The nurse bit back a sob as Dennis Lee pulled her up from the hardwood floor. “Get up. We are moving.”
He didn’t know where he was going to take her, but he’d noticed what she apparently hadn’t.
There were headlights in the drive.
“She’s never hurt you, Dennis Lee. Let her go,” Carl rasped. Somehow, he’d rolled himself into their path, even with the two holes in his body.
Of course, he had. He was Carl. Perfect, absolutely fucking perfect Carl.
Dennis Lee never had lived up to that perfection. Not from the time he was ten and his father had married Carl’s mother.
Carl had always been bigger than Dennis Lee. Stronger. Even now, at sixty-two, he was bigger and stronger.
Dennis Lee had always hated that. Bigger, stronger, better looking, richer. People loved him, and he could do no wrong. Everyone loved Carl Buchanan.
Carl had had everything from the very beginning. Now…now he had Jenny. Dennis Lee’s Jenny.
“It doesn’t matter.” And it didn’t. The minute Carl had seen him, the old fool had signed her fate. “She shouldn’t have been here. What’s done is done.”
“What do you hope to accomplish? This girl has nothing to do with you and me, or you and Turner. Not to mention, she’s friends with the chief of police. His wife is her good friend. You think Elliot Marshall will give up looking for her? Or looking for someone who hurt her?”
“Probably not.” Dennis Lee looked at her, really looked at her. Just a girl. Big blue eyes. Pity. She really was a sweet-looking thing. “Barratt should have taken better care of his girl. Then this wouldn’t be happening.”
“This isn’t Turner’s fault,” she practically hissed it at him. Like a little kitten just learning she had claws. Dennis Lee fought the urge to pat her on the head. He’d had a cat with fur the same color as the girl’s hair once.
He’d hated that cat. He’d strangled it when it had bitten him one night.
“Oh? Damned Barratt kept meddling in things that wasn’t his business.”
“He was doing his job.” She yanked against his hand, but he wasn’t letting her go anywhere. Dennis Lee jerked her closer.
She yelped. He loosened his hold a bit. He truly didn’t have anything against her. “This is just business.”
“You’ve been stealing from the people you represented, haven’t you?” Carl asked, quietly.
Damned perfect Carl; probably even made love quietly.
That brought Jenny to mind.
Dennis Lee jerked the woman closer.
He had never been one to wait for anything. It was time to get this finished, get moving on. The only witnesses to what he’d been doing here today were the two in the room with him now. No time like the present. He’d take care of things, then slip out the basement exit before the people outside even realized he was there.
His car was parked back far enough away. He’d just hoof it back to the car and be gone. No one would ever know.
As long as he didn’t leave any witnesses.
The girl first, before Dennis Lee slipped out the back into the storm. Nice, quick, humane. Merciful. He’d always considered himself to be a merciful person. Especially when someone hadn’t wronged him. “I…won’t drag this out. Not like that fool Paul did with Officer Royce.”
The girl gasped again, her blue eyes wide and filled with fear. “That was you?”
“In a way. I have people, girl, who do what I tell them. Favors, I call them. I know how to inspire loyalty.” He shot Carl a look filled with all the hatred he felt. “Unless someone steals what I have.”
“I never stole anything from you,” Carl said, then coughed. How was the son-of-a-bastard still breathing, let alone talking? Of course, he was. He was Carl. “You made your choices, Dennis Lee. I told you that years ago. Let her go. You and I will talk. She has nothing to do with you.”
“Any more than Jenny does?”
“What on earth does Jennifer have to do with this?” Carl asked.
The fool didn’t know. Of course, he didn’t know. Dennis Lee thought about it, thought about shoving the knowledge that he’d been in Jenny’s bed, too, down that asshole’s throat. Before he killed him again. “Everything. You’ve taken her from me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dennis Lee. I’ve not taken Jennifer anywhere, let alone from you.”
“Bullshit and tail feathers. I know she’s been fucking you. In your damned bed. Hell, there’s no guarantee the little whore hasn’t been going from Wallace’s to yours, to mine—in any combination. Cold bitch. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. Maybe it was the big, brown eyes, the way she seemed so needy. Or maybe it was the way she used her mouth. I wanted a woman who needed me. Apparently, so did you.”
“Keep your mouth shut!”
Well, so Carl did have a temper then. Interesting. Dennis Lee pulled the little nurse closer and snuggled her right against his chest. He rubbed the gun along her neck almost suggestively. “Oh, Carl, what am I going to do with you?”
He couldn’t fire again. It would bring too much attention.
There were men outside.
Dennis Lee could see their outline in the porch light, right from the window by which he stood.
Annie gasped and tried to twist away. He pulled her closer. He couldn’t help himself.
He buried his face in her silky hair.
She smelled nice.
No doubt that bastard Barratt had enjoyed her in his own bed time and time again since the storm. Dennis Lee couldn’t blame him. Dennis Lee dropped a soft kiss against her hair. “Don’t worry, I will make it quick, honey. You don’t deserve to suffer. Not like Carl. He’s going to suffer for as long as I can make it happen.”