“It’s not rape if they say yes to the drink,” he retorted, walking around to pull out a chair. “Sit down, Abigail.”
She didn’t like the order, but they did need to speak. So she pulled one of the rickety wooden chairs away from the table and sat facing him, clocking the entire room.
His gun was at his waist. The counter held a hot plate, a toaster, a knife block, and several dirty dishes.
She was an expert in geometry and could calculate the distance of every object and every movement in the room. He was smart, but his IQ was nowhere near hers. Yet his narcissism blinded him to that fact.
“I preferred taking them in the church,” he said thoughtfully. “There’s just something about sex in the church, you know?”
“I don’t,” she said.
His chuckle sounded like that of a weak man. “Sure you do. You and Pastor John had some fun there, correct?”
She’d completely forgotten, to be honest. “You failed to kill Laurel.”
“I kind of killed her.” He lifted one shoulder. “But apparently my shot didn’t hit Captain Rivers where I’d wanted. I didn’t want himdeaddead. But I needed him to be out for a little while longer.”
“You thought he’d be arrested?” Abigail guessed.
Zeke rubbed his smoothly shaven chin. “Of course, I thought he’d be arrested. He was in the way.”
“Laurel has it figured out,” Abigail said. “She’s smarter than you are, by far.”
Zeke’s eyebrows drew down. For once, he’d taken out the blue contacts, showing his true eye colors. Which matched Abigail’s and Laurel’s. “She is bright.”
“As am I.” Abigail had figured it out the second Delta Rivers had been identified as the first victim. Of course, she knew Zeke and Laurel didn’t. So it had taken Laurel longer to put the pieces together. “All of this was a lead-up to your killing Deidre Snow, Laurel’s mother.”
He flicked lint off his pants. “Yes, I suppose it was.”
“You meant to frame Huck?”
“He was in the way.”
There were much easier ways to get rid of Captain Rivers. “I couldn’t agree more,” Abigail said. “You underestimated him.”
“I most certainly did. I’ve ruined my life, and now you’re going to have to help me, daughter.”
“I am?” Abigail asked. “Why would I do that?”
His eyes glittered, probably with anger. Or fear. Who the hell knew. “Because you have a lot of money, and I need to get to somewhere that doesn’t have an extradition agreement with the US.”
“Ah,” she murmured, righteous fury flowing through her veins. “Are we talking the Maldives, Indonesia, or Montenegro?”
He blinked. “You really don’t know—there’s never been a need for you to know.”
“I’m thinking Seychelles,” she said. That’s where she’d go. In fact, she had plans in place should she ever need to run. He wasn’t smart enough to realize that she was giving him this information because it would never matter for him. “I don’t plan on helping you.”
“But you will.” He reached into his front pocket and drew out a small, black USB that he tossed on the counter behind him.
She followed his gaze. “Wow. A USB. That was dramatic. Why?”
His nostrils flared. “Do you honestly think I don’t have cameras set around my church?”
Her body chilled, and then her brain took over. “There are no security cameras around the Genesis Valley Community Church.”
“Yeah, there are.” He smiled. “They’re mine, and nobody else knows they’re there. I mainly have them in the trees. They’re much like the ones Fish and Wildlife use. Isn’t that handy?”
She blew out air and quickly calculated her odds of getting out of this current predicament without having to leave Laurel.
