The Killing Game(55)

But she returned a few moments later with two mugs of coffee. “My vice is loads of cream and sugar. I figure, what does it matter now? I struggled with weight all my life and now I just keep losing pounds. Be careful what you wish for, huh?”

“Thank you,” he said, accepting his coffee. “Let me just say, I’m sorry I left you so many messages.”

“Don’t back down now. You want the Carreras and so do I. Let’s work together.”

“Okay.”

She settled herself in the chair in front of the television. As she sat down, one skinny white leg escaped the robe, but she tucked it back in quickly. “They killed my husband.”

“I’d like to prove that.”

“But there’s no hard evidence. It’s just a theory proposed by a grieving widow. Make that a guilt-stricken grieving widow because well, she had an affair with one of them and her husband found out.”

This was more information than Luke had expected, but he sensed that Peg was racing against time and was bound and determined to make things right, or as right as they could be, no matter at what cost to herself. “Which one?” he asked, and she barked out a short laugh.

“That’s the question? Not did your husband know? Did you tell him? Or did he go to a watery grave thinking you were still the starry-eyed ingénue from forty years earlier?” Before he could answer, she said, “Blake Carrera. The sexy one with the scar. Brian’s good, too, but Blake’s the really dangerous one. He’s the predator.”

Little birds need to fly . . .

“Can you give me an example?” Luke asked.

“Whenever Ted was away, or engaged by something that took his attention, Blake was always touching me. He was careful at first, I realize now. Testing the situation. He was funny, too. Clever. I found myself thinking about him a lot, and I looked forward to any time they would be coming by to talk about selling the cabin. At first I was against selling, like Ted. I thought, if they want it so badly, we should hang on to it. But I’ve never really liked the place, and then Ted kept stringing them along and stringing them along, and one night he was with Brian at some bar and Blake came by and . . .” She drew a slow breath and exhaled it carefully. “We just fell on each other like we were the last people on earth. Or at least that’s how it was for me. And then he was like a drug. I couldn’t have enough of him. And that’s when he started pulling back. Just a little, then a little more. You know how it goes.” She looked at the blank eye of the television, but he could sense she was seeing something else. “Then they went out on that boat. Not Blake. Brian and Ted. And then Ted was gone, and you know what my first thought was? Now I’m free.”

Luke didn’t say anything. She was on a roll, and he sensed she’d been waiting to unburden herself.

“The breast cancer came back with a vengeance after Ted’s death. Maybe it was karma. I don’t know. I’ve been away to ‘cancer camp.’”

“Cancer camp?”

“That’s just what I call it. Living with my sister. Chemo and radiation.” She shot him a sideways look. “Fun times.”

“I really would like to put them away,” Luke said.

“I’m not above manufacturing evidence,” she said, “but then, I’m dying and I don’t care. Your old partner . . .”

“Bolchoy,” Luke offered.

“He would take the risks, but I’m guessing you walk the line more.”

“I want them behind bars, not me.”

She smiled and it lit up her face. Then she immediately grew sober. “I want both of the Carreras to pay for taking Ted’s life. I owe him that.” Her eyes grew moist, but her expression was set and angry. “So, whatever I can do to help you, just let me know.”

“Let’s go over their tactics. How they first approached you and Ted. What they offered.”

“They were insistent right from the start. They wanted our property more than the others, at least that’s the way it seemed. They were undone that the Wrens were building the lodge, that it had been approved. That really pissed them off. Made them see red and more determined than ever.”

“Might be just the way they do business, from what I understand.”

“They’re cruel. Blake is anyway. They want it all. More than just the deal. I think they wanted to cut Ted’s balls off. Steal his wife, his home, his life. It’s like a game to them, and I fell for all of it.” She gazed back at the blank television. “Just promise me you’ll make them pay.”

“I’ll certainly give it my best shot.”

“I want to see Blake Carrera dead,” she stated flatly.

Luke understood the sentiment. “All right. Tell me all about how you met the Carreras, what your first dealings were with them, when you determined you weren’t going to sell to them. Things like that.”

She nodded and got up from her chair, heading toward the kitchen. “This is going to take a while, and if that’s the case, I’m going to add some rum to my coffee. Let me know if you need a shot yourself.”

“I think I’m okay.”

“Suit yourself.”

*

Waiting for Luke to contact her after his meeting with Peg Bellows was torture, and it gave Andi way too much time to review her meeting with Mimi. She texted Carter as soon as she was home, because he still hadn’t gotten back to her, and she added Emma to the string as well. Both of them got back to her almost immediately.