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“Exactly.”
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
“You’re sure they don’t know,” Rhett asked for the second time, doing his best to ignore the bundle of nerves in his gut.
Nina had returned his call once Hernandez and Hunt left the office.
"Yes, baby," she assured him. "As far as they're concerned, we're cleared. The alibis are holding up, and they don't know about the other car. They actually came here asking for my help.”
“So what’s the problem then? Do I really need to do this?”
"I'm afraid so," she said. "I'm telling you, the way Charlotte looked at me at brunch, she saw right through me. It's only a matter of time before she tells people, and then our perfectly constructed life falls apart."
“It’s all falling apart anyway,” he said. “Both cars will be gone soon. We lose the house by the end of the month. We can’t keep up this charade much longer.”
“We don’t have to,” Nina told him, “just long enough to get out. But if Charlotte talks, we lose our head start. If you get rid of her, they focus on the serial killer terrorizing the community. Meanwhile, we use that old Tercel without GPS to cross the border. We’ll figure it out from there.”
Rhett’s hand shook as he held the phone to his ear. The manager of the restaurant who had let him borrow it walked by, looking slightly annoyed. He was obviously regretting his generosity.
Rhett couldn't believe how things had escalated in less than forty-eight hours. When he had revealed to Nina what he'd done to Ava, he was sure she would demand that he turn himself in. But to his shock, she'd offered him sympathy and support.
And when he told her about his faux pas with Gabby at the cocktail party, Nina had promised to smooth things over. But somehow, when that didn't work, his wife had followed his lead and simply eliminated the threat that Gabby posed. Now, they were so deep in this mess that the only way out was apparently to eliminate another woman who knew too much. It was all too crazy to comprehend. And yet, it was happening.
“I don’t have much time,” Rhett whispered. “They’re going to kick me off the phone soon, I can tell. But I’m so sorry about all this, babe. All I meant to do was change Ava’s mind. I can’t believe I put us in this position.”
"What's done is done," Nina said. "I know you were only doing what you had to do for us. We were in a bind, and you thought that was your way out. The same thing happened to me last night. I didn't go to that parkette thinking I was going to bash Gabby's head in. But when she wouldn't see reason, I noticed that rock sitting there, and it suddenly seemed like such an easy solution. It's terrible, but there's no going back after this."
“I know,” he said. “I just can’t believe it all fell apart so fast.”
"It's been falling apart for years, Rhett," Nina corrected. "But you do this, and we have a way out. Let me know when it's done. Then come pick me up and we leave this godforsaken place forever."
“I will,” he promised. “I love you, Nina."
“I love you too,” she said before hanging up.
Rhett hung up and walked out of the restaurant. He headed toward the used car he bought last week so they’d have some kind of vehicle if their other cars got repossessed. The crappy 1998 Toyota Tercel hatchback he’d driven here was parked in a spot across the street, just down the block from the Westside Auditorium, where the Brentwood Children’s Choral Ensemble would be performing.
He decided that was where he would do it. Every minute he delayed was another minute that Charlotte might casually spill the beans about their situation to someone else, possibly the cops. He couldn’t wait.
Besides, this way he could do it in the dark. No one would see him creep up on her with the steak knife he'd stolen from the restaurant. He wouldn't be able to envelop her head in plastic wrap, but that wasn't crucial anymore. This just had to look good enough. And he would never get a better opportunity than a darkened theater blasting with loud singing. It was perfect, or as perfect as it could be, in this messed up situation.
He crossed the street and looked at his watch. It was 1:41. The performance wouldn't be over until 2 p.m. He still had time. He would enter the theater, find Charlotte, slice her throat, and be out before anyone was the wiser. Then he would go pick up Nina, and they'd leave town.
As he walked up the steps of the theater, he shook his head in shock at how far this had come. Everything was out of control. He and Nina had been so desperate to hide their financial distress, to maintain the illusion of success, that they had crossed a line he never knew he was capable of. And now, looking back, he couldn't even see the line anymore. That almost made it easier. At this point, he didn't have a choice.
If Charlotte talked to a friend, or heaven forbid the police, the truth about them would come out, they’d become prime suspects and be arrested. Once the cops looked into their stories more closely, they would crumble. That was inevitable, but at least this way they would have a head start. They could drive to Mexico and reconstruct a life there.
He approached the entrance of the theater, trying to look as innocuous as possible. He plastered a ‘harried parent’ expression across his face as he walked into the lobby.
“Please put your phone on silent before entering the theater,” the bored-looking security guard at the door requested.
Rhett nodded, though he couldn’t comply. He didn’t have his cell phone with him out of fear it could be used to track his location. It was probably a good thing anyway. He didn’t need his phone ringing, drawing attention to him, while he skulked up behind his prey. As he glanced around, he refocused on his one and only task: to kill Charlotte Stevenson.
It was a bad plan, to be sure, but it was the only one they had left.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Jessie could hear the skepticism in Jamil’s voice, even over speakerphone.
