“They’ll be dead soon enough,” she insisted. “This isfun. Maybe more fun than the others. Except for Emily. She was definitely the most fun.”
Audrey’s nemesis Emily started it all, and Garrett hadn’t minded getting revenge on the bitch who had hurt the woman he loved. So he agreed to get a job at Sapphire Shoals after Audrey learned where Emily would be honeymooning. He started two months before she and her husband arrived. And, he had to admit, it was exciting to use his engineering skills to create all the fun traps. Everything worked perfectly.
He’d agreed that they couldn’t leave Florida right after the Hendersons disappeared, that it would be suspicious. Then Audrey got a job at the resort and said it was full of losers to con. At first, Garrett thought she was targeting conventions, men who were away from their boring daily lives were the easiest to lure. But then she said she wanted to “do it again” and he knew what she meant.
The other two couples were more work than fun, at least for Garrett. He simply didn’t care. Sure, Audrey enjoyed herself, and deep down Garrett considered that the additional murders would help cover up Audrey’s old connection to Emily, but still, Garrett was worried. Things had... escalated. Audrey had insisted one last time when Garrett wanted to bolt. He refused.
Then he saw Kara.
He’d been about to give his two weeks’ notice when she and her not-husband had sat down at the bar by the pool. He’d been repairing the ice maker. No one really noticed maintenance workers, so he had lingered longer than necessary. She was petite and pretty, but she also looked stronger than the other women. She was... well, exactly his type. If he wasn’t with Audrey, he might have asked her out. Except that she was married.
But she wasn’t, he knew now. It had been fake.
He would have liked to have seen her fall apart. The first three broke too soon. He’d known from the minute he saw Kara that she wasn’t like the others. He was intrigued and more than a little bit attracted.
Not that he would have saidthatto Audrey.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t pegged her as a cop.
Audrey took out her phone and showed him the footage she’d saved. She watched him watch the video. “Shealmostgot cut in half.”
“It’s too dangerous to keep them alive.”
“Babe, they might be cops, but they’re also lovers.”
“It was an act.”
She shook her head, leaned over and kissed him. She sat up, adjusted her shirt to cover her breasts. He zipped his pants. He had too much to think about; another round of sex wasn’t in the cards.
“Itwasn’tan act,” she said. “I watched them all weekend.” She scrolled through her phone, clicked on another video. “I was careful, so this is from a distance. Look.”
Garrett watched the video of the two cops who tricked him kiss as they stood outside a restaurant. Then they held hands and talked. They looked comfortable, intimate.
“They were together this weekend,in bed. If they were really just faking it to trap us, would they have stayed in the same room? And yesterday when they were in the gym? They were totally flirting. They kissed. It wasn’t just a friendly kiss,it was await until I get you alonekind of kiss. Iknowwhen people are in love or in lust, and they have a lot of both going on.”
“We have to kill them,” he said. “They were supposed to be dead before I was released.No more games.”
Audrey loved games, and sure, it was fun most of the time, but before now he hadn’t been really all that concerned about getting caught. Before Florida, no one had died. He hadn’t thought much about the consequences because most of the people they played with would never go to the police. And, well, the sex was always amazing. The thrill of the honey trap always made him and Audrey super horny.
But his freedom was important. He wouldn’t give it up just to play games.
“Baby,” she pouted, “killing isn’t the fun part.”
“I can’t drive up there and take care of it myself. The FBI is following me. You have to do it.Youhave to kill them.”
She clicked her tongue. “First, Garrett, if we do nothing, they’ll die. They won’t be able to get out. The exits are traps, you did an amazing job! They’ll gosplat. So get a grip.”
He didn’t like when she minimized his concerns.
“Second,” she continued, “we can lose the stupid FBI. It’s more fun to play the game withyou.”
He closed his eyes, put his head against her forehead. “I love you, Audrey. We have to think this through. This is no longer a game. This ismy life.”
“It’sour life.We’re in this together, now and always.”
He did love her, but dammit, he didn’t want to be in prison. They had nothing on him—and heshouldbe able to get out from under these stupid attempted kidnapping charges. But he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk going back to court next Monday on the chance that they would put him behind bars. While he didn’t seehowthey could find any evidence that he was involved with Audrey’s games, he knew the FBI had advanced forensic and surveillance tools. So it was possible. They didn’tknow about her, which was good, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t learn about her.
“We need to use our escape plan,” he said.
