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“Liam, no!” Kris cried, but it was too late. The instant Dougal had marked her for dead, he had marked himself as well.
Together Liam and Dougal sank into the frigid depths of Loch Ness.
CHAPTER 27
“Kris!”
Her brother ran out of the woods. His gaze went to the water. But only a few swirls, a few bubbles, remained. Still, one look at his face and Kris knew he’d seen the whole thing.
“I won’t let you hurt her,” she said.
“Kris—”
“I’ve never asked anything of you in my life, Marty, but I’m asking this. Don’t call Edward. Just let Nessie stay Nessie. Let Dougal stay dead. Make up whatever the hell you have to. Forge whatever you have to forge; I don’t care.”
He lifted his hand to her face. “Dougal hit you.”
Kris shrugged. She was getting used to black-and-blue.
“I’d have killed him, too,” Marty muttered. She looked at him suspiciously. “You really think I’d turn Liam in to Edward?”
Ah hell. He knew.
“How do you—?”
“Dougal left a note telling us where he was. I’m not sure why.…” He looked around, saw the camera in the shadows of the trees. “Hmm,” he said, brain obviously percolating. “Anyway, Liam became Nessie and got here a lot quicker than me.”
“Not that much quicker,” Kris muttered. “Did you break the land speed record?”
“Nearly.”
“Will you leave Liam alone, even though he just killed a man?”
“Dougal was more of a monster than I’ve seen in a long time. Creepy, sneaky bastard. I’d have had to hire the ‘fix it’ guy to kill him anyway. Way I see it, Grant just saved me the trouble.”
“What about Edward?”
“I’ll tell him I took care of the problem.”
“And if he finds out you’re lying?”
Marty winced. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t.”
Kris felt terrible asking her brother to lie, and to Edward Mandenauer. But what choice did she have?
“We could tell him the truth,” Marty ventured.
“Which is?”
“Benign lake monster. No reason to kill it. Like you said: Let Nessie stay Nessie.”
“You think Mandenauer will go for that?”
Marty sighed. “Probably not.”
“Then keep this to yourself.”
“All right. But Kris—”
