He decided he’d rather think about Danny than about Ben. They’d never been particularly close as brothers, especially since Stoney made his money. Not ones to sit and talk about life. He quit thinking about Ben, got comfortable, dozed.
The knock on the door woke him from his drowse, and for a second he thought, Well, there’s Ben, back from fishing. No. He was in the cottage. Waiting for a friend. Stoney stood, opened the door.
‘Come on in,’ he said.
Lucy Gilbert stepped inside, glanced around. ‘Are we alone?’
‘Yeah,’ Stoney said. And as soon as he said it she pulled a gun from her purse, a big old revolver that must’ve been her uncle’s, but cleaned and oiled, and she aimed it squarely at his chest.
‘You bastard,’ Lucy said. ‘You killed them.’
‘What’s this?’ He tried to keep an easy tone in his voice. He hadn’t expected sweet, ditzy Lucy to be armed.
‘You killed Patch and Thuy.’
‘No, I didn’t,’ he said. Wow, three times today he’d had a gun aimed at him and he nearly laughed, except Lucy looked a little ragged, and the third time might not be the charm. She was far more likely to shoot him. ‘I didn’t kill anyone, Lucy. I called you because I wanted to be sure you were safe.’
‘I’m supposed to fucking thank you? No one was supposed to get hurt. You were just supposed to dig up the stuff. I sell you my land, you rebury it, end of story.’
‘I didn’t kill them,’ he said again, ‘but if you want the guy who did, I can give him to you. But just you. Not the police, though, that’d be a mess for both of us.’
‘I hate you,’ Lucy said and the barrel, trained right on his chest, steadied. ‘Do you know what you might cost me? What you’ve already taken from me?’
‘If you feel so righteous, pick up the phone and call the police. I’ll just sit on the couch while you explain to them how you knew who killed your uncle and his girlfriend and didn’t lift a finger.’ He went and sat, crossed his legs.
‘Don’t think I won’t,’ Lucy said.
‘Phone’s right there.’
He waited; she waited. She lowered the gun, just a bit, down toward his crotch. ‘Tell me what happened.’
Stoney did, quietly, saying how Alex had freaked when Thuy and Patch surprised them as they were finishing the dig, killed them both.
‘And who killed Jimmy Bird?’
‘Far as I know, he’s a suicide.’ Stoney watched her lower the gun, the barrel pointing at the floor. ‘I’m not asking any more questions about it. Neither should you.’
‘This Alex,’ she said, ‘does he know about me?’
‘He knows you’re Patch’s niece. He doesn’t know we know each other.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I’m really sorry about your uncle and his friend, Lucy. Truly I am. No one was supposed to get hurt. If it’s comforting, it was very, very quick. They might have been afraid for a moment but it was as painless as could be.’
‘Painless my ass. He beat Patch’s head in with a shovel.’
‘I know. First blow killed the poor guy. Alex just wanted to be… sure.’
That is not comforting to me in the least, Stoney,’ she said. She sat across from him in the heavy armchair. Closed her eyes. ‘I can’t believe this has happened. This had a bad vibe from the beginning and I ignored it.’ She opened her eyes. ‘You’ve fucked up my aura, Stoney.’
‘You still have the emerald?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where is it?’
‘Safe.’
‘Alex wants it. He’s not going to give up. I told him one lie about where it was, but he didn’t buy it.’
She gave a little shudder. ‘Why did you get involved with this guy?’
‘A truly legit contract archaeologist wouldn’t have agreed to do the dig. Alex did. And he’ll do the re-dig on your land, make all the records and processes look clean.’ He paused. ‘You know your boyfriend came to see me.’
‘Oh, God.’
‘He knew I’d met Patch those couple of times.’
‘Oh, God.’
‘I said Patch was just an acquaintance. He believed me.’
‘I want you to stay away from Whit,’ she said.
He got up, sat on the armchair’s arm next to her, put his arm around her. She felt good. He liked Lucy, her pert little nose, blue eyes, little barely visible freckles on her cheeks. Nice tits beneath the blouse, he thought, wondering if maybe those little kissable freckles were down there, too. He’d thought about what it’d be like to bed her, if she ever got over that judge and gave him a real glance.
‘It’s gonna be okay,’ he said, patting her. ‘I sure don’t have a thing against him.’
She stiffened under his hand. ‘So now what?’
‘Alex might be a problem. Not just for me. For you. Or for your boyfriend,’ he said. He had to be careful, not panic her overmuch. She might crack and run to Whit or to the police, even if it cost her everything. He ran a thumb along her shoulder blade.
She shrugged his hand off.
‘Sorry, just trying to be a help.’ He leaned back. ‘I know you’re upset – you got every right.’
‘I don’t want you to ever touch me, Stoney. You understand?’
‘Sure, Lucy.’
‘I love Whit.’
‘I know you do. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to be a friend.’
‘You let Alex kill my uncle and Thuy and you want to be my friend?’
‘I couldn’t stop him,’ he said and then he had an idea, not a bad one at all, to solve his problems. It might work. ‘Lucy. That gum. You really know how to use it?’
She narrowed her gaze. ‘Why?’
‘Like I said, Alex might be a problem.’
‘You said you need him for the fake dig.’
‘Sure. But he’s gotten real unpredictable. Maybe if he doesn’t want to do the fake dig on your land, just wants to take off, well, he might decide to hurt me. Or you, if he finds out someone else has the Devil’s Eye. And he knows Whit talked to me. He might hurt Whit. I don’t know.’
She stared. ‘You want me to shoot Alex.’
‘I want us to be careful, sweetheart. We get through this, we both get what we want. You get your money, you get out of your debts, you get Whit.’
‘I don’t know I want to sell you my land anymore, Stoney. And I think I have Whit-’
‘Until he finds out about what you’ve done. Then he’ll be gone, Lucy.’
‘I want out. This isn’t what I signed on for, Stoney.’
‘Can’t, Lucy. Train left the station.’ He went back to the couch, smiled at her, thinking, And I will fucking touch you when I please when all this is done. ‘I’m not suggesting you kill Alex, Lucy. Clearly not. Just want you to be careful. I mean, he thinks Whit’s a threat to him, he’s going to come after him. We’re kind of pretending that I’ve been kidnapped right now-’
‘What?’
‘Just calm down. I don’t want to go into the why. But the last person who saw me was your boyfriend. Alex considers him a threat.’
Lucy stared at the gun in her lap.
‘You know how to use it?’ he asked again.
‘Patch showed me,’ she said. ‘When I was a lot younger.’
‘Alex is staying at a little motel on the outskirts of Port Leo. The Sandspot. You know it?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Room 133.’
She didn’t say anything, looked down at her fingers closed around the gun.
‘Well, now you know where he’s at, sweetheart,’ Stoney said. ‘The rest is up to you.’
26
The little prostitute was sitting on the flying bridge of Don’t Ask, munching an apple, apparently enjoying the late-afternoon breeze and the shade.
‘Where’s Gooch?’ Whit called as he came aboard.
‘He said he had to hunt down someone,’ Helen Dupuy said.
Hunt down. Not a good sign. ‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. He said he’d call in a bit. He said it was okay for me to be here.’
She had decided he was an enemy. He sat next to her, kicked his sandals off. ‘I’m sure it is. You’re his guest.’
She finished her apple, wiped her hands.
‘Do you normally get on planes with men you barely know?’
‘That’s a really stupid question,’ she said. She seemed a little less intimidated by him out of the robe. ‘What do you think?’