Chase tried to get that latest picture out of her mind and think clearly. She had to find out exactly what Vi’s plan was. The route was straight for several miles until they would need to turn off onto Bushaway Road. There was time.
“We’re going to Gray’s Bay, you say. Violet, are you still holding the knife on Anna back there?”
“What do you think?”
“I think we’ll be at the Gray’s Bay Dam in about fifteen minutes. What are you going to do with me and Anna when we get there to keep us from telling the police what we know about you and the murders?”
“What’s the matter with you? Just be quiet and drive.”
They had crossed Interstate 494 on Interstate 394, which had devolved into Wayzata Boulevard, pronounced “Y-zetta” by the locals. “We’re already on Wayzata Boulevard. I think that, since you admitted to us that you killed those men, and attacked Hilda Bjorn, you think you might have to get rid of us. Is that what you’re thinking?”
“Why are you talking so loud?”
“If Hilda had died, everything would have been okay, wouldn’t it?”
“Everything is going to be okay.”
“Not for me and Anna! You’re going to kill us with that knife.”
Vi reached one thin arm to the front and snatched Anna’s purse off the passenger seat.
Chase’s heart sank. In the rearview mirror she saw Vi hold up Anna’s phone, which she had just fished out of the purse.
“You called someone! Anna’s phone was on!”
Which meant that, now, it wasn’t on. When Chase had gotten the keys from Anna’s purse, she had redialed Detective Olson’s number and left the connection open. Had he answered the call? Had he heard anything? Had the connection been good enough for him to understand what she was saying?
The turn onto Bushaway Road came way too soon. There wasn’t another soul on the dark road, which was lined with tangled undergrowth and thick trees at that point. Chase slowed the car to a roll, but Vi noticed and told her to speed up.
The trees thinned out, then were missing entirely when they reached the dam, but the people were missing, too, and there was no lighting.
“Keep going, keep going. Slow now.”
Chase eyed the frail wire fencing on either side of the paving. The fences stood a few feet from the two-lane road, leaving virtually no shoulder. They couldn’t stop on the dam.
“Go past the fence. There, turn there.”
Chase turned left onto the turnout to a small fishing area. Her mind, which should have been working a million miles an hour, was stuck on idle. As she got out of the car, her gears started to turn. What was Vi going to do with them?
“How did you get messed up with Gabe and Torvald anyway?” Chase said. “I heard you talking to someone named Felix. Torvald’s nephew? Have you known him long?”
Vi backed out of the car, dragging Anna with her, the knife never more than an inch from Anna’s precious neck.
If Vi forced them into the water, they could swim to shore. Especially if she did it from here, a small parking lot that led to a gentle slope with access to the water for fishing.
The black water made ominous sucking sounds against the shore. A gust of cold air blew Chase’s straight hair off her neck. She realized the nape of her neck was sweaty, even in the frigid evening air.
“Stand against the car.” Vi gave Anna a rough shove, pinning her to the car with the knife.
Then Chase saw Vi shrug her oversize handbag off her shoulder and extract Anna’s second-favorite rolling pin, a green marble one two inches longer than the short blue one.
She was going to bash them over the head with it! The same way she’d tried to kill Hilda.
Please, please, Niles. Please have heard what I said on the way out here. Please be on the way.
A car went by on the road above, slowing slightly, but not stopping. Stray rays from the headlights filtered down to glint off Vi’s knife.
Chase concentrated on not looking at the car. Vi didn’t give it a glance either. Had it been a police car? Or Detective Olson in a plain car?
Please, please, please.
“Which one first?” Vi seemed to be mumbling to herself.
“Me,” Chase said. “Me first.” She couldn’t bear it if Vi hit Anna on the head with that heavy piece of rock.
At last, Chase felt her mind speed up. A plan formed. Would it work? If it didn’t, nothing would matter, so it had to.
First, some distraction.
“Vi, if Anna and I are both gone, would you mind taking care of Quincy?”
“Have you lost your mind? You’re thinking about your cat right now?”
“I don’t want him to suffer.”
“And you think I’d be a good person to look after him? I’m not crazy about animals. Touching those rats was horrible.”
“You put the rats in the kitchen?”
“Yes. Torvald and Gabe hired me to do it. I had help from that kid.”
“Felix? Torvald’s nephew?” Chase knew now that he was the young man she’d seen arguing in the parking lot with Vi that one time.
“Yes!” Vi shouted. “I know Felix! His mother is a friend of my mother. We played together as kids. He’s the one who thought his uncle and Gabe could help me out with the money. So I cut him in for a share if he’d handle those rats.”
“Elinda said you never paid him.”
“How could I? No one paid me. I asked them over and over. Gabe had loaned me rent money and said he’d cancel my debt if I did that for him.”
“Gabe loaned you money?” How could he? “I didn’t think Gabe had any money.”
“He had enough for three months’ worth of my rent. But then he said there was interest or something and he needed me to pay him more. I was losing everything! My dad would have a cow if I got evicted.”
Vi seemed to be reliving her ordeal, the prospect of being penniless. Her agitation was increasing. Maybe Chase should try to calm her down.
“I can see how you would feel,” Chase said.
“I went to Gabe’s a million times, then I asked Torvald a million more times. I got so mad at Gabe, I just grabbed that knife and stabbed him. You just don’t realize how easy it is to kill someone with a sharp knife. I didn’t exactly mean to kill Gabe. I was sorry right away. He might have been easier to get money from than Torvald. That guy was impossible. He’s the one who insisted I carry through with the rat plan after Gabe died on me. Then he wouldn’t pay me either.”
“Why?” This squeak came from Anna, in spite of the blade at her neck. “How could they want to put the rats in the shop?”
“How do you think?” In the darkness, Chase could hear the sneer in Vi’s voice. “You know they wanted you to sell to them. Since you wouldn’t budge, they were desperate about trying to drive you out of business. Gabe even told me I could be the manager of his donut shop when he got your place. Then, after I kept after him about the money, he took that back. I think Torvald told him to. Those two were liars and cheats. They promised me everything and took it all back. They both deserved to die. Torvald was working on Shaun then, but he didn’t have the money either.”
“They called the health inspector, too, I suppose,” Anna said.
“You need to be quiet, old woman.”
“Old woman?”
“I said, be quiet.” Vi’s words were soft but menacing. She had the green rolling pin in one hand, the other held the knife, still digging into Anna’s neck as Vi held her pinned against the car with her body.
“Torvald had me sign this stupid piece of paper.” Vi sounded a bit calmer, but not a lot. “He called it a note. He said, ‘Here, just sign this little note.’ Like a note is less that a whole letter, right? It should be something informal. But no, he tells me later it’s a binding, official, legal contract. He said he could put me in jail for not paying it!”
The girl was clueless. She had no idea what a note was. Chase looked at Vi, whose hands were full. How was Vi going to bash one of them without the other one tackling her?