“Did he accuse you of killing Andrew?”
She chuckled. “Yes, but he wanted to protect me. He drove all the way to Blue Point to propose marriage. I realized he’d seen too much and I had to get rid of him. I accepted his proposal and then seduced him into his bed. Then I dosed him with a few extra shots of insulin.”
Her words turned my stomach, but I had to ask, “Did you buy him the silk boxers?”
She laughed gaily. “Yes. I just love the feel of natural fibers against my skin. And as long as he was going to be rubbing himself against me, I figured I might as well enjoy at least one aspect of it.”
I had to look away so she wouldn’t see me cringe. Once, I’d thought she was so genteel, but now she sounded like some tacky broad. I suddenly remembered that I’d bought a jacket in her store! Ugh. If we got out of here alive, I would never wear it again.
“I’ll miss the old guy,” she said sentimentally.
I frowned at her. “He’s not dead yet.”
“Not yet,” she quipped. “It’s too bad he doesn’t have money. I’m pretty sure I could convince him to leave it all to me.”
Abruptly she stopped pacing and stared hard at me. “I’m going to need your key.”
I looked up at her. “I don’t have a key.”
“Oh, really? You don’t have your house key with you? You leave the doors unlocked? Good to know.”
I had my kitchen door key in my jeans pocket, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. “What do you want with my house?”
“Little Miss Jane tells me the necklace is at your bank, so I want your safe-deposit key.”
I snorted a laugh. “You can take the key, but the bank won’t give you access to my safe-deposit box.”
She didn’t like being laughed at and slapped me again.
I hated her for that. If I got out of this, I was going to give her one sharp smack across her arrogant little face.
Maybe two.
“Then you’ll just have to come with me to the bank,” she said, waving the gun to get my attention.
But now she needed me. Maybe I had some leverage. “What’re you going to do if I don’t go with you? Kill me?”
“No, I’ll kill her.” She turned and trained the gun on Jane.
“Stop!” Crap! I hated that she was one step ahead of us. I had to fight back. “If you kill Jane, you’re not getting anything from me.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Without warning, she slapped Jane’s face so hard her chair fell backward. I screamed and so did Jane, who was unable to stop the momentum as she tumbled to the floor.
“You make me sick,” I shouted over the hubbub.
“Oh, cram it.” She moved behind me and ripped the tape off my hands. “We’re going to the bank. If you try anything, I’ll make sure Jane dies.”
Suddenly there was a loud pounding on the front door.
“Who the hell is that?” Althea said.
“The police?” I suggested.
“I know you’re in there, Shannon Hammer!” somebody shouted from outside. “Open this door right now!”
Holy crap. I recognized that voice.
“Whitney?”
Chapter Sixteen
Jane groaned at the sound of Whitney’s shrill yelling.
“Who is that?” Althea asked sharply.
“She’s a . . . a woman I know.”
“Get rid of her.”
“Easier said than done,” I muttered.
“Make it happen,” Althea snapped, and slipped behind the front door, still aiming her gun right at me.
“Go away, Whitney,” I yelled, hoping that for once she’d take a hint.
Much to my shock, the door burst open instead and Whitney stormed in. Interesting to know it hadn’t been locked all this time.
“There you are!”
“Whitney, what are you doing?” I shouted in her face. “Get out of here!”
“Stop yelling!” She shook her finger at me. “You have pissed me off for the last time.”
Did she have a death wish? Sometimes I wondered. I tried to stay calm. “I said get out—now.”
“I’m not leaving until I tell you exactly what I think of you.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“I drove up just as you walked into this house, so I’ve been parked outside waiting for you to come out. And then Jane shows up with that old lady. And you still didn’t come out. What’re you all doing in here?”
I almost laughed at her term for Althea, but this wasn’t going to end well. I could imagine Althea growing more enraged as she waited behind the door for Whitney to leave.
“We’re playing a game,” I explained. It was lame, but maybe she’d buy it.
“I don’t have time for games.”
“Then go home,” I said evenly. “I can’t talk to you just now.” Please get out of here and call the police, I thought, trying to send her a mental message. But her head was too thick.