What Have We Done (62)

Arty pulls back the cables, and Ben manages to push Brood off of him. And Arty shocks Brood again. But Brood doesn’t go down. He’s so damned big. He grabs Arty by the neck and begins squeezing. Arty doesn’t dare shock Brood now because the current will run through both of them.

Jenna comes from behind and kicks Mr. Brood between the legs, which causes him to buck forward. He claws at Arty, then bites Arty on the shoulder, eliciting a wail. Brood manages to stand up, his mouth red with blood. He makes the mistake of no longer being in physical contact with Arty, who takes the opportunity to touch the ends of the battery cables to Brood’s neck.

Brood vibrates and makes an unusual sound like a scream that’s choked off. Arty removes the cables and that’s when Ben hits Brood with the butt of the gun again, taking him down.

Minutes later, Mr. Brood is in a wheelbarrow, ranting at them through his gag as they roll him

into the woods.

PART 3

THE TRUTH

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

THE TWINS





PRESENT DAY


“We need to take care of him,” Casey says into the burner phone. She’s at an Airbnb in what passes for the nice side of Chestertown. Her sister, Haley, is sprawled out on the bed watching a show on her laptop.

“Are you crazy?” the client snaps. “An FBI agent? The Feds’ll throw every resource they have at it.”

“I’m not seeing much of a choice. He followed me into the restaurant. He knows.” She glances out the window, watches bugs bounce against the porch light.

“Are you sure?”

“I told you, the benefit of hiring us is two sets of eyes. And, yeah, he followed me all the way there and waited outside until we left.” Casey wrinkles her nose, thinking of the low-quality beef at the steakhouse where Derek Brood took her for dinner. She adds, “That Lara Croft wannabe bitch was also following and backed off when she saw him. It’s not going to take long for the agent to put everything together.” Casey snaps her finger at Haley to pause the show on the laptop. She cups the receiver and says, “Don’t watch the rose ceremony without me.”

They both love The Bachelor.

An audible breath blows into Casey’s ear over the phone line.

“This has all gotten out of hand.”

She makes no reply. She catches Haley’s glance and rolls her eyes at the client’s whining. She waits as he wrings his hands.

“You know where to find him?” he asks.

“Yeppers,” she says. Haley followed the agent after he left the restaurant. He’s staying in a hotel off the interstate. It’s only two mile markers down from the hotel where the old rock star is staying with the writer.

“Okay,” he says.

Casey disconnects the line, falls onto the bed next to Haley. The laptop bounces and Haley catches it before it tumbles to the floor.

Casey looks at the screen. One of the contestants, a thirsty bitch named Dallas, is frozen, her face distorted. “If he gives her the rose, I’m going to lose it.…”

Before they resume the show, Casey says, “We need to be careful with this one. We’ll need some space, somewhere secluded. Find out what the agent knows.”

Haley thinks about it. They face each other and simultaneously say, “Semitruck.”

They’re two peas in a pod.

Haley says, “I wanna play the runaway teen hooker.”

Casey replies, “You got to last time. And we need you to play the corporate executive.” Though they are so much alike, their divergent upbringings suit them for certain roles.

Haley hits play and the show resumes. They both swear at the screen as Dallas, wearing a slinky sequined dress, totters down from the group of girls and accepts her rose.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

DONNIE

Donnie wakes up in the Holiday Inn Express. The room has two single beds and a sofa sleeper. The bed next to his is empty, but it’s been slept in. And there’s a sound coming from the sofa, a male form under a blanket—Nico. It’s coming back to him: the playground with Nico and Jenna, the decision to stay together, safety in numbers, the bed spins before he passed out. He rises, stumbles to the bathroom, and relieves his bladder. He wonders where Jenna is. She’s the one who insisted they all cram into Donnie’s small room at the interstate hotel.

He’s still wearing his clothes from yesterday. Raising his arm, he smells his armpit. Whoa. He needs a shower. But first he needs to regroup.

He’s feeling unusually restless today. Not the hangxiety or boozanoia you get sometimes when you drink too much, but a genuine sense of impending doom. He supposes that’s understandable. Jenna said that Derek Brood hired the crazy lady who forced him off the boat and probably whoever tried to blow up Nico in the coal mine and whoever tried to assassinate Artemis Templeton. Did Brood also have Benny killed? The news said they’d made an arrest of some dude Benny had put away. But that FBI agent seemed skeptical about that.

Donnie opens the curtains a crack. The room is on the ground floor and faces the parking lot.

Jenna is pacing outside as she talks on her phone.

“You got any aspirin?” Nico says, sitting up, his eyes squinting from the light.

“Sure, Hollywood.” Donnie digs into his travel bag. The bottle of Advil rattles as he tosses it to Nico, who misses the catch.