“You never gave that last password to his brother?”
“No. I didn’t have the nerve. His brother might have given it to the cops.” Bea’s tone was defensive. “That would be like begging for that guy to catch me and kill me. He has to be watching Luke’s family.”
“But this video proves that Luke is innocent and Mark is guilty, right? Why the hell not take it to the police? Let them stop him.”
Bea shook her head. “I’m telling you. It would be suicide. My apartment was robbed a few days after, and my electronics were taken, so I know he’s looking for that video. I just happened to have the flash drive in my purse that day because I was afraid to leave it.” She stared around the room again. “I’ve been hiding ever since. But if you can find me, he can, too. Maybe you led him right to me.”
Caro ignored that. No need to feed the woman’s paranoia. “Can I copy what’s on it?”
“I don’t carry it around with me,” Bea snapped. “I sent it to the lake.”
“The lake? What lake?” Frustration put an edge in Caro’s voice.
Bea shook her head. “I can’t help you. I’m having a hard enough time as it is.”
“We could work together,” Caro urged. “He killed my friends. I want justice for them. I need help. So do you. Let’s help each other.”
Bea rubbed her mouth. “You don’t understand. There’s something, I don’t know, almost supernatural about that guy. Prison can’t hold him. We would never be safe.”
“Maybe not.” Caro hesitated for a long moment. “So let’s kill him.”
Bea’s fidgeting suddenly stilled. She was dead silent for a long moment.
“Seriously?” she whispered. “Do you have a death wish?”
“Nope,” Caro said. “Just tired of being afraid. I want him gone. If this is the only way . . .” She shrugged. “Do we really have that much to lose?”
The other woman edged back in her chair. “Are you crazy?”
“Maybe,” Caro said. “I don’t much care, at this point. Are you in?”
Bea’s shadowed eyes were full of fear and reluctant longing. “I think you’re fucking nuts, and you’re going to get me killed.”
“We’ve both survived this long,” Caro said. “Give yourself credit.”
“Do you have a plan?” Bea demanded.
“Not yet,” she admitted.
“Oh. Well, that’s inspiring,” Bea snapped. She craned her neck to scan the coffee shop and the street outside again. “Oh fuck. We’re being watched.”
Carol looked around. A young mother was feeding chunks of poppyseed muffin to a toddler in a stroller. A chubby guy in a goatee was tapping into a laptop. Two lovers were forehead to forehead over their lattes, giggling. An old man read a paper.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “Tell me more about this lake.”
“Not here. We can’t stay here.” Bea leaped up. “Meet me outside. I’ll head east.”
Caro cursed under her breath and hurried out after her, catching up with Bea halfway down the block. “What lake, Bea?” she panted. “Just tell me.”
Bea spun around. “Do not say that name,” she hissed. “I am Marika.”
“OK, fine. Marika. Just tell me what you mean by lake.”
“Shut up.” Bea looked over Caro’s shoulder. “Those guys are following us.”
Caro started to turn, but Bea swatted her arm. “Don’t look now, you stupid cow! You were followed! Oh fuck, oh fuck . . .”
Bea took off like a gazelle. Caro glanced back over her shoulder, looking for Ponytail. He was nowhere around, but she saw two guys about twenty yards away. They wore earpieces, and both moved toward her, a stony, purposeful look in their eyes.
She took off running as fast as she could. Bea was already some distance ahead, veering into a busy intersection—
Brakes and tires squealed. There was a horrible thud.
Bea’s body rose high above an SUV, turning in a somersault, suspended in air for several moments.
Caro skidded to a stop when she heard the windshield shatter. Bea’s tumbling body hit the ground a second before another car braked. Not fast enough. The SUV got slammed forward. More broken glass. Shouts, screams. Horns blared.
A crowd began to gather. Caro ran faster, shoving, weaving around stalled cars, until she could see Bea, sprawled on the street, arms wide, staring at nothing. The hair on the side of her head was a dark mass of blood.
Caro fought to get closer, a scream of denial shredding her throat—
An arm caught her around the waist. She flailed, scratching and twisting—
“It’s me. Calm down.” Noah’s voice. Noah’s arm, Noah’s big, powerful body.
She went limp, utterly confused. “What? You? Why? What are you doing—”
“Not now. Not with those two after us.” He set her on her feet. “Run!”
“But what about Bea?”