Страница 67 из 70
****
Do
Damn! This changes everything. He knows where I live and who I am. Billy didn’t say anything about what to do if someone caught on to the plan.
He reached down and dragged Devin James away from the window. Taking a zip tie, he crossed the man’s hands behind his back, slipped the tie over them and pulled it tight.
James gave a slight moan. There was blood oozing from the back of the reporter’s head but Do
“Move!”
“Where…where are you taking me?”
“Just move.”
Do
“Why are you doing this?”
Do
“Because I have to.”
“Why? Does it have to do with Billy?”
The mention of his brother’s name made him pause. James may have figured things out and therefore Do
Do
“You ask too many questions for your own good.”
Do
I don’t know who the reporter might have told about me. For all I know, the cops are on their way. There’s two choices. Abandon the plan and get as far away from here as I can. Or go through with it and risk being caught.
He sat looking out over the farm for a long time, but he knew he had to get moving and he knew he only had one choice.
I have to go through with it. I promised it to Billy and it’s what Momma would want.
He got up and went into the house.
****
Jason had just got to his desk when the phone rang. He hadn’t even sat down yet.
“Strong.”
“Jason, this is Marie. Found your file.”
“Fantastic. Be right down.”
Nina watched him turn and head back for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to Records, Marie found my file.”
“What file?”
“Back in a minute.”
With that he was gone.
****
Do
****
Jason returned to the office with a file in his hand and walked around to Nina’s side of the desk. Laying it out in front of her, he pointed at what he’d found.
“Ed Garland, Suza
“Shit! All four.” She flipped the file closed to look at the name on the front. “What is this?”
“It’s the report on a suicide from ten years ago involving a Billy Jarvis.”
“Okay, what’s the co
“They were all there. They were witnesses. Apparently they took part in a game of Russian Roulette with Billy Jarvis. Jarvis shot himself while the four watched.”
“How did you find this?”
“You know the message Dave Co
“Yeah.”
“It was from Devin James. It told me to look up this file.”
“But how did he know?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say he did the story.”
“So what now?”
Jason took the file back, sat at his desk, and opened it to a different page.
“The only names listed in the file besides the four witnesses are the mother, Betty Jarvis, and the younger brother, Do
“You think a family member is responsible?”
“Isn’t that usually the case.”
Nina nodded.
“Usually.”
****
Ed Garland had heard each of the people sharing the basement prison with him removed from their cells, one by one. First Dexter, followed by Suza
The door swung wide and the bare light bulb on the ceiling temporarily blinded him. He felt something hit his leg and when he looked down, there was handcuffs lying next to him.
“Put ‘em on.”
Ed was weak and didn’t have the strength to argue. He clicked one wrist and then the other into the cuffs. Next, something else was thrown to him. He picked it up. A key.
“Unlock the chain.”
He did, fumbling with the lock because of the cuffs. When it snapped open, he unwrapped the chain from around his leg to expose raw bleeding skin. The removal of the chain sent instant pain shooting up his leg as the air hit the open wound.
“Get up, come out here.”
Ed hadn’t stood fully erect in nearly a week and it was painful to try. Finally, he made it all the way up, but could only limp on the one good leg. He made it to the door and out of the cell he’d occupied for nearly seven days.
Do
When Ed got through the door into the kitchen, he started to shake. He didn’t know if it was from the effort to get up the stairs or from the sight that greeted him when he got there. Probably both.
Sitting in three chairs were his three cellmates. It was the first time he’d seen any of them and they didn’t look any better than he did. Both girls had tears ru
“Over there, sit.”
Ed thought about making a run for the door but he knew he was in no shape to do so and he wouldn’t get ten feet. He limped around to the chair and sat.
Do
Do