Page 190 of To Die For

“I don’t know what happened to you, but I can assure you that I had nothing to do with it.”

“You had everything to do with it, Anne. Everything.”

“Look, I don’t have time to deal with this right now. Where are you?”

“Far closer than you think. And I spent a long time with a world-class sniper, Anne. I can literally shoot the wings off a fly at five hundred meters.”

King quickly moved away from a window. “Well, unless you can fire through walls, Pru, I don’t think it matters, dream or no dream. So if you don’t want a deal, we have nothing to discuss.”

“No, we do. You see, I want you to admit that you were the one to betray me.”

“I don’t have time for this shit.”

“It’ll only take seconds.”

“Fine. Yes, I fucked you over. Satisfied? You slit my throat and left me for dead. And the only thing I’m sorry about is that you’re not still in that prison being tortured every minute of every day. So, why don’t you go eat shit and die, okay?”

“But I wanted my shot at revenge. I’ve dreamed about it, actually.”

“You will never get a shot at me, Pru. You’re not up to it.”

“You misunderstand. I already took my shot, Anne, when I was at your home the last time.”

“You said you were never in my house.”

“That’s true. I was just on theoutsideof it.”

Jackson held up a small black box with a single red button. “And just so you know, Anne, the reality is actually about to become far better than even the dream.”

King’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh shit.” She threw down the phone and started to run.

Pru Jackson waited a second and then pressed the button on the device.

The explosive she had earlier buried right under the gas line going into the house detonated. Combined with the natural gas, the resulting blast blew all ten thousand square feet of Mercedes King’s beautiful home into small pieces, and did the same to the woman right along with it.

From nearly a mile away, Jackson watched the fire and smoke rise above the tree line in the distance. She stood there for a few more seconds taking it all in, every last moment of it. She drew a deep, cleansing breath of the crisp mountain air.

Thank you, former captain Travis Devine. You are an officer and a gentleman.

She slid her glasses back on, climbed into her car, and drove slowly away.

CHAPTER

90

DEVINE KNOCKED ON THE DOORof Lynn Martin’s apartment; she was Perry Rollins’s elderly neighbor. Devine had with him a man dressed in faded overalls and holding a satchel of tools.

Martin answered the door and Devine said, “Remember me?”

“No.”

She was about to close the door when Devine put a hand on it.

“Hey!” she snapped.

“Streaming again?” asked Devine.

“So what if I am, asshole?”

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