Page 69 of Skin Game
“Holy shit,” whispered William.
He glanced wildly around, clearly assessing his chances of getting out.
“Stay right where you are, William. I have plenty of ammo left in this gun for you.”
William stopped moving. He practically stopped breathing. If Althea hadn’t been coolly holding her finger on the trigger, Gabe might have laughed. Chuckled anyway. William looked like he was the only player in a life-or-death game of Red Light, Green Light.
“Wow, and here I thought Rizzi was a POS,” Gabe said casually. His mind raced, brimming with thoughts. He was right, Althea had to have been party to some of Rizzi’s dealings. Hell,she probably was his personal assistant in all that mess even as she was working her own business too. Having Rizzi go down had to hurt.
Althea turned back to him, waving the gun Gabe’s direction for the umpteenth time. “Have you tried growing old in this forsaken country? The rising cost of health care? Groceries? Housing? It costs, young man, believe me. I need this. Do you think working at the Twana County Sheriff’s Office for as long as I have has done anything for me besides give me a few decent connections?”
“Probably sucks that Stevens grew a spine and confessed, really put you in a bind.”
Randy was moaning and writhing on the cement floor, and an expression that informed Gabe she really wanted to shoot him again and shut him up for good this time crossed the old woman’s face. Meanwhile, William had taken a step to the left. Gabe figured he was trying to get close to the side door without Althea realizing until it was too late to shoot him too.
Time to keep talking, Chance. This old bitch needs to go down.
“Not to judge or anything but if it were me, I’d have some mad money squirreled away, wouldn’t have relied on a crooked cop or stolen artwork to finance my retirement. But as you pointed out, I’m not quite there yet. Have you considered investing in stocks or bonds? Does the term mad money bother you? Personally, I think it suits you.”
“Shut the fuck up, or I’ll pull the trigger.”
“See, you won’t. If you shoot me, I won’t be able to tell you anything about the missing artwork. Not one single fucking word.”
“So youdoknow something.”
Gabe lifted one shoulder and let it drop again. “Maybe.”
With her attention off William, Mr. Sidekick had edged a few feet closer to the exit. Gabe was trying very hard not to glanceacross the room at him. Damn it was difficult looking a killer in the eye.
Althea narrowed her eyes at him. The crow’s feet from her years of living became even more pronounced. Gabe was tempted to point out that scowling had a negative effect on her countenance, but he was too busy watching William out the corner of his eye and trying to make sure Althea didn’t notice.
Two more steps, William.
He must have given himself away or William made a scuffing sound. Regardless of what had alerted her, Althea swung around, and the gun went off a third time. Luckily for William, Althea’s spin made the shot go high and the bullet hit the wall about six feet over his head. Lunging for the door handle, he wrenched the door open and disappeared into the early morning twilight.
Cold air rushed into the building, displacing the air that Gabe hadn’t registered as warm. What he wouldn’t have given for his Casey coat right now.
“You could have at least provided me with some of those pocket-sized hand warmers. If I freeze to death, you will—and I promise you this—never find what you’re looking for. The secret will go with me to my grave. Nobody knows what I know.” Deep inside, Gabe knew he shouldn’t enjoy sounding mysterious in this fucked-up situation, but he did.
For his part, Randy moaned again and tried to roll to a sitting position, but one glance from his crazy relative and Randy lay back.
“Yeah, what he said.”
The guy was in pain, and there was visible blood on the concrete flooring. He needed medical attention sooner rather than later, but Gabe didn’t think Althea planned on calling in an ambulance. However, Gabe had noticed several boxes markedFirst Aidamong the MRE storage.
“If you untie me, I could check his wound. He’s stillconscious, so that’s good, but you don’t want him bleeding out, do you?”
Fuck, maybe she really was a psychopath and just didn’t care.
“Stay right where you are,” Althea ordered.
As if he could go anywhere zip-tied and handcuffed to a chair. When he did get free, he’d probably end up face down on the floor. He was seriously too old for this shit.
Without being obvious about it, Gabe was keeping his attention on the now open door. He thought he’d seen movement out there, something furtive in the shadowed morning. With his run of luck, it would turn out to be the world’s last surviving werewolf or maybe Bigfoot.
Who was he kidding? With his luck, it would be Larry Colavito.
“If Holly didn’t have the paintings in these boxes, where are they?” She returned her attention to Randy who looked suspiciously still. “You missed something.” She waved the gun Gabe’s direction, something Gabe really wished she’d just stop doing. “He has to have it. Holly made sure he did.”