?” Answer the phone, Charley. Hear what's going on.
”Eric was much more reasonable than Buzz,” the redhead said with a smile. ”He understands the value of money.”
”What about Bebe?” Sam asked.
”Bebe?” Mercedes looked confused. She didn't know about Bebe?
Sam felt her heart kick up a beat. ”You know, Mercedes, you could have picked a little nicer place. An abandoned Lighthouse Restaurant? This really isn't your style. Where the h.e.l.l are we anyway? Down island?”
Mercedes frowned, holding perfectly still, then her eyes widened. ”Ralph! You searched her before you brought her in, right?”
Ralph stuck his head in the door, looking confused. ”Her pockets weren't big enough for a gun.”
Mercedes swore and aimed her weapon at Sam's head. ”Take your hands out of your pockets slowly.”
Sam had no choice. She removed her hands from her pockets. ”Hey, settle down. I was just cold.” She pretended to s.h.i.+ver.
Mercedes swore again. ”Ralph! Check her pockets.”
Time was up. If Charley hadn't gotten the message- ”Just a cell phone,” Ralph said, pulling the compact phone out of her pocket.
”Just a cell phone,” Mercedes mimicked before she grabbed the phone and listened for a moment, then punched it off. ”You'd better hope that was one wasted call,” she said to Sam, her gaze hard as her heart and twice as cold. ”Get out of here Ralph before I shoot you.”
Sam held her breath as Mercedes. .h.i.t redial. What would Mercedes do if she heard Charley answer the phone? But he didn't answer. The line seemed to ring and ring. He wasn't home. No doubt he hadn't been home when Sam had tried to call either.
Defeated, she watched Mercedes smile, turn off the phone and hurl it into a dark corner of the building. Something scampered in the phone's wake.
”Nice try, P.I.,” Mercedes said in a bad imitation of Bogart, ”but I really don't need you anymore. I got the pieces of the game on my own.” She waved the gun at Samantha. ”Get out of the way, kid.”
WILL PULLED THE FIs.h.i.+NG BOAT up onto the beach, then stole through the darkness to the large lighthouse building at the end of a long spit of land. It stood in an older industrial area, remote and decaying. He moved through the shadows of rotting buildings until he could see Ralph standing guard outside. A light flickered through the cracks in the walls. An SUV was parked outside, empty.
He moved closer, keeping an eye out for anything he could use as a weapon. He knew Samantha didn't have her gun. It had been in her purse, the purse that Ca.s.sie had taken from her on the ferry. But if he knew Sam, she was anything but defenseless. He hoped.
He picked up a rock and a piece of wood the size of a club, then got as close to the lighthouse as he could before heaving the rock into the darkness off to his right.
Ralph jerked around, fumbling to pull a pistol from his jacket. Will was on him quickly, hoping he could keep Ralph from warning whoever was inside the building of his presence.
The wood cracked, sounding loud as it hit Ralph's thick skull. The man barely flinched. For a moment, Will thought he was going to have to hit the guy again. But Ralph's knees buckled, and he dropped like a demolished building.
Will nudged him with a boot toe, but Ralph seemed to be out cold. At least for a while. Hurriedly, Will moved along the side of the building, avoiding gaps in the lumber where light leaked through, just in case someone was watching from inside. He could hear voices but they were too faint for him to make out who was talking.
He reached the door. It stood ajar. He stopped to peer through the opening. He could see Samantha and Zack, could hear Zack crying, ”No! No!”
He heard another voice. Someone was holding a gun on Samantha and Zack.
”No! Don't hurt her!” Zack cried.
Will grabbed the edge of the door, and would have gone busting in like the cavalry with only a piece of rotting wood and no plan- But he didn't get the chance. The barrel of a gun poked into his back and a low voice warned him not to make a move.
Chapter Fifteen.
”Well, look who's here,” Mercedes said almost cheerfully as she looked past Samantha and Zack to the doorway.
Her sudden mood swing scared Sam almost as much as the gun in the woman's manicured hand. She turned and her heart stopped at the sight of Will standing in the doorway. No! her mind screamed.
He smiled at her, a smile that could have melted frozen pizza. Behind him Bobby Walker looked less friendly out of his tennis attire. And that definitely wasn't a racket he clutched in his hand. Sam felt her heart sink.
”Will doesn't have anything to do with this,” she said, turning to Mercedes, who was obviously running this show.
”He does now,” Mercedes said, motioning for Will to move closer to Sam and Zack. Now she had them in her sights and Bobby was behind them, armed with yet another weapon.
Sam realized that if she hadn't been so convinced Ca.s.sie was behind all of this, she'd have seen it sooner. Mercedes and Bobby. She'd broken all her rules on this case, starting with the worst of all, getting too personally involved.
She'd screwed up and now they were in terrible trouble. What chance did they have against Mercedes and Bobby with both of them armed? And where was Ralph?
”Let me guess,” Sam said, stalling for time as she tried to come up with a plan. ”You married Lucas because you'd heard about what he was working on. I'll bet it was your idea to bring in the 'investor.' Lucas must have gotten wise to you, though, and divorced you. But why send you a piece of the game then?”
Mercedes smiled. ”Actually, I let Lucas think it was his idea, the marriage, the investor and the divorce. We just weren't compatible, you know, but he owed me. I'd gotten him an investor so he didn't have to live on the street until he finished the d.a.m.n game. game.”
”But, of course, it isn't just a game,” Sam said.
Mercedes narrowed her gaze. ”You are so right, gumshoe. It's far from a game.”
”The problem is,” Sam said, hoping she was right about this, ”you don't have all five pieces.” Sam could see Zack's backpack lying near Mercedes's feet but Zack still had the CD player, the headphones around his neck.
”The last piece will turn up,” Mercedes said confidently. ”I had hoped you'd find it for me. But whoever has it will eventually come for the kid. I'll be waiting.”
Sam felt her heart drop. Mercedes's plan actually could work. It was just a matter of time before the redhead had all the pieces. Sam wondered, though, if Bobby had heard his girlfriend's slip? ”Did you hear that, Bobby? She said, 'I'll be waiting.' How long do you think you'll last once she doesn't need you anymore?”
”Save it,” Mercedes snapped. ”Bobby loves me. He knows I wouldn't harm a hair on his head.” She shot a look at Bobby. ”Don't listen to her, lover.”
”What about Zack?” Will asked.
Mercedes sent the boy a withering look. ”Children have accidents all the time. It really is quite horrid. I'm amazed so many live through childhood.”
Sam's blood turned to ice.
”Now, just a minute,” Bobby cried. ”You said no one would get hurt. If you hadn't had to kill Lucas then that stupid wrestler-”
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