Edge of Midnight (McClouds & Friends #4)(46)

The map spread over the monitor screen. A cluster of icons pulsed in the location of Endicott House. His chest seized up. He had to cool it.

One, Liv was engaged to be married to a venomous snake. Two, she’d screwed him for the fun of it, because she felt like it. Three, there would be no chance to redeem the past, because she didn’t give a shit. Four, she did not want his protection or his help. Five, she was leaving.

He’d just sit and watch those flashing blips move out of range.

So there it was. No reason for him to sit here, watching his own sweaty hand tremble on top of the computer mouse.

The only way she could come back and rebuild her bookstore would be if someone flattened this piece of shit. And since he was a suspect, he’d be doing himself a favor by clearing up the matter. Which gave him a face-saving justification for sticking his nose in. Or any other protruding body part. He choked, thinking of Davy’s lecture. Sorry, bro.

He pulled up a document and started transcribing Liv’s stalker e-mails from memory. Getting to work made him feel instantly more cheerful. It would be a visceral satisfaction to bring T-Rex to the door of Endicott House. Hold the scaly bastard by the scruff of the neck while he wiggled and squawked. Drop him on the colonial style porch. Splat.

Here, folks. A small token of my esteem.

He had to laugh at himself. The faithful hound, bringing a dead rabbit to its master. Wagging, jumping, hoping for a pat on the head.

Lovesick chump.





Chapter 10



G ordon swung the rifle scope around, unnerved. What the f*ck? Fate had just offered him a chance to make this job’s profit-to-risk ratio skyrocket in his favor. He’d let his breath slow, his mind settle into that deep stillness preparatory to squeezing the trigger, vaporizing that troublesome f*ck’s skull. Then McCloud stopped, throwing off Gordon’s tracking. When he nailed the guy in his sights, he was looking up the hill, right at Gordon. His bright eyes were like a timber wolf’s.

And then the guy dematerialized. The image in the scope bobbed and wavered. It rattled him. It was a moonless night, there was a wooded mountain slope between them, and the pisser had got wind of him. Gordon was going to be relieved when he was turned into meat.

Jarring, to have a kill snatched out from under him. All jacked up, and nowhere to blow his wad. Killus interruptus. He giggled at his own wit. A vehicle started up. Headlights sliced through the trees, jogged over the rise. Taillights rounded the curve, disappeared.

Maybe it was better. Killing him now had been a last minute decision with as many cons as pros. The rifle made a mess, and this was a main road, though lightly traveled. The cops would hear the shot, call for backup. He would have to clean up McCloud’s shattered skull in record time, hoping no cars passed, hoping that what remained on the asphalt would be taken for an unlucky deer, and then find and dispose of McCloud’s vehicle. Better that the impulse had been blocked.

Before McCloud walked out that gate, Gordon had been toying with the idea of executing the cops with his sniper rifle, blasting his way into Endicott House, and spraying everyone inside full of bullets. Then he’d kill Sean McCloud, hide the man’s body where no one would ever find it, and let the cops speculate as to what made McCloud snap ’til they were blue in the face. That was the hallmark of a perfect job.

Tonight, that scenario had gotten even more perfect. McCloud had probably f*cked Olivia, too. His DNA would be in her every orifice.

His dick swelled angrily at the thought. Nasty slut, spreading for whoever came along. The high-profile media aspect of a mass killing would make Chris squirm, but Gordon had that f*cker by the balls.

The only problem with this scenario was that he wouldn’t get to punish Olivia in any meaningful way for the wrong she had done him.

He put a hand on the bulge at this crotch. If he thought long enough, he would think of an excellent reason to justify kidnapping her first. But he didn’t think real well when his dick was this hard.

Ever practical, he jerked his pants open.

He panted as he wanked away, picturing Olivia naked, on her hands and knees, gasping and squealing. Chris would tell him he was indulging himself. And so? What if he was? That was what life was about.

Indulging himself. Every chance he got. Until those spineless f*ckers finally got the balls to hunt him down and make him stop.



The glare of three pairs of eyes made Liv feel stark naked.

“Bart? Blair?” Her mother’s voice was hollow. “Would you leave us, please? I would like to have a private word with Olivia.”

Blair stomped out of the room. Her father followed him, throwing a baleful glance back over his shoulder. Liv braced herself as her mother climbed the steps. She looked her daughter over, lip curling.

“My God,” she said. “You had sex with him, didn’t you?”

Liv opened her mouth, and closed it. Anything she said would be used against her. Silence was her only defense, and it was a poor one.

Amelia drew her hand back and slapped her, hard.

Liv’s head snapped around. Tears sprang into her eyes as she touched her stinging jaw.

“You idiot,” her mother hissed.

Well, hell. She couldn’t dispute that, Liv reflected, with a tremor of laughter, quickly suppressed.

“You’ve been waiting for your chance to debase yourself with that lowlife trash and then rub my nose in it for years, haven’t you? Did you plan this dirty rendezvous this afternoon? Under our noses?”