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"Many things Noant to hear your version of events at the cabin"
Well he was the one with the gun, why not? "It&039;s just over the state line I went up for a look the other night There was blood and the body of a man named Ramsey, who&039;d been my driver"
"That&039;s what you found What happened?"
"Someone shot us both and buried us in the woods Only I didn&039;t stay dead"
Escott had a good poker face, but his eyes widened at that news "So that&039;s when you are new at this, aren&039;t you? Who shot you?"
He shook his head "Ramsey, I think"
"Don&039;t remember? Jack had a similar problem Bit of amnesia about his death, but the memory came back after a week or so"
Yes, Gordy hadway trying to find his killers Not sirl you hired?"
"Yeah I think Ramsey was supposed to kill me, and she witnessed it" Gabe&039;s mouth was dry
"That sounds reasonable"
"I&039;ht he started shooting before I could get him to talk"
"He was in a calmer frame of mind today-as you will shortly see"
Cripes He palht in front of et it, fine"
"He&039;ll be here soon"
"Good" It was last night all over again Escott had his facts wrong and needed proof frohten him out Before it had only taken a call from Derner This tiht? I can get it for you"
"Via hypnosis?"
Sharp guy "If you let me"
"What do you propose?"
"I put Mike under, and you do the talking Keep the gun onyou like"
"I expect Mr Broder will be along"
"You can tell Mike to order hio outside You&039;ll be in control I won&039;t do anything"
"That sounds reasonable as well"
"This is too easy," Gabe muttered
"It&039;s an excellent idea, Mr Kroun We&039;ll see hoorks out Before he arrives, perhaps you can clarify a point or two If Mike was at the cabin, why did he allow Miss Cabot to leave?"
"He&039;s soft on dames"
"And as he not surprised to see you alive later?"
"He thought I&039;d gotten away"
"But this was a clandestine excursion How did he even know you were there?"
"Broder can track anyone, anything, without getting noticed"
"Why would Mike want you dead?"
"You tell reed with him"
Escott&039;s mouth thinned "Yes I do"
"What&039;d he tell you?"
Outside, a car pulled up, the motor cut, and doors slammed Gabe turned froun out He was hard to read at the best of tih used to Broder and his ways, a jolt of pure terror lanced through Gabe like an electric shock, leaving his fingers suddenly nuly in control of everything The look on Broder&039;s face told him otherwise
So did the look on Mike&039;s face when he caer, apprehension, and all the shadings in betere gone, replaced by straightforward disgust He stopped just inside, holding the door open
A woman in a dark winter coat, a thick headscarf tied under her chin, reluctantly ca
"It&039;s okay," she said "They got hier, prettier version of her crept forward and paused on the threshold She was paler than paint and visibly tre head to toe When she saw Gabe, she jerked and looked ready to run out again
Can&039;t bla a dead man back on his feet would shake anyone
"Nelly?" said Gabe
Shenoise and tottered into her
Gabe closed his eyes For an instant he was in his grave again, drifting in that brief moment of absolute peace and cal her heart out He listened to the echoes in his tattered memory and matched theht," he whispered "It&039;s all right"
When he opened his eyes, they all stared at hi him to say more
Except Nelly, who continued to cry Her roped for a wad of tissues The girl soaked the it slow, he reached toward his breast pocket for the silk handkerchief there He held it out The
"You don&039;t touch her!" she snarled
"I&039;ot between them and suddenly plowed in with a vicious sucker punch Gabe caught it under the ribs and dropped back, surprised as hell Mike loo himself in check
For once, Gabe decided to listen and lanced at Escott for some clue, but thecrazy Gabe wasn&039;t running things now, couldn&039;t order theh, one of the in the air was just short of catching on fire
Mike was the key Gabe focused on hiet him under, make him calm
"Mike, I need you to listen to h Catch their attention, throw a hard look, and they got cooperative
Instead, Mike faced the Cabot women "You don&039;t talk, Whitey Not another word"
Gabe next tried Broder, as staring right at hih As he suspected, the man was too focused, and that was better than ar; he was little better than a bystander now
"I didn&039;t think you&039;d bring the ladies along," said Escott
Mike gave a sirl should see hihten up "You look at him You look at that son of a bitch and see how afraid he is"
Gabe went still He was indeed afraid He&039;s stepped in so his way clear He looked at the girl, but absolutely nothing sparked in his h he liked what he saw She was dark-haired with a soft, rounded figure but Lettie had described her as being blond A trip to the beauty parlor would change her quick enough
Lettie had s, but Gabe had dis She has to be
Only one person could set things straight
He focused on Nelly, and it was nothing to break through to her She was too vulnerable She ceased crying and stared blankly back Once he was sure she was hooked, he shot a glance at Escott
"Ask her," he said "You want to knohat happened, ask her"
Escott looked startled
"He&039;s already heard," said Mike
"Well, I haven&039;t Nelly-tell them what happened at the cabin"
Despite his influence, she was slow to speak Mrs Cabot stepped into the gap
"No! You don&039;t put her through that again!"
Gabewhen Broder shifted his bulk in the way "Let her talk, dammit!"
"Mr Kroun," said Escott, "do not continue with this She&039;s been through enough"
"I got a right to hear what you have against me"
The sound of his voice startled Nelly awake She scrabbled one-handed at the black purse Instead of tissues, she pulled out a revolver, the sa it around
Gabe et, but there wasn&039;t space for it He threw hiun roared Sos went out froainst the tile floor Rattled, he tried to roll and get upright, but Nelly stood over hi and crying too rab it away, but unable to e in her face stopped him
What did I do to you?
The ansas there, and he could not accept it It was impossible
I&039;o he&039;d been aAnd what he&039;d done to Nelly
No That rong That kind of horror just wasn&039;t inside hiun from Nelly&039;s hand and bodily pushed her toward Mrs Cabot The wo to fear
"You can&039;t hold that against her!" she yelled "You knohat he did!"
Michael went to her, and they held a short, intense exchange, which Gabe was too distracted to follow
He was bleeding It wasn&039;t like that chest wound, but by God it hurt, and he couldn&039;t afford the blood loss
The bullet had torn a chunk froain, and even as he pressed a hand over the wound, it began to burn with hell&039;s own fire He snarled and cursed and couldn&039;t see straight The pain didn&039;t fade so nore it He forced hiet a look at Nelly, but Mrs Cabot put herself in the way, protecting her
Escott was still behind the bar He seeunfire He found a towel and slid it over to Gabe "Put so a silent thanks, Gabe did so The least movement made it burn worse His blood was all over the place It was stupid, but he found himself annoyed about his ruined suit That lasted two seconds, then Broder was dragging hi paws lay heavy on top of Gabe&039;s shoulders, holding him in place
Mike went from Mrs Cabot to talk with Escott "We have to keep this quiet"
"I am no representative for the police in this Punish him as you see fit, but take hi will be none too pleased to have his club so ill-used I&039;ll clean up"
"And keep quiet?"
"So far as I am concerned, this is a family matter between you and your half brother and none of et this entire day"
"What about Fles"
"As I said, he had some personal affairs to look after, but be assured, he will say nothing"
"Gordy said he was stand-up"
"You may have complete confidence in that assessirl said she wants to see it through Thinks Nelly will sleep better at night, but there&039;s sos you just can&039;t make up for"
"Indeed not"
Mike came to stand before Gabe "I didn&039;t think I could hate anyone as much as the old bastard, but you you&039;re sick-crazy like hiet better You&039;ve gone too far"
"Doing what?" Gabe asked "Say it"
"You&039;re not worth the breath" Mike reached into his overcoat&039;s inside pocket for a leather case, not the one he used for his glasses He opened it, revealing a clean glass syringe and co them out on a table
What the hell? "Escott?"
But Escott put his back to hi blood froe with the contents of all the vials
"That&039;s too nored him "Broder?"
Broder ripped away the towel and sainst Gabe&039;s wound three ti force Blood went everywhere The pain exploded into a white-hot fire-storm, unbearable He tried to bite off the scream and failed He dropped frorabbed his right ar as the needle went in; the other agony sih the day without this stuff," said Mike fro, it&039;s not o up his arhout his body It was a delicious cold balm to his wound One second the pain&039;s so bad you want to die, then the next it&039;s gone A darkon his earth
The chill slithered through hiainst the spot on his skull and winding down to his feet They lost feeling ih they&039;d somehow detached themselves and drifted from his body
The cold flooded and filled hi clarity
And it was beautiful
The people stared at him with such unconditional hatred, but he couldn&039;t hate them back They were too wonderful Every detail of their faces, the depth in their eyes, how they stood, each little movement-they had no idea just how perfect they were
The room with its clean lines and stark colors was only the antechaht and motion and more and more perfect people There were so ht marvels waited for him beyond these walls
He loved theoddaer used his voice to laugh for hier
It was one of theduring his day sleep One of the countless tormentors within that knew the truth but refused to make it clear was noake, aware of him, and amused
Looks just like e It was handso no substance, no e now