Page 130 of Disarming Caine

Olivia collapsed—a dot of red marring her forehead—in the same spot Bobby had died. David let out a wail and ran to her body.

Jimmy shook his head. “Nope, I haven’t been alright with this for a while.”

I sucked in a quick breath, pulse pounding in my ears. “Jimmy! What did you do?”

“That probably wasn’t the right choice, was it, Sammy?”

“No,” I breathed out. It didn’t make sense. Jimmy had a deal with Olivia? He was involved with them avoiding the police. Tonight’s kidnapping. Smuggling artwork. How far back did it go? What else had he done?

“Stand up, David.” Jimmy gestured at David with his pistol. “I got a feeling my old friend Sammy ain’t gonna listen to me anymore, so I need you to tell her the truth about Parker.”

His head was just visible over the burned furniture, tears streaking his face. “She was guilty, wasn’t she?”

Jimmy said, “Yeah, she was.”

“I should have known.” David wiped at his tears with his sleeve, ignoring Jimmy’s orders. “I tried to convince her to come back and mount a legal defense, but she refused. Then the plan to transport those paintings to Boston, kidnap her… Doesn’t sound like a law-abiding woman, does it?”

Antonio squeezed my hand. “What about Parker?”

David finally looked up, but it was at Jimmy, not us. “We went through the insurance money fast and were coming back for more. That and we were going to take some paintings to Boston for Parker, but his girlfriend screwed up and someone found one of them. He said he was taking care of it.”

That must have been the Constable and the other two paintings from the LA theft. Or maybe all of the ones in his hiding hole in the house. If I’d waited for the original showing date, they would have been gone. At least I had that as my legacy.

“Who were you delivering them to?” I could help break Elliot’s case, if we survived.

“You two…” David’s gaze traveled back to me and Antonio, and the sharpness that had been in his eyes in the summer returned for a moment. He began rising, gun in hand. “Just like Parker and my mother said, you ruin everything.”

The room swam. It was cold but sweat dripped down my back. The flashlights, the sound of the winter wind against the boarded-up windows, the remaining scent of ash in the air. I tightened my grip on Antonio’s hand. What else was there to do?

“Put that down,” said Jimmy, sights trained on David. “I’m going to take you in now and you can find yourself a lawyer.”

“No. I’ve been following your orders for long enough.” David closed his eyes and swung the gun in Jimmy’s direction. “He’s behind all of—”

Another crack, a flash of light, and David fell dead next to his mother.

Chapter 47

Antonio

Itwasquietinthe ruined husk of the Scotts’ house. Were my ears not ringing, I would’ve heard nothing more than Samantha’s breath next to me.

A pile of burned furniture crowded the middle of the room, creating too many obstacles between us and Jimmy. He drew and aimed too fast. We wouldn’t be able to stop him from where we were. As David and Olivia had spoken, I’d taken small steps to maneuver myself into a better position.

But now, they both lay dead. And Jimmy’s attention would be solely on us.

There was no sneaking left.

All the windows to the room were boarded up. No escape there. Jimmy was between us and the door we’d come in. We could make a dash down the hallway behind us, but it was too long to avoid gunshots.

I could shut off my flashlight, but Jimmy had strategically placed his to light the entire room. And even if we ducked behind the furniture, his bullets would penetrate that.

Add to all that, Samantha had wavered once more. Whatever they put in her drink was still affecting her.

How was I going to get her out of this?

“Goddamnit!” Jimmy stomped a foot and pressed his wrists against his eyes, not letting go of the gun.

I took another step forward.