Page 182 of The Bone Code
“Ella was ten years old. Why kill her?”
“Wrong place, wrong time.”
“And she could have identified you.”
“And that.”
“Same for Harmony and Lena?” I knew I should rein it in, massage his ego. But my revulsion was in control. “Wrong place, wrong time?”
Huger shrugged.
“Did the girls threaten to expose you? Or did they simply know too much for you to take a chance?”
“Truth be told, I found them impudent.”
“You’d gotten away with murdering Melanie and Ella, so you used the old tried-and-true. Bullet to the head, mutilate and strip the bodies, wrap the corpses in plastic, toss them into the sea.”
“In Quebec, it was actually a river. But you know that.”
I wanted to reach out and smash the arrogant grin from his face. Instead, I continued the exchange, hands clasped so tightly my finger bones ached.
“Did you know that Harmony was your cousin?”
“I truly did not. It was quite an embarrassment to learn I was related to white trash.”
“That white trash almost succeeded in bringing you down. That and a hurricane.”
A beat, then, “A pity your boyfriend is so very far away.”
Suddenly, my mouth felt coated with ash. I swallowed.
“Enough of this.” Huger’s face morphed into a look that chilled me.
More advice trickled back from the long-ago course.
Be compliant only to a point.
Had we reached that point?
Before I could decide, Huger lunged, pressed himself to me, and jammed the gun muzzle into the side of my neck.
“Move.”
Molded like a pair of conjoined twins, we lockstepped into the hall, down the stairs, through the kitchen, and out onto the deck. Huger was mashed so close I could smell his sweat and cologne and the curry he’d eaten for dinner. Feel the coiled tension in his muscles.
Once outside, Huger dug the Glock even deeper into my flesh. I felt his head rotate left, then right. Pictured his eyes scanning the pool. Maybe the ocean.
Kick up and back into Huger’s balls, then make a run for it? A runathim? Again, he took the decision out of my hands.
In one fast move, Huger shoved my shoulders while simultaneously leg-sweeping the front of my ankles. I pitched forward, and my head cracked the travertine coping rimming the pool. The world dissolved in a white mist of pain.
Before I could collect my wits, Huger pounced with a quickness I wouldn’t have thought possible in a man his age. Pinning me with his full weight, he forced my head over the pool’s edge and underwater.
Adrenaline flooded through me.
I tried to twist free, but Huger managed to immobilize my arms and legs.
My chest began to burn.
