Chapter Sixty-Six

The phone rang in sync with his heartbeat. Loud and fast. The last time he felt like this was back with Marvin Wendell. It was happening all over again, and he only had himself to blame.

“Ben,” Alison said, taking the call.

“Guess again, sweetheart.” Mason kept his eyes level with Bill’s.

Silence. And then, “What did you do to Ben?”

“Ben’s fine. A little beat up, but he’s fine. What did you do to Evie?”

“Your sister is fine. For now.”

Every word that came from Mason’s mouth could make or break the entire plan. He chose them with great care. “Good. Then we can still come to some arrangement.”

“Let me guess—you want to trade Luke for Evelyn?” Alison sighed. Then she heard a metallic clanging on the other end of the line. “He’d better not be hurt, you son of a bitch. If he has so much as a scratch on him, I will fucking end you. Do you underst—”

Mason ended the call right there. Bill looked at him as if he wanted to protest, and Ben sat without uttering a word. The truth was, he had no more control of the situation than Alison did, but if he could make it look as if he were in charge, he could get what he wanted.

The phone rang. Mason smiled and answered.

“Don’t you dare hang up on me!”

“I don’t do well with threats. Do you want to make a transaction or not?”

Alison exhaled. “Why should I trust you?”

“I have your son.”

“I have your sister.”

“And we’re back around that circle.” Mason paced the room. “Look, you seem to think I murdered your brother in cold blood. He was a killer, Alison. He took my daughter, he hurt her. Not to mention the countless children he harmed.”

“Don’t lecture me, Mason. I know my brother better than you ever did. Sure, he had problems, but he didn’t deserve the ending you gave him. Prison, fine, but not a slow and painful death like he suffered.”

How much does she know? Mason looked at Bill and stopped walking around the garage. “If you say so. Do we have a deal or not?”

The phone went quiet for what felt like forever. Mason found himself pacing again. It was like a quiz show, when they leave you hanging to find out if you’ve become rich or not. Only this time, Evie’s life was on the line.

“I’ll give it some thought. But let me make one thing clear.” Alison’s voice rose in a hot flush of anger. “If you try anything funny, I’ll carve up your sister in the most agonizing detail. And I won’t stop there—the police will receive all the footage I secured of your little deed, and the location of where you buried my brother. That is the only—”

“Great. You can reach me on this phone.” Mason ended the call. He didn’t expect a call back and liked to imagine the look on her face right now. Getting down to business, he took Bill to the corner of the room, hushing to a whisper.

“What are we going to do?” Bill asked.

“Let him go. Can you follow him?”

“Sure. What about you?”

“I have to get back to Diane.”

“All right. Good luck.” Bill began to move, when Mason grabbed his arm.

“Don’t lose him.”