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KROUN

A SLOW, dull pounding awakened Gabriel The vibration of each i hiet soular thu louder He tried to roll away fro a pillow over to cover his ears, but was unable tohi crushed, it held hiely, he did not find that to be alar on acloser, closer

Gabe was unsure whether that was a good thing or not After soative assessment, certain that God had debts to call in Better not keep Hile a little He tried to take a breath to speak and got astopped when he made a sudden frenzied shove that caused earth to shift above hiht fell away frorasped his wrist and pulled

He erave He shook off the help, scrabbling up and over the sides, not stopping until he was yards frolimpses between blinks

Snow Trees River Sleet Wind Lead gray sky A flashlight on the ground, its bea by the hole Lean and angular body Dour face

Despite the bone-freezing sleet, he was in shirtsleeves, sweating A shovel lay discarded on the broken ground The e revolver now

Gabe rubbed his face, his fingers gritty, and stared at the couns?" he asked

Escott aihts like a duelist "That depends, Mr Kroun Who are you tonight?"

What a damned stupid question "Who do you think?" He spat ht and pointed the beam at Gabe&039;s face

"Hey!"

"Open your eyes," he snapped

He made it sound important As Gabe found hiht seean to thunder inside He grabbed a cluainst his head

"You done yet?" he growled, squinting

"Norht

"Huh?"

"Your eyes Last night what little iris you had vanished entirely I don&039;t think the others noticed, not that it matters to them now"

Gabe stayed put, applied another snowy co in the wind "You wanna fillyou&039;re nuts"

Escott slipped the gun into its shoulder rig and retrieved his suit coat, which he&039;d hung on a low branch "You&039;re correct in that assessment It can be the only explanation for why I&039;m here" Next he drew on his overcoat He left both unbuttoned, his revolver within easy reach "What do you reain That&039;s pretty vivid"

"And?"

Gabe shied away fronore the holes and blood on his mud-covered suit "Mike shotup to that point?"

He wanted to put off thinking about that until his head pain eased At this rate it ht never happen Sleet flecked his face, and the wind flayed his exposed skin "Where the hell are we?"

"A place faht "How&039;d you know they&039;d take ht of the club and follow your brother and Mr Broder when they departed He tracked them to this dismal spot, then phoned me when he could"

"You set h I did not foresee thetoan overdose of cocaine should have rendered you unconscious Instead, there were soularly unpleasant consequences before you succumbed"

Histhe show except toward the end He&039;d asked Michael a question and gotten no answer

"You setto do" Escott had an edge in his tone that stated he was immune to reproach "There is a terrible darkness in you We saw Whitey Kroun last night, and he is a monster Have you any control over him?"

He winced at the word monster and that someone else used it so accurately "If people left me alone, I&039;d be just peachy"

"You can&039;t, then"

"I-"

"Yes?"

"I did A little"

"Indeed?"

He rubbed his nuirl Tried to tell her I was sorry"

"For scaring her? Just for that?"

What more do you want? "It wasn&039;t me I&039;m not like that The dope pulled that out It&039;s over"

"You&039;re certain?"

"What kind of proof can I give you for that?" Exasperated, Gabe looked around The hole he&039;d crawled frorave This one was much closer to the river

"Where&039;s Raht Farther into the trees was the es since Gabe&039;s visit Soe river stones over it into the shape of a cross

"How&039;d you knohich one to dig up?"

"Yours was uneainst a tree "I suppose your brother thought God wouldn&039;t have you"

"He was right"

"Co, Mr Kroun I&039;ve not yet decided what to do about you"

That made him pay attention "What do you mean?"

"Pick yourself up" Escott said it the way soht say, "Time to settle the bill"

I hate this place

With less effort than anticipated, Gabe got to his feet His day&039;s rest in the ground had restored hione, and the chunk torn fro There was a scar, but it ell healed Another day, and it one entirely; the same went for the hole in his chest His head continued to throb, probably a hangover fro a well-tra and the dark cabin Gabe did not want to go there

The hinges creaked, and Escott left the door open Inside, he lit a few candles Shadows jerked and quivered, as though surprised by the intrusion

I should have burned the dump when I had the chance

Gabe forced hi the whirring sound of the pines singing to themselves He slammed the door on it

The cabin looked smaller and meaner The bloody, mold-eaten blanket and mattress had been thrown back on the bed Gabe scowled and sat on a bench as far froood, but take tier than necessary Escott obviously had soet it out, then they could leave

"You talked to Mike," prompted Gabe He tried to not look at the bloodstains by the bed Escott had to have noticed theth"

"He pay you off?"

"He did not After a call to Gordy to establish my bona fides, I persuaded Mike to accept e for the truth of what happened in this cabin"

"What&039;d he tell you?"

"It was Miss Cabot&039;s story that convinced me you needed to be dealt with She and hertheirl"

Gabemotion with his hand "Never mind that"

"No, I will not" Escott&039;s voice lowered, taking on a harsher tone "You crossed a line"

"Shuttup"

Surprisingly, he did Escott used a candle to light a cigarette, s that pause, Gabe tried to fit things together with this new information He couldn&039;t "Rairl was in the way, a witness All I wanted was to find out if she was okay"

"She&039;s as well as can be expected Perhaps her ht, and she may find some shred of peace now that you&039;re dead to her"

"But I couldn&039;t have-"

"Mr Kroun, you don&039;t remember your death or what led to it, not one e to face the truth: Ramsey had no orders from anyone to kill you; he just couldn&039;t sto! There&039;s no way I&039;d have hurt her You got that yet?"

Escott was silent for a long moment "You absolutely believe that"

"It&039;s true"

"It is not true, yet you believe it Were that not so, you would never have hypnotized her last night and deain That would have da she&039;d exonerate you"

"Listen to un "None of that Try to put ain, and I will shoot you Look at the floor Now"

That was stupid He did as he was told He was fast enough to rush theelse Escott would fire, and that ry, but he didn&039;t want to risk killing Escott

He put a hand on the side of his pounding head and wished for ht what did she say?"

"You&039;re ready to hear the truth?"

"Just tell o you did hire Miss Cabot&039;s services as a co trip&039; She understood that ood Ramsey drove and turned a blind eye; that was his job You stopped at the asylum to show her off to your father, then continued on to Wisconsin"

Gabe&039;s shivering abruptly ceased as heat crept up his neck and face He was ashamed of what he&039;d done even if he couldn&039;t ree she&039;d been led to expect Soon as you arrived you gave yourself an injection of your chosen poison, then gagged her to keep her quiet I shall not repeat what followed, only that it was brutal and went on for some while Raet rid of the gag, he heard her screa He burst in, did not like what he saw, and shot you dead"

Sickness rolled through hi I could never do that to a woman"

"Why would she lie?"

"I don&039;t know" God, it hurt "Keep going"