When Drex moved, it was as though he’d been spurred. He reached for Talia’s hand and pulled her up and out of her chair. “We’ll get our stuff and be right back.”

Responding to his haste, Talia shot up the stairs, Drex right behind her.

When they reached the landing, she pulled him into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. “What’s your plan?”

“Time’s short. I can’t lay it all out for you now.”

“You mean you won’t.”

“That’s right, I won’t. Listen,” he said before she could argue. “Did that recovered shoe or the untouched bank accounts convince you that Jasper is dead?”

“No.”

“No. If he wants to continue his illustrious career, he can’t afford to leave us alive. I don’t want him sneaking up on either of us like he did on Gif and Sara Barker. I’ve got to draw him out.”

“I understand that, but how—”

“The less you know—”

“Stop that! Tell me.”

He shook his head. “This has to be my thing.”

“Well, in case it’s slipped your mind, it’s also my thing.”

Immediately repentant, he said, “Of course. I’m sorry. That was a dumb thing to say. I made it your thing, didn’t I?”

She gripped his upper arms and shook him slightly. “No, Jasper did. I’ll never get back the year I spent with him, but I’ll be damned before I’ll let him control one more day of my life. Not if I can help it.”

“Help by trusting me.”

“I have to trust myself, Drex.” She flattened her hand against her chest. “I didn’t trust my instincts before. For all the reasons I’ve tried to explain, I suppressed my misgiving and lived with a man who is innately evil. Now, every instinct I have is screaming for me to trust you. But am I in denial again because of my sexual attraction to you? You say you’re a good guy, but you operate outside the law. So do I doubt my instincts, or trust them?”

“Trust them.” He cupped her face. “My methods are dodgy. I bend rules. I break them. But I’m a good guy.”

“Those dodgy methods scare me.”

“I understand. But remember what scares me most? I told you that day you came up to the apartment.”

“Failure.”

“Failure. Failure to catch him.”

There was a hard rap on the door, and Locke shouted through it, “Easton!”

“Be right there,” he shouted back. Then in a whisper, “My worst fear is that Jasper will slip through my fingers, that it will be generally accepted that he drowned, that I’m a crackpot, that the missing button connection is bunk. Then, when nobody’s looking for him any longer, he’ll come back to finish you. I’ve got to end this, Talia, and I’ve got to end it now. You can doubt my methods, but don’t doubt my purpose.”

She looked deeply into his eyes, then nodded, and said huskily, “I do trust in that.”

He aligned his forehead with hers and whispered a heartfelt thank you, then said, “Sexual attraction, huh?” He pulled her to him and kissed her deeply, his hand on her bottom, pulling her close. She dug her fingers into his hair. The brevity of the kiss only heightened the passion behind it.

“Easton!”

Drex ignored the banging on the door but broke the kiss. “One last thing. Rudkowski will try to browbeat you.”

“I can handle him.”

“I have no doubt.” Her gave her a parting kiss, then turned her about and pushed her toward the door. “Show yourself before Locke has a coronary.”

Chapter 35

Locke walked Talia downstairs. Drex asked for a minute in the bathroom. He shut the door and called Mike.

“Who’s this?”

“Me. Forgive my whisper. I’ve locked myself in the bathroom. Any news of Gif?”

“Your swooner at the hospital called me about half an hour ago. They’re moving him into a private room.”

“That’s great news.”

“I thought so.” He passed along Gif’s hospital room number. “I haven’t been able to go see him, though.”

“They’re still holding you at the sheriff’s office?”

“They’re fiddle-farting around. I’m going to kill Sammy.”

“Can’t you talk your way out of there?”

“Working on it. I was trying to give an ex-con a break by renting a car from him. How was I to know that it was stolen? Live and learn. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”

“Doesn’t look good that you skipped town and left Rudkowski dangling.”

“Our signals got crossed. His word against mine. And the agents who were guarding my house hate him and love the homemade lasagna I took them, so I’m betting they’ll back me. In any case, these guys here have got nothing to hold me on, because Sammy, who fears my murderous wrath, swears that I was oblivious. They’ll have to release me, in time.”

“Any estimate on when that might be?”

“Why?”

“Well, speaking of Rudkowski…” In a rapid clip, overriding Mike’s numerous attempts to interrupt, Drex updated him on the recent setbacks, ending with his arrest. “They don’t have a choice but to take me in.”

“That ass-wipe Rudkowski.”

“True. But I need you to do something for me besides name-calling.”

“Like what?”

Drex made his request. Mike’s response was, “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“I don’t have time to explain why, or to argue with you about it. I’ve already overextended Locke’s patience. I need a yes or no.”

“You realize that if I do this, it can’t be undone.”

“Nine murders can’t be undone.”

There was a knock at the door. “Now, Easton.”

“You gotta tell me, Mike,” Drex whispered. “Will you do it?”

“It’s your funeral.”

When Mike said that, in that particular grumble, Drex knew he had him. “Thanks. Later.”

He clicked off, snapped up the lock, and opened the door.

Locke was on the threshold. “Who were you talking to?”

He replied with a wide grin. “The hospital. Gif’s being moved out of ICU into a private room.”

Locke took the phone from him. He went to recent calls and pulled up the last number. “That’s Mallory’s number.”

“Okay, so I skipped a step. I called Mike, who told me the news that he got from the hospital.”

“You’re giving me the runaround.”

Drex sighed, looked away, came back to him. “I called Mike to ask if he would bail me out.”

“What did he say?”

“You want it straight and unfiltered?”

“That would be a welcome change.”

“He asked if I’d lost my fucking mind.”

Drex asked if they could take Gif’s car so Talia wouldn’t be stranded. Locke agreed on the condition that Drex would go with him. Talia would ride with Menundez.