“Good.” His chair scraped the floor as he got to his feet. Rather than heading for the front door, he went to the refrigerator and took out a beer. He twisted off the cap and tossed it in the sink. “I guess you didn’t think to get something decent to drink when you were shopping.”
“Didn’t realize I’d be entertaining.”
“What about Dudley? Is this what he likes?”
“I’m not talking to you about him.”
“Not even about his preference in beer? How about in bed? What does he like to do to you there?”
Ramsey did glance toward the front door now. Where were the police? How long had it been since she spoke to the alarm company? “You have what you came for. You should leave.”
“In a minute. I want to finish this.” In spite of his words, he only took a single swallow. “So, we were talking about the Dud in your bedroom. How is that for you?”
She resisted telling him that Sullivan was far superior in bed and out of it. Anyone who took the least consideration of her needs would be. She remained sitting, turning the phone over in her hand.
Jay’s gaze dropped to her phone. “Still thinking about calling the police? Or maybe the Dud? I’d like to meet him. I’ve been wondering if your tastes have changed there as well.”
“Maybe you’ll meet him.” Ramsey risked the narrowest look away from Jay when movement outside the kitchen window caught her attention. It was too brief a glimpse to identify who was there, but it seemed likely that it was someone from the station responding to the security company’s call. Finally. It was her only thought.
Jay spun away from the refrigerator and looked toward the window. “What is it?” he asked. “What did you see?”
So much for stealing a glance, Ramsey thought. “The neighbor’s cat. He’s a big old Tom, but he can still make the leap to the window box. I don’t even try to keep flowers in it any longer.”
Jay set his beer down on the counter and went to the back door. He put his face close to the window and looked out. The afternoon light was only beginning to fade and he had a clear view of Ramsey’s yard. “You’ve become a facile liar, Liz.” He turned around and faced her again. “There’s no cat.”
“Mr. Peeve comes and goes as he pleases, Jay. He’s acat.”
Searching her face, Jay said, “I don’t know. It seems to me that you’ve become pretty light on your feet.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your life. Everything’s easy for you. I thought I made an easy life for you when we were together, but I see now that I failed. It wasn’t enough that I took care of your tuition, shepherded you through school, managed the bills, saw that you wanted for nothing, and kept you sheltered. Why wasn’t that enough, Liz? Why did you leave me?”
Ramsey did not like where he was taking this conversation. “You know why, and the fact that you keep pretending ignorance is frankly disturbing.” She stood. “I want you to leave.”
“What I want has never mattered to you. It was the great inequity in our marriage. You took and took and rarely gave anything in return. I accepted your selfishness because I loved so many other things about you that I was willing to overlook that one. It’s what did me in, isn’t it? I should have addressed things early on when I saw you as you really are.”
Ramsey stood and skirted the table to give him a clear path to the front door. It was yet another clear invitation for him to leave. She watched his nostrils flare as he took a deep breath. His sculpted lips parted. He released the breath slowly as though settling himself. Ramsey appreciated that. She held onto the back of a chair with one hand to steady herself as he approached. He paused a single beat just before he reached for her. It was the only warning she had and it was too little, too late.
Jay wrested her hand away from the chair, spun her, and jacked her arm behind her back. He threw his free arm across her chest and tipped her so that he was bearing most of her weight. Only her boot heels touched the floor and they were insufficient to help her hold her ground.
Jay put his mouth against her ear and whispered, “What did you do, Liz? I know someone’s out there. Is it Dudley? Is he watching us?”
Ramsey offered no resistance as he pushed her forward. She tried to keep an arch in her back so he wouldn’t feel the hard bulge of her weapon. “You’re mistaken. There’s no one except for Mrs. Oliver’s cat. Why won’t you just go? You have what you came for.”
“Do I? Do you think money is all I wanted from you?”
Ramsey’s stomach cramped. A moan escaped her lips before she could clamp them shut.
Misunderstanding what precipitated Ramsey’s utterance, Jay fractionally eased his grip. “How do I know you won’t call Finch back after I leave and cancel the transaction?”
Which was precisely her plan, but she wasn’t about to tell him that or give it away. “I wouldn’t do that. You hold all the cards.”
“I do, don’t I?”
Ramsey could hear the satisfaction in his voice and knew without seeing that it was accompanied by a smug smile. “So what is the point of what you’re doing now?”
“The point is that I don’t believe you. I don’t. Drop your phone.”
