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"I just went along with it once she convinced me she knew the real story."

"How come she knew he had a lot of money that was easily accessible?" Andy didn't think someone who had would tell someone he had just started to date.

"Sex, booze, drugs, and bed talk. He liked to brag about it—at least to her."

"What if it had all been just bragging?"

"Well, that's what I thought still. That it didn't mean that he had the money. Even so, it was too much to ignore."

"How much?"

"Five hundred thousand."

"And you got?"

Denny wouldn't say.

"Okay, listen, Lionel and Teague each got five thousand. I suspect there was a lot more that Helen, Wendell, and Pierre got."

Denny remained silent.

"So you go to Pierre's house, ready to implement Helen's plan, take her hostage, demand a ransom, and hide out at your neighbor's cabin. After that, Wendell and his buddies go to Pierre's house to get the money. Then what?"

"The plan all changed when I went to grab Helen and demand a ransom. I'd already hit Pierre to steal Helen from him, though he looked reluctant to rescue her. That made me worried. What if he didn't care if she was rescued or not? I hadn't considered that."

Andy wanted to laugh at that. What a mistake that would have been.

"So he was on his back on the floor with a bloodied forehead where I'd struck him with my gun, and he had his hand up as if he were surrendering, and I'm free to take Helen. She's scowling at him, looking furious that he wouldn't try to rescue her."

"Even though she wasn't an innocent kidnapped victim."

"Right. It's easy to start having doubts in a case like that. Yeah, maybe he's a nonviolent person, though he's a big guy, so he doesn't look like he wouldn't be capable of fighting his way out of the situation, and he would have the advantage. When I first saw him, it gave me pause."

"So Helen didn't tell you the guy was a hulking brute."

"No. And truly, I figured I could manage anyone, so I sure the hell hadn't asked. Then, he came up with a different scenario. He said he had money he could access, but only if it was a real emergency."

"So then it was Pierre’s plan."

"At that point, yeah. I told him I was listening. Then he said I could take Helen with me and pretend she was a hostage, send a ransom message, have some of my goons come pick up the money at his house?—"

"Not at some other location that would help disguise the fact they were coming for the money? Most ransoms work that way. The kidnappers have a place where the victim goes to leave the money. They don't want to be seen."

"Nah. He had it all planned. His security cameras wouldn't be working, and he said as long as they were wearing ski masks and hats—and in this bad weather, that was reasonable—no one would recognize them."

"What if he didn’t turn off his security videos? What if he needed evidence of the crime being committed?"

Denny looked a little pale and appeared to be thinking about the ramifications.

"They might have been wearing masks, but if they spoke, the cameras would pick up their conversations and still show the men's clothes and sizes. Some other cameras along the road could have picked up Wendell's vehicle, and by timing, it wouldhave been at Pierre's house, even if he had parked out of view of it. It would show he was there after Helen was abducted."

Denny mulled that over.

"Pierre needed to cover his ass. How else can he prove to the person who gave him the money to use in this emergency situation that there actually was an emergency?"

"Uh." Denny stopped what he was going to say.

"That's why I believe he had them come to his house. So he could prove everything. Including that you took Helen hostage."