Part 44 (2/2)
”What the h.e.l.l are you saying, Riva?”
”It's okay.”
”It's f.u.c.king not.” To him she looked-frantic behind those doe eyes. Needy, and... cagy, and like she was taking a chance.
”Baby,” she said, ”you can't think about things right now. Just listen to me. We have to grab this opportunity. We'll never get it again.”
He slid his hand out from under hers. ”I'm not your baby. Are you-Christ, Riva. No. What are you trying to pull?”
”Ian.” Her hand came up, as if she wanted to reach for him.
He recoiled. ”Where's my wife? Where's my son?”
”I told you. They're dead.”
”And I've hooked up with you instead? You're in fantasy land.”
Her voice sharpened. ”Stop this. We don't have time to mess around.”
Abruptly, self-consciously, she softened and reached to touch his shoulder. The ring on her finger caught the light. He grabbed her hand.
”Why are you wearing Misty's wedding ring?” He looked at her neck. She had on the dolphin necklace. ”I gave those to her. Take them off.”
His fear, his panic and confusion, seemed to fill the air around him like a hiss.
”What's going on? And do not tell me I'm sleeping with you. My memory's shot to h.e.l.l but I know I am not getting between the sheets with you. No way. So stop playing this G.o.dd.a.m.ned game and tell me where my family is.”
Slowly Riva withdrew her hand. When it reached her lap it was a fist. For a moment her lips quivered. Then she swallowed. She s.n.a.t.c.hed the necklace and yanked it off, breaking the chain. She wrenched the ring off her finger. She shoved the jewelry at him, clutched in her fist. She lifted her chin and spoke through her teeth.
”They're dead.” She looked out the winds.h.i.+eld. ”And their killers are in your Tahoe.”
Murdock glowered at Jo. ”Stop trying to mind-f.u.c.k us. Riva's getting the stuff from Kanan.”
Jo tried to keep her breathing even, but her heart was drumming. The red dashboard clock read 10:24.
”Riva's been in the pickup with Kanan more than five minutes,” she said.
”So?”
”In any five-minute span, Kanan's memory is wiped clean. I'm telling you, she's going to turn on you. This whole setup is wrong.”
Murdock's cell phone rang. He answered it with annoyance in his voice.
”What?” He frowned and sucked his teeth, staring out the winds.h.i.+eld at the pickup. He shrugged. ”Sure.”
Hanging up, he turned to Vance. ”Watch them.”
Murdock set his phone on the dashboard and got out of the Tahoe. He stepped clear of the door, raised a hand, and waved.
Riva dropped Misty's necklace and wedding ring into Kanan's palm. The gold felt warm, tainted. He heard, as if through thick walls, Riva on the phone. He looked at her face.
She had been beaten. Her lip was split, her face puffy, and she had a blistered red welt on the side of her forehead that looked like the imprint of an iron. She put the phone away. She was shaking with rage and pain.
”What happened to you?” he said.
”I escaped from the kidnappers. Seth and Misty didn't. The police found their bodies,” she said. ”They were beaten to death. Misty was raped.”
The truck, his vision, went white.
”The cops got to their hideout. Misty and Seth were already dead,” she said. ”But the kidnappers don't know that they've been discovered. They still think you're going to hand over the sample of Slick.”
”It's not true,” he said, but without any volition whatsoever, a great cry rolled through him and erupted. He grabbed his head and fell against the window.
He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see.
”Ian,” she said.
He couldn't open his eyes. She grabbed him around the neck with her soft hot fingers.
”Ian, that's him.”
She hit the high beams. He forced himself to look. Up the road, a man was standing next to the Tahoe. Door open, fully exposed. He raised his arm in acknowledgement.
”Two kidnappers,” Riva said. ”Man and a woman. You suspected a woman all along, and you were right.”
He closed his fist around Misty's ring and necklace.
”Ian.” Riva looked like she was about to crack-like she'd had more than she could take. ”I'm with you. Whatever you do. However far you need to take it. But we have to do it now.”
The rifle was behind the seats.
”Take the wheel,” he said.
* 37 *
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