Chapters (65)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty–one
- Twenty–two
- Twenty–three
- Twenty–four
- Twenty–five
- Twenty–six
- Twenty–seven
- Twenty–eight
- Twenty–nine
- Thirty
- Thirty–one
- Thirty–two
- Thirty–three
- Thirty–four
- Thirty–five
- Thirty–six
- Thirty–seven
- Thirty–eight
- Thirty–nine
- Forty
- Forty–one
- Forty–two
- Forty–three
- Forty–four
- Forty–five
- Forty–six
- Forty–seven
- Forty–eight
- Forty–nine
- Fifty
- Fifty–one
- Fifty–two
- Fifty–three
- Fifty–four
- Fifty–five
- Fifty–six
- Fifty–seven
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Becky Masterman
- About the Author
- Newsletter Sign-up
“Don’t you think it’s big enough to do the job?”
“I told you to get a spray bottle.”
“They didn’t have any. Just use that.”
“Aunt Brigid, even an atomizer doesn’t have the power of an aerosol canister and it was risky. Now you just want to, what, squirt it at him? I don’t think these things squirt all that well. Let’s stop at a drugstore.”
The thought of what Carlo was going through ate me up inside. “I don’t want to waste a minute I don’t have to. I’ll be careful,” I said.
“Suit yourself,” Gemma-Kate said. She popped off the lid that I had replaced after emptying the bottle. Then she took two pairs of heavy-duty plastic gloves from her backpack and told me to put on one pair while she slipped on the other.
“You sure are careful with capsicum,” I said.
She looked at me. Thought. Spoke. “It’s capsicum with a kick,” she said. She handed me a small plastic bag “in case I needed it.” “Safety first,” she added, as she told me what I was to do, with what effect. And smiled.
It had taken us the usual fifty minutes from the airport to the house, plus an extra ten for picking up Gemma-Kate and fixing the vial, which was now in the side pocket of my travel pants. As I headed east on Golder Ranch Road I called the number Beaufort had given me, and told him where I was.
“Great,” he said. “Now come to Gloria’s house. I understand you know where it is.”
As he said that we were passing by Twin Lakes. I pulled off onto the hard-packed stretch on the right-hand side of the road, made a U-turn, and turned right to head to Hawser. “I’ll be there in two minutes. If you do anything to Carlo in the next three minutes you’re dead.”
“Awful lot of talk talk talk about killing,” he said. “You don’t know killing like I do.” He disconnected. I could tell it made him feel in control to have the last word. Let him feel in control.
I dropped Gemma-Kate off under a tree on Hawser and continued on to Gloria’s house. We had planned this in advance. Gemma-Kate had her cell phone and I had mine. I told her I would call her when I had Beaufort neutralized. When I said that, I got a hey, good luck with that expression. We both knew what neutralized might mean, and how it was by no means a certainty.