Forget Me Not: A Novel (Crossroads Crisis Center) by Vicki Hinze Read Free Book Online Page B

time, and we did it.” He stopped and stared. “I’m thinking I still ain’t been paid. Why should I do anyone else for free?” He screwed the cap back on the tube of ointment and dumped it into his shirt pocket. “But mostly I’m thinking I ain’t taking no needle.” He kicked the drum. “So don’t tell me I ain’t thinking.”
    “Fine, but you’re omitting a couple important things.” Edward shot his partner a level look. “We messed up.”
    “Chessman messed up. He tagged her and we did his tag. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “Yes, we did,” Edward countered. “Chessman blew it for us, that’s true. But we didn’t verify it ourselves. And, like you said, we can link him to that murder. We put ourselves in this position, and unless we want to keep running from him, we need to give him a reason to keep us alive.”
    Harry shook his head. “He’ll come after us anyway. Her disappearing made us low priority, that’s all. As soon as they found her, we were right back on top of his priority list and you know it.”
    Edward agreed. His finding her had been simple. Her hotshot financial advisor recorded the beach house deed—stupid mistake for a man supposed to be a brainiac. It led Edward straight to him. He intercepted the guy’s phone calls for a while, and sure enough, she called in. And if Edward hadn’t had to strain to find her, he’d bet Harry’s hide Chessmanand that Johnson jerk hadn’t had to strain either. “Our only hope was to neutralize her before he could. That would move us off Chessman’s list. No priority.”
    “Neutralize her? Then why didn’t we do it?”
    Tempted, Edward didn’t answer.
    “Leaving her alive ain’t neutralizing her, Edward.”
    “It will be. She’ll disappear again.”
    “What if she doesn’t?”
    “She will.”
    “But what if she doesn’t?” Harry insisted.
    Anger rose in Edward like the water rose on the shore. “I said,
she will.”
    “All right then,” Harry said in a way that proved it wasn’t all right at all. “But why are we risking it?”
    “Because I said so.” He slung down a raised hand. “Now drop it.”
    Harry frowned but didn’t ask again.
    Good. Because Edward stood dangerously close to pushing back. Hard. He stared out on the water, drank in the steady pitch of the waves hitting the shore.
    Harry paced. “No. Not this time. I can’t do it. My neck’s on the chopping block too.” He stopped just outside of striking distance. “We need to kill her, man. Not for Chessman, for us.”
    “For the last time, Harry, she will disappear again. She’s smart and she doesn’t want to wake up dead, okay?”
    “You still ain’t hearing me. She can identify us. That makes this not just about her. It’s about Chessman and Johnson too. They’ll know it and get us tossed in jail and executed for it. No, no way. Not for her or for Chessman or Johnson.”
    “Which is why we brought her to Florida and planted the cross and Crossroads card on her. Benjamin Brandt would have to be comatose not to put the two cases together. We got her here for that, remember?”
    “Yeah. His castle in Scotland and all that.”
    “Which is good for her—if she’s sent there, Chessman will keep her first priority. But we don’t have a castle or anywhere else to hide, and no one is going to help us.”
    “I get that, but—”
    Edward sighed. “Unless we stick to the plan to protect ourselves, we’ve got two choices. The needle or a bullet.” Edward paused for impact. “That’s it, Harry. There aren’t any more. So which one do you want?”
    Harry stiffened, staring at Edward a long moment. “Put that way, I guess I’ll stick with the plan.”
    “Yeah.” Edward parked his hands low on his hips. “I guess you will.”

5

    B en, it’s Peggy.”
    Benjamin Brandt rolled over and checked the bedside clock.
    “Didn’t your mother teach you not to call people before seven, especially on Sunday morning?”
    “I didn’t notice the