Blood Always Tells by Hilary Davidson (top 10 novels .TXT) 📕

got enough cash to buy a Happy Meal, but to the rest of the world, I’m a rich guy. That means, if I go to a fancy hotel with my girlfriend, and my so-called wife is murdered while I’m out of town, I’ll still get blamed for everything. The police will say I hired someone to do her in.”

“But you can’t—”

“On the other hand, if we’re kidnapped this weekend, and Trin is kidnapped, too, and she happens to die, that means we were all victims of a crime. Trin’s had death threats for wearing the most obnoxious furs. You’ve seen them. They’ve still got the fox’s head attached, bobbing over her shoulder. It’s disgusting. Who’s to say some radical group wouldn’t hold us for ransom, and get Trin killed in the process?”

Dominique closed her eyes. Tears were trying to squeeze out behind her lids. “Please tell me you’re saying this to punish me for what I did,” she whispered. “You’re not a killer, Gary. You wouldn’t do that.”

“I’ve got no choice, babe. I thought things would get better when her father died, but they’re actually worse. See, the father cared about appearances, which meant he’d throw money my way so I’d show up at parties and events to be photographed with Trin. But Trin herself couldn’t care less. She’s got Zachary Amberson backing her up, too.”

Even though Dominique was in shock, she had the presence of mind to say, “Who?” at the mention of Amberson’s name, albeit a couple of beats late. She was afraid Gary would realize that she knew full well who Zachary Amberson was and, once he did, it wasn’t but a hop and a skip to figuring out who she’d been making that tape for.

But Gary was too wrapped up in his own story to notice. “That’s her father’s best friend. Also his lawyer. He’s been working for the family his whole life, but I think that’s so he can collect their souls and bring them back to hell. I swear, there’s this smell of brimstone whenever he’s in the room.”

That hadn’t been Dominique’s experience with Amberson. The attorney had called her about a week after she’d moved out of Gary’s condo. Miss Monaghan, I don’t want to intrude, but I understand that Mr. Cowan has, ah, recently changed his living arrangements. We would like to keep that story out of the media’s hands. He’d offered Dominique money, but she had turned him down flat. But Amberson was quietly persistent, sending her a big bouquet of pink roses when she moved into her new apartment and touching base occasionally. When she’d discovered that Gary was cheating on her with a young girl who looked barely out of pigtails, it had been Amberson she’d turned to in her fury.

“Hold on. You’re calling this lawyer the devil while you’re plotting to kill your wife?” Dominique kept her voice steady.

“First, she’s not really my wife. She’s a crazy cokehead who thinks other human beings are toys. She deserves whatever she gets.”

“Gary, you’re not going to kill your wife. You’re not going to do it for any reason, but especially not for money. That’s insane. And evil.” She was repeating herself, she realized. Those were the words she’d used when the gunman had asked her to kill Gary.

He leaned closer to her and raised his eyebrows. “You’re going to give me a lecture on evil? You’re the one who plotted to blackmail me, babe.”

“That’s not the same!” she insisted. “You can’t compare those two things.”

Gary laughed, but there was no joy or mirth in it, just brittle bitterness. “You were mad enough to want to hurt me, though.”

“That’s true.” She stood up, moving slowly, circling the small oasis Gary had carved out for himself in the cellar. “When did you find out what I was up to?”

“I had no idea until today. I guess you’ve been plotting for a while, getting ready to drug me and get me talking about Trin and our sham of a marriage. Max filled me in on the details.”

“Max?”

“You know, the guy who kidnapped us. The one who works for me.”

Max. She remembered Gary saying that name when the kidnappers first appeared. The muscle relaxant had loosened his inhibitions and his tongue. She had no idea how well it had actually worked.

“Max works for you,” Dominique repeated.

“Him and his crew.”

“Either Max or one of his crew told me he was going to kill you.”

Gary chuckled. “Of course he did. He probably told you all kinds of crazy things. You were supposed to be scared.”

“Terrorizing me was part of your plan?”

“Of course not. Max was supposed to rough me up a little bit back at the house, but he knew he couldn’t lay a hand on you except to put the cuffs on and off. We were supposed to be kidnapped and brought here. Then, I was going to surprise you with champagne and filet mignon and mind-blowing sex. Kind of like an awesome weekend away. Only, you decided to be evil to me. So that part went wrong, and the stupid fridge broke, so all the gourmet food went bad. One of Max’s buddies is getting us food, but he can’t go to any dinky little general store near these parts, and the nearest city is Scranton, so you’re going to be hungry for a while, babe.”

“A guy put a gun in my hand and told me he’d let me live if I killed you.”

“A gun? With real bullets and everything?”

“No bullets,” she admitted.

“You’d have trouble shooting me without ammo, you know.”

She took a deep breath. “He talked about my mother.”

That caught Gary’s attention. “He did what?”

“He said she was a killer, and so am I.” Her voice was soft and steady, but her mind was churning. Upstairs, she’d been startled and afraid as well as furious. Now that she knew it was all just a setup, she was angrier than she’d ever been in her life.

“Babe, I’m so sorry.” His expression was contrite.