“I didn’t know anything about the other bodies until you found them. He told me he had a plan and to insist that I’d seen him first thing that morning and that we’d talked on the phone a couple of times right after that.”
“And why exactly did Alice have to die?”
“Like you said, she called and was totally nosing around. She knew Dirk’s name. Cody could sense she was putting it together.”
“Dirk killed the women?”
“Not him. But he was drugged out of his mind one night and he was with this guy, Sean something, who did it. It was supposed to be a drug deal, but one of the women had no idea what was supposed to go down. She lost her shit, and Sean ended up strangling both of them and then slashing at their hands and feet. Sean told Dirk he’d implicate him if he didn’t help him hide the bodies and get rid of their car.”
“And Dirk told Cody in Afghanistan?”
“When he was dying. Cody never knew whether to believe him, but he went there one day finally and saw for himself.”
“He wanted me to find the bodies so that everyone would think Shannon had been murdered by a serial killer.”
“You should have been happy. You got your little scoop.” With one eye still on me, she craned her neck to peer anxiously through the back window, desperate for Cody’s arrival. “Now just shut the fuck up.”
Could I scare her, make her see what the stakes were?
“Riley, even if Cody kills me, the cops are still going to find out the truth. You have a chance right now to turn yourself in and strike a deal with the police. To protect yourself and your husband.”
“The cops don’t have a clue.”
“Oh, but they do,” I lied. “Sheriff Killian knows Codywas lying about why Alice Hatfield called him Sunday. I just beat him to the punch by coming here tonight.”
I could hear that her breathing had quickened, so I knew I’d hit a nerve. She shook her head, without speaking, as if she was telling herself no, not to buy what I was saying. My only choice was to leap out of the car and pray she didn’t have the nerve to shoot.
Riley flicked her eyes away to check the rearview mirror, and with her attention briefly diverted, I tiptoed my fingers toward the door, hunting for the handle. I willed my hand to stop trembling.
A vehicle swung into the parking lot, its high beams flooding the car. He was here. It was now or never.
I grabbed the handle and shoved open the door. In one quick move I spilled into the night, scooted around to the other side of the door, and shoved it closed. I crawled for a few feet and then sprang up, aiming for a dumpster at the edge of the lot.
I heard a door fling open and the sound of booted feet landing on the asphalt.
“Hold it right there,” a male voice shouted. But it wasn’t Blaine’s.
I twisted around far enough to see. Hank Coulter was standing in front of his pickup truck, legs astride and holding a gun himself. God, was he in on this, too?
“You’re working with them?” I called out, frozen in place.
“No, I’m not working with them,” he yelled back. “I’m here to save your butt.”
Chapter 23
THERE WAS NO WAYICOULD BE SURE, BUT SOMETHINGtold me to trust him. Besides, it wasn’t like I had a boatload of butt-saving options.
“Look out, she’s got a gun,” I shouted. “It’s Riley, Cody’s assistant. And he’s headed here.”
“What’s going on?”
“Cody killed Shannon. And Alice, too. Riley knows all about it.”
“Okay, jump in my truck. But stay low.”
I crouch-ran to the truck and flung myself into the passenger seat with Coulter covering me.
Once I was safely inside, he stepped backward, gun still raised, until he reached the driver’s side door and let himself into the cab of the truck.
