Something had definitely gone wrong tonight for Rick, something big. Her stomach rolled over and Arden felt nauseous. What if Rick had only planned on kidnapping Walter but had killed him by accident?He’s probably already fucking dead by now. The words rang in her ears. But the way he’d said them as if Walter’s death were inconsequential told her that wasn’t what had Rick extra coked-up and worried. She pushed the idea that that man who was like a second father to her was dead to the very back of her mind and focused on getting Rick to keep talking.
“What did those motherfuckers do to you, Rick?” she said in her calmest, most therapeutic voice. Then she held her breath and hoped.
Rick grinned like a maniac. “They double-crossed me, that’s what they did. This was supposed to go smoothly. Killing two birds with one stone. But those motherfuckers stabbed me in the back. I should have seen it fucking coming. But they fucked up, didn’t they? Thought I’d only check the account but not the origin. Motherfuckers!” Rick stopped pacing and screamed as if he were an animal in pain.
Ellie jumped and sobbed. Arden was trembling now but she kept her voice soft and even.Just soothing a scared horseshe told herself. “What do you mean they double-crossed you? Who are you talking about, Rick?”
He started pacing again. “You have no idea who I’m talking about. You have no idea whatsoever. You would have gladly sold your ranch and either made a run for it or asked to be let in on the plan if I told you who I was working for but they wouldn’t let me. Oh, no, top secret. Motherfuckers. But now none of it matters. It’s too late. You had to go and get involved with that SEAL.”
Rick stopped pacing and fixed her with his bloodshot stare. Oh, fuck. He was going to shoot her now, just because she had the misfortune of adopting the wrong dog and falling for Kyle.
“Your motherfucking boyfriend is going to come for you, won’t he? Once he sees what I’ve done to your place, he’s going to turn right the fuck around and come back here.” He fixed her with the evilest smile Arden had ever seen. “That’s it. That’s what I need.”
Rick was obviously unhinged. “Never mind, yeah. Congratulations, Arden. I’m not going to kill you after all. You’re my brand-new hostage, bitch.”
Arden was still fixated on the wordswhen he sees what I’ve done to your placewhen Rick started pacing again. “When McGuire gets here, he’s going to see things my way. He’s going to help me outfox these suckers because he’s in the shit too, he just doesn’t know it yet.”
“What shit, Rick?” But he was too far in his own head to react. Arden inched closer to Ellie.
“Yeah, if he and I work together, maybe we’ll have a chance. I’m the brains, he’s the brawn. I’m going to have to convince him at first.” He stopped pacing. “And that’s where you come in, Arden. As for you, Ellie, I don’t have a use for you. As a matter of fact, you’re more useful to me dead than you are alive at this point.”
Oh no. No, no, no.
Rick leered at Ellie. “I’ll kill you, make it look like Kyle came in here and killed you because Arden had come here for shelter. Yeah, that’s it.” Rick smiled like he thought he’d just gotten the best idea ever. “Arden figured out that Kyle was going to kill her for the ranch like he killed Walter. He tried to stop her, but she got away and then she ran down here. She found you out in the woods where Kyle left you. You came back inside, and then Kyle showed up. He shot you dead Ellie, you poor old bitch.” Rick tsked.
Rick wiped his nose and went on. “He grabbed you, Arden, but he didn’t kill you after all. You must be a damn good lay. And then he got me and we all went on the run. Of course, I wish I could look like a hostage too, but they made sure to fuck me over. I’ve got dirt all over me. That’s okay though, that’s okay. We can go anywhere. Hide out, figure out our next plan, how we’re going to kill them. We can do that. He’s a goddamned ex-SEAL.”
Flashing lights and a rumbling engine outside caught their attention. Rick looked up and stared out the picture window toward the road. Arden turned, hoping to God it was the sergeant. But the flashing lights were yellow followed by red, not the blue rollers of a police car. They continued up the hill toward her ranch. The snowplow and the ambulance, thank God. But Arden listened closer. She thought she heard a different engine under the noisy rumble of the plow truck.Time to distract Rick.
“Rick, are you high on something? Too much cocaine? Because you sound completely irrational and crazy and paranoid. I think you just need to sit down and get ahold of yourself. I’m sure Kyle is on his way, but there’s still a way for you to get out of this if you’re calm. You’re going to need both me and Ellie alive to do it.”
Rick’s face turned purple. “Don’t try and tell me what to do! You have no fucking idea what’s going on!”
Standing in front of Arden, he aimed the revolver at Ellie and pulled back the hammer. She scooted away from Arden as far as she could to the end of the couch.
Arden threw herself between Ellie and Rick, her back to her enemy. “Don’t shoot her.”
“Get the fuck out of the way!” Rick screamed. “I need you alive, bitch! But I’ll fucking kill you if I have to!”
Arden slipped the .38 from Ellie’s coat pocket and looked into her friend’s eyes.
Message received. Ellie started coughing and pretending to choke. “I’m having... a panic attack.”
“Let me help you,” Arden said as she whipped back around, intent on blowing Rick’s balls off. She realized she’d fired a second too late when the bullet slammed into her shoulder, sending her shot wide. Rick took aim again.
The picture window behind the couch exploded into the room as a slug tore Rick’s throat open. He dropped the revolver, gurgled, and died before he hit the floor.
Delayed pain, white-hot and all-consuming, radiated from Arden’s shoulder as she slid to the floor. Somewhere a woman was screaming, but thank God it wasn’t her because Kyle was kneeling in front of her all of a sudden and it wouldn’t do to be screaming in his face.
Ellie. That was Ellie screaming. Was Walter dead? She should ask.
“Walter?” Jesus, did that frog croak really come from her?
“He’ll be fine, baby, but oh, fuck.” Kyle looked like someone had shot and killed Camo. “Ellie, where’s the damn first aid kit?”
“We left it in the woods. Dad’s okay? But oh, God,Arden.”
“Camo?” Arden croaked out. “Dead?”
