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You built this bizarre contraption to mimic the bite of a giant lake monster?” I said.

I’d never admit it, but I was impressed with this guy’s ingenuity.

Too bad it was being wasted on something twisted, illegal, and deadly.

“Wood carving is another hobby of mine,”

he said, chin jutting, pride evident in his voice.

“So many hobbies.

Where do you find the time?”

I taunted.

I half expected to feel that bullet smash into me from behind any second.

But then Devereaux said, “You are about to become intimately acquainted with my little invention.

How sad, yet ironic, for the monster hunter to be killed by one,”

he said with mock regret, thereby returning the taunt.

“If only you’d minded your own business.”

What he said, not to mention the madness I could hear in his voice, terrified me.

But it also provided me with a fleeting moment of relief.

He couldn’t very well shoot me and pass that off as an attack by a lake monster.

If he intended to make me look like one more of Chomp’s victims, he’d have to find another way to kill me.

That was when the terror returned.

Was he planning to simply crush me to death in that thing? If so, I wasn’t going down without a fight. I’d rather be shot than die by being slowly crushed to death. I needed to keep stalling for time and try to come up with a way out of this.

“Who was that woman who drove me here?”

“That was my wife, Ginger.

I knew you’d seen me before and wouldn’t be likely to go anywhere with me, so she was happy to help.

She’ll do anything necessary to protect the lifestyle she’s become accustomed to.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“Police scanner.

I heard that Flanders had plucked you out of the water, and then the call about the boat that Roger had to abandon.

I followed Flanders after the Coast Guard dropped you off and figured he’d want to go check out the abandoned boat, leaving you at his place.

Ginger had the police uniform from a Halloween gig we did two years ago.

I had one of those black-and-white jail outfits and I was supposed to go as her prisoner.

I bought the police car at an auction to make it all the more authentic. I even found some blue lights to attach to the roof.”

He looked away and smiled.

“That was a fun party.”

“Jon has security cameras installed at his place.

He’s bound to know that your wife came and got me.”

Devereaux scowled at me for bringing him out of his momentary reverie.

“Oh, I know about the cameras,”

he said.

“I’m not worried.

Jon Flanders has never actually met Ginger and she wore a baseball cap to hide her face.

I told her to make sure she kept her head down and to park the car on the side of the house, out of sight of the cameras.

Plus, I took the plates off the car.”

I cursed under my breath.

Devereaux cocked his head to one side and gave me a questioning look.

“There is one thing I haven’t figured out,”

he said.

“How did Flanders know to come after Roger and you in the boat? I can’t figure out how he copped onto that so fast.

Did he give you a tracker of some sort?”

I shook my head and now it was my turn to smile.

“He saw the abduction on my security camera, and he was able to track Roger using CCTV.”

Devereaux looked askance.

“I checked your store for cameras when I bought the Ouija board, remember? And I looked again just to make sure when I paid your employee that fun little visit.

You don’t have any security cameras.”

“I do now, thanks to you and your fun little visit.

Jon Flanders installed them the very next day.”

“Hunh,”

Devereaux said, scowling.

Then he shrugged.

“Oh, well, can’t be helped now.

Best get on with things.”

I watched him tuck the gun into the waistband at the back of his pants.

Panic made me start to tremble, and I fingered the outside of the pocket that held the dinner knife, willing myself to stay controlled.

I didn’t know exactly how Devereaux planned to kill me, but he’d probably have to get up close.

I flashed back to the human anatomy class I’d taken in college and thought about soft tissue points that might be susceptible to the plunge of a dull knife.

I’d need to find a way to distract Devereaux to give myself as much of an advantage as possible.

After turning slightly so that the knife pocket was away from Devereaux, I slipped my hand inside and gripped the knife handle firmly. Then I turned back to face Devereaux, my eyes growing big. I looked past him toward the door, surprised and confused by what I saw.

“What are you doing here?” I said.

Devereaux burst out laughing.

“What kind of an idiot do you take me for?” he said.

Thinking fast, I said, “The kind of idiot who thinks he can get away with another murder.”

I nodded toward his monster teeth contraption.

“That getup you built is so amateurish.

You didn’t fool anyone.

If you’d really done your homework, you would have known that a lake creature like that would have tearing teeth, not grinding teeth.

No one ever believed there was a lake monster out there.”

The smile on Devereaux’s face morphed into an angry scowl.

“Flanders did,”

he retorted.

“That’s why the idiot wanted to hire you.

How that man got the chief’s position is beyond me.

He’s as gullible as they come.”

“Not as gullible as you think,”

Jon said from where he stood behind Devereaux.

He lifted the gun from the back of Devereaux’s waistband and tossed it out the open door.

“That’s my gun you feel poking into your back,”

he said.

“Hands behind your head.”

The startled look on Devereaux’s face was well worth the price of admission.

He slowly raised his hands and placed them behind his head, allowing me to finally relax.

For a whole millisecond.

Devereaux moved so unexpectedly that it took my brain several seconds to process what was happening.

I watched as he spun around with amazing speed and grace, and then I saw Jon’s gun go flying off to the side and skitter out of reach beneath the contraption.

The two men struggled, and at first it appeared that Jon was going to restrain Devereaux easily, but then Devereaux swung a leg toward Jon and the next thing I knew both men were on the dirt floor rolling around and grunting.

Devereaux managed to get on top and straddle Jon, using his thighs to pin Jon’s arms to his side.

He outweighed Jon by at least forty pounds, and despite Jon’s wild, bucking attempts to get loose, he could barely move.

Then Devereaux started punching.

I reacted with pure instinct.

Pulling the knife from my pocket, I lunged at Devereaux, snaking the fingers of my free hand through his hair, gripping tight, and yanking his head back.

Then I used my other hand to dig the serrated edge of the dinner knife into the side of his neck.

Devereaux froze.

“One move and I will slash open the side of your neck and let you bleed to death right here,” I said.

I dug those tiny serrations in a little deeper to emphasize my point, even though I had doubts that the knife would cut him at all.

Jon finally wriggled out from beneath Devereaux and scurried around to my side.

He grabbed Devereaux’s arms and yanked them back, tying his wrists together with a zip tie.

Poetic justice.

When that was done, I released my hold on Devereaux and walked around to stand in front of him, the knife still in my hand.

Devereaux looked at the knife, then at me.

“Are you kidding me?”

he growled, shaking his head.

“A goddamned dinner knife? Son of a bitch!”

“Happy to do my part,” I said.

I walked over and knelt in front of Devereaux’s contraption while Jon yanked the man to his feet.

I reached underneath and used the knife to fish Jon’s gun out.

Picking it up, I blew some dirt off it and walked over to hand it to Jon, who examined and then holstered it.

“Would you mind collecting that one for me, too?”

Jon asked, nodding toward the gun he’d tossed out the door.

As I went to get it, I heard Devereaux ask Jon, “How the hell did you find this place?”

“Your wife, Ginger, was quite forthcoming once I informed her that one of you was going to prison for a very long time, and if she’d like to start cooperating in preparation for turning state’s evidence and maybe working out a deal, she should do so right away and tell me where she took Morgan.

She’s outside in my car waiting for you.

I’m sure she’d be happy to fill you in on the specifics.”

Devereaux looked confused.

“But how did you know to go after Ginger? She assured me she was careful to keep her face away from your security cameras.

And you’ve never met her.

You don’t even know what she looks like.”

“Oh, but I do,”

Jon said.

“You see, you once complained to me about how your wife had an insatiable taste for diamonds that no amount of jewelry seemed able to quench.

To prove your point, you showed me a picture of her and the giant diamond in her engagement ring.

That rock was quite memorable, and it showed up on my cameras clear as day, even catching the sun and reflecting a brief flash of light.

So while your wife didn’t show her face to my cameras, that ring was a dead giveaway.”

He paused and looked over at the contraption against the wall.

“Meet Chomp,”

I said with a grin.

Jon winced.

“Did you build that thing?”

he asked Devereaux.

The man’s chin jutted.

“I did.

You probably don’t know this about me, but I have a degree in engineering and own several patents.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Are those patents for other machines designed to steal from or murder people?”

He shot Jon a look of irritation.

“She’s so annoying,”

he said.

“I don’t know why you insisted on hiring her.

This whole thing would have been a lot simpler if she’d never gotten involved.”

Jon grinned, making Devereaux frown.

“She figured it all out,”

Jon told him.

“Whatever,”

Devereaux said irritably.

Then, in his best patronizing tone, he added, “I’m not going to give up my claim on the gold.”

“We’ll see about that,”

Jon said.

“In the meantime, this gullible idiot is about to place you under arrest.

Mason Devereaux, you have the right to remain silent . . .”

While Jon recited the Miranda warning to Devereaux, I went back outside and walked down toward the beach.

There was a small pier there, one of those kinds that can easily be taken apart and pulled out of the water.

Currently attached to that pier was a small boat with several tarps and scuba tanks in the back of it.

I wondered if those tarps had been used to conceal the bodies of the men Devereaux had killed and maimed with his Chomp machine.

I also wondered how much gold he’d found so far, and how much of a legal battle would ensue over it.

Would it go international?

Sadly, the people most likely to benefit the most from the gold’s discovery would be the lawyers hired to handle the inevitable legal battles.

It was enough to make Napoleon turn over in his grave.