Leopard Man’s little trailer/house sat at the end of the beach road. The rusted-out, falling-apart truck parked next to it must be the one from the junkyard he’d mentioned he used to transport it to different areas of the island.
McConnell stopped the car in front of the trailer. I really started to panic. And get angry at the same time. I had no idea if this guy had a weapon beyond his own body. Or if Lexie Holt was really alive in the trunk. Or what I would find inside that trailer, unless I never made it inside. What if he broke my neck out here and stuffed me in the trunk, then drove the car into the water or something crazy like that?
I had to figure out a plan, and fast. I had way too much ahead of me to let this guy take it away from me. No way was I letting McConnell kill me tonight.
He turned the car off and turned to look at me. I returned his gaze with my best steely glare.
He seemed to be pondering his options. In the end, he probably decided it was best to keep me in his line of sight until he decided what to do with me, because he got out of the car, unlocked the door, and pulled me out by my bound hands.
“You better be on your best behavior in here,” he warned. “I have to finish this business and then I’ll figure out where to get rid of you and my ex.”
I said nothing. I noticed he hadn’t locked the car, though. Which gave me an idea. I muttered something that could’ve been agreement. He gave me a yank to make me start walking, and I pretended to stumble, pitching myself awkwardly to the ground in hopes of landing somewhere near the back of the car.
“Get up!” He jerked me back to my feet.
“I need a minute! I don’t feel well. I might throw up.” I sagged against the car, dropping my head to my chest.
He immediately stepped back, apparently afraid I was going to puke on his shoes. I felt around behind me for the trunk latch, prayed for it to be silent, and jerked it up just slightly so it released. If Lexie was alive in there and had half a brain, she’d get herself out of the car and go for help. If she was even conscious. It was a long shot, given where we were on the island, but worth a try.
I bent forward, gulping air, then stood up. “Okay. I’m sorry. I get carsick sometimes,” I lied.
“Great. Good thing we won’t be driving back together.” He grabbed my arm so hard I thought he pulled it out of the socket, and began dragging me toward the trailer.
I prayed that Leopard Man wasn’t dead in there. I don’t know why that was the first thought that jumped into my mind, but I didn’t have an especially sunny outlook at the moment. Zach dragged me up the one metal step to the door, pushed it open, and pulled me inside.
The surroundings assaulted me all at once—we were in a tiny room with a kitchen area, a chair with a leopard throw on it, and a couch. A raised platform behind it had a bed. A small door off the kitchen led to a bathroom—I could see the shower through the cracked door. Thea Coleman was on the couch. Her hands and feet were bound. She was gagged, and it looked like she’d also been hit in the face, with dried blood from her nose and lip staining the scarf tied around her mouth. She’d been crying.
But worst of all, Leopard Man was on the floor. He was tied up, so I assumed he wasn’t dead, but he was definitely unconscious. It made sense. McConnell was strong, but Leopard Man wasn’t a small guy. McConnell would’ve had to put him out of commission first.
“Well. We’re all here,” McConnell said, in that creepy tone he’d used in the elevator, like this was some grand reunion. “Don’t worry. I won’t keep us long. I wanted to give you two some time to think about my proposition. Although he doesn’t look like he’s thinking very hard right now.” He toed Leopard Man, who didn’t respond. I wondered what he’d done to him, and now I was even angrier.
He shoved me across the room so hard I almost fell in Thea’s lap. I managed to keep myself upright.
“Sit,” he commanded. “Not that there’s any other way out of here, but I don’t want to have to worry about you. So.” He turned to Thea. “What do you think? Am I getting my five million to stay quiet about your story? You think your boyfriend over here will come through?” He inclined his head in Leopard Man’s direction.
I stared at him. What on earth was he talking about? Five million dollars? This guy was off his rocker. Thea Coleman and Leopard Man wouldn’t be my first choice of people to bribe.
But Thea nodded, new tears spilling down her cheeks. McConnell stepped over and ripped the gag from her mouth. “I can’t hear you!”
“Yes!” she cried. “Yes, he’ll pay you.”
My mouth dropped open. “How on earth is he going to come up with that amount of money?” I asked. “And shouldn’t you wait for him to weigh in?”
They both stared at me. I shrugged. “Just saying.”
“You really don’t know who he is?” McConnell laughed. “You’re not as smart as I thought you were. That’s Carl Torrence.”
“I knew that,” I said, trying to hold back the anger rising in my body. This murdering psycho was being critical of me? Seriously?
Thea turned to me. Her eyes dead, as if any remaining light had left them today and was never going to find its way back. “The Torrence family is one of the richest families in horse racing,” she said. “He left them, but he still has his share of the money. And they’re still making it, so he’s still getting it.”
Wow. That, I hadn’t thought of. I’d just never thought of Leopard Man and millionaire in the same context. Who could blame me?
“And you’re volunteering him to pay this lunatic off? Why would he do that?” I asked. I was angry at her, too, for coming out here and bringing all of this with her. If she hadn’t come here, maybe Jason Holt would’ve done his research somewhere else and none of us would’ve had to be part of this.
“To protect me,” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper as she started to cry again.
“From what?”
“So he won’t write the book and tell my story.”
“She killed Curtis Krump,” McConnell said triumphantly. “Jason found out, and he was going to write his first true-crime novel about it. With eyewitness accounts and interviews from these two, who fell off the face of the earth forty years ago. And he was going to keep me out of the deal, even though I was the one who’d suggested we do a book about this case years ago.”
“So you came here and killed him,” I said, my voice full of contempt. “And now you won’t even write the book because it’s easier to take blood money than actually do the work like he would have.”
Thea flinched. I saw why. McConnell came right at me and backhanded me across the face so hard I saw stars. And he started yelling something at me that I couldn’t understand, but it was good that he was yelling because it meant he didn’t hear Lexie Holt coming up behind him with the tire iron until she’d already hit him once. It took her three tries to knock him out, but she did it. Then she sank down on the floor next to him and started to cry.