Page 42 of Killer Honeymoon

The ladies and Clint nodded, and they carefully made their way down to the cellar, where Sawyer lit the other lanterns and turned on a small radio. It took him a few minutes of tuning to get the station to come in, even though they’d done a dry run earlier. The broadcast was staticky at best and hard to hear. Royce thought the white noise was more nerve-racking than the relative silence of the cramped space.

Clint looked around at the sleeping bags, cooler, canned goods, and other creature comforts and sighed heavily. “I’m so glad you’re prepared. We should’ve listened to Frank. He tried to tell us, but we thought we knew better.”

Chrissy cleared her throat.

“Fine, Evan and I thought we knew better,” Clint amended.

Jen looped her arm through his and rested her head on his right shoulder. “You tried to reason with him several times this week.”

Clint rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I should’ve tried harder or gotten the three of us off the island as soon as I realized Evan’s master plan had spiraled out of control.”

Master plan? That didn’t sound like a vacationy term.

Chrissy squeezed in tighter on his left side and repeated Jen’s gesture. “We’re not getting paid enough for this.”

Clint reached up and patted her hand in a platonic way. “I’m getting us out of here as soon as the storm lets up and it’s safe to travel on a ferry. We’re going with or without Evan.”

“Excuse me, Chrissy,” Sawyer said, “Did you say you’re not getting paid enough for this?”

The trio sitting across from Royce and Sawyer stiffened and sat up straighter.

“Um,” Chrissy said, her eyes as wide as saucers. “Did I?”

“Yeah, you did.” Royce narrowed his eyes. “Someone is paying you to vacation here?”

Chrissy looked to Jen and Clint for guidance.

“I don’t even care anymore,” Jen said. “I just want to go home and see my parents.”

Clint scrubbed a hand over his face. “Might as well tell them. They’ve been nothing but nice to us, even when we didn’t deserve it.”

Jen nudged Clint gently.

“Okay, even whenIdidn’t deserve it.” He offered his first genuine smile since they’d met him. “I’m sorry for being a dick.”

“You’re forgiven,” Sawyer said. “Now, tell us who’s paying you to stay on the island and why.”

The trio exchanged a glance, and Royce could tell they were deciding which of them should tell the story. A crack of thunder rumbled loud above them, making the girls jolt.

“You’ve heard of Les Moore, right?” Clint asked.

“The one who’s been buying up all the property on this stretch of land,” Sawyer said.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Clint said. “He hired us to be a nuisance this week.”

“To Frank, specifically,” Jen added softly. “I feel terrible for agreeing to something so cruel. I think Frank is probably a sweet man.”

Royce felt his eyebrows stretching up toward his hairline. Frank? Sweet?

“Frank’s a great guy,” Sawyer said. “I’ve known him my entire life. Let me get this straight. Moore tried to buy Frank’s house outright, but he rejected his offers. So he thought four college kids could scare Frank into selling?”

“Mr. Moore told us to drive him crazy,” Chrissy said.

“Is that so?” Fury rolled through Royce, matching the thunder rumbling above. He would have words with the piece of shit as soon as the storm cleared.

The trio nodded nervously.

“How exactly was this supposed to go down?” Sawyer asked. “Did he give you all the money up front?”