Until the Day I Die(76)

Inside was snake and spider free, thank God, but most importantly dry. I curled into a ball on the bark-covered floor, Lach’s phone powered down in my pocket. I’d kept the mobile data off last night so they couldn’t track me, planning to try Shorie again in the morning. The night had passed slowly, the settling of my nerves even slower. I couldn’t stop my brain.

I am a problem solver, I’d thought numbly. A grade A, blue-ribbon problem solver.

But maybe not.

Reality: A ruthless killer is after me.

Challenge: Outrun, outlast, outsmart him.

Twice already Lach had hesitated to kill me. Why, I didn’t know, other than the plan he’d mentioned. It must have something to do with his son. But what? If I didn’t have any idea what he was going to do, how could I plan my attack?

I stared up into the black thorax of the tree, and inevitably my mind circled back to Sabine.

She did this to me. To me and Perry and Shorie.

She put a contract out on me, like someone in an organized crime syndicate. Because she was stealing from our company, and I was about to sell it, which meant she couldn’t keep up the skimming that easily. Taking into account our latest valuation—and about a half dozen other variables involved in formulating an acquisition price—if we sold in the next year, Sabine’s share could be anywhere from under three million dollars to over five million. A tidy sum for most people, but not, apparently, the jackpot she was hoping for.

So, Sabine was angry. And wanted a bigger reward for all her hard work. But was it realistic to think she dreamed up this scam all by herself? I just couldn’t see it. She’s computer savvy, but she’d need help with the intricacy of the coding. So who else would get involved in a scheme like this? Scotty, our other developer, worshipped his wife and six-year-old twins—he’d never put their future in jeopardy. The truth was, I couldn’t imagine any of Jax’s employees doing something like this. Except the one person I’d never think to question in the first place. Ben.

Loyal, faithful Ben.

Ben could’ve been by Sabine’s side every step of the way. Writing the code, putting something in my drink, then making sure I got in a car. Driving me to my house and forcing me into that sham of an intervention . . .

Kissing me right before he sent me to my death.

Safe inside the shelter of the tree, my mind had wandered back to one long ago June night. Perry, Ben, and I had driven down to Seagrove, to celebrate our impending graduation at somebody’s parents’ beach house. Sabine hadn’t come with us. A family emergency or birthday or something back in Birmingham.

I’d had more to drink than usual, but when a couple of guys broke out the karaoke machine, that was my cue—I escaped to the balcony. Ben was there, stretched out on a lounge chair. I settled beside him.

“Come to contemplate the cosmos?” Ben had said.

“The world was two minutes away from being subjected to Perry and me ruining Elton John and Kiki Dee for everyone forever,” I replied. “It was an act of mercy.”

He laughed, and we contemplated the star-sprayed sky above the waves for a few quiet minutes.

“Is Sabine seeing somebody else?” he said suddenly. “Someone in Birmingham?”

I didn’t answer right away. In the years since we’d first roomed together, Sabine had made numerous trips back home. Her mother struggled with mental illness issues, and her father needed extra help with her many younger siblings. I’d never questioned the trips, and I didn’t think Ben did either. But in my opinion that wasn’t what was really bothering Ben.

It was the way she treated him. She wasn’t affectionate with him when others were around, never touched him or held his hand. While Perry and I were always stealing away to his ramshackle duplex on Glenn Street to get naked, Sabine always seemed perfectly content for the four of us to hang out together, day and night. In my opinion, she treated him more like a buddy than a boyfriend.

“There was this guy in high school,” he was saying. “Totally in love with her. He goes to UAB now. Plays soccer.”

“No way,” I said.

“She had a thing for Perry once, too, you know.”

“Ben. No she didn’t.” I laughed, then glanced his way. “You’re not joking, are you?”

“It was in high school. Ninth or tenth grade, before she and I got together. She told me she always thought marrying into the Gaines family would be like being in Birmingham royalty.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s so not, though.”

“My point is, she could still have feelings for him.”

“Ben, they were kids. We all had crushes when we were kids. They don’t mean anything. She’s not cheating on you. And definitely not with Perry.”

“What is it then? Is it me?” He shook his head. “I don’t know how to explain it, but . . . it’s like something’s missing with us.”

I chewed at my lip.

“You see it, don’t you?” He sounded sad.

“I don’t know. I just think she’s one of those people who’s . . .” I was floundering. I didn’t know how to put my thoughts into words. How to say that I loved Sabine, but I thought she could be, at times, kind of distant. Cold.

“Who’s what?” Ben pressed.

I inhaled. “I think Sabine might be the kind of person you can never really . . . fully know.”