Chapter 20
A woman about Savannah’s age carried a stainless-steel tray of food toward the porch of the small house where Savannah sat playing Uno with Simon. Colored beads snaked through the woman’s hair, and a red-and-white ruffled skirt fluttered around her ankles. She was beautiful with dark eyes, but she didn’t smile or even glance their way.
She set the metal pan on the table and walked back the way she’d come. Savannah stood and caught a whiff of chorizo and cheese. A basket held small rounds of some type of bread on one side of the tray, and small containers of chorizo, black beans, mozzarella cheese, avocado chunks, pickled onions, and jalapeños were on the other side.
“That smells good.” Simon reached for a bread round. “They have slits at the top like pita bread. Maybe we’re supposed to stuff them.”
“I think they’re arepas. They’re a traditional Venezuelan food I’ve heard of.” She picked up a piece of bread. “I think these are made with corn flour. I’ll prep one for you.”
“I want to do my own.” Simon slid small spoonfuls of each of the ingredients into the pocket of his bread and took abite. His eyes widened. “Bussin’,” he mumbled past his full mouth.
She prepped one for herself and the explosion of flavors had her reaching for another one right away. The morning’s coffee was the last thing she’d put in her stomach, and she’d saved the breakfast pastries for Simon. At least Hornbrook wasn’t starving them. She wouldn’t mind a shower and a change of clothing, though. The lack of normal supplies wasn’t a good indication of their expected longevity.
Anton approached with his usual grim expression. He jerked his thumb toward the main house. “The boss wants to see you.” He eyed Simon and the dogs begging for a bite of food at his feet. “Alone.”
Her gut clenched, and she wiped the juice from her fingers with a napkin before following him across the oyster-shell path dappled with late-afternoon sunlight. Had Hez replied to Hornbrook’s demands yet? She slowed her steps, but Anton grabbed her arm and propelled her faster toward their destination.
She jerked her arm out of his grasp. “I can walk by myself.”
“Step up the pace or I’ll drag you.”
She clenched her hands and quickened her steps. The theme music fromJawsgreeted her when she opened the door to the house. A shudder went down her back at the grin Anton directed her way, and she remembered Hornbrook’s threat about feeding Simon to the sharks. She crossed the mahogany floors to the living room.
Hornbrook rose from the leather sofa. His cold, appraising gaze swept over her. “Your fiancé hasn’t complied withmy demands yet, and I think he needs a reminder of what he stands to lose.”
“Why are you doing this?” she burst out. “Hez planned to leave you alone. It was over as far as he was concerned. He didn’t want a war with you.”
“I didn’t start this war—you have Hez to blame for your situation. His ransom demand set it in motion.”
Ransom demand? “It couldn’t have been Hez. We just wanted to get on with life and forget all about you.”
“Did you really think you could hold me hostage for twenty million dollars and demand debt relief for TGU without repercussions? I’m sure Hez thought I’d roll over at the next demand of five million, but he was wrong. It’s time to eliminate the threat altogether.”
Savannah took a step back as the obnoxious music continued to play. “It wasn’t Hez. Maybe someone in your own organization thought he’d implicate Hez and fleece you for money.”
“My staff wouldn’t dare cross me like that. They’ve seen what I do to my enemies.” He shrugged. “At any rate it doesn’t matter now. At some point I would have had to ensure there weren’t copies of that database floating around, waiting to blindside me. You and the boy are perfect leverage to make sure Hez and Bruno destroy all the copies. His time is running out—and so is yours.”
Savannah considered her options. As soon as Hornbrook was assured the copies of the database were gone, he’d have to remove the risk that she and Simon presented. He couldn’t trust they wouldn’t testify against him, and he’d make sure their bodies were never found.
She laced her hands together and smiled when two of his goldens approached. “These guys are gorgeous. The fact you take care of dogs that are left behind makes me think you might be a man of your word.”
Hornbrook’s eyebrows rose, and he smiled for the first time. “My grandfather raised award-winning golden retrievers, and I learned to appreciate dogs from him. They’re loyal, love their people, and never lie—except about whether they’ve been fed. Every dog that sets foot on this island is well treated and safe. Including your two.”
Savannah forced a chuckle. “I appreciate hearing that. My dogs are important to me too. I recently picked up a rescue named Cass that’s afraid of Cody and Marley, so she wasn’t with us when we went on our walk. I hope she’s okay.”
Hornbrook shuffled papers and glanced at his Rolex before turning a computer monitor to face her. “Enough chitchat. Read the headline and say the wordstwelve hourswhen you’re done.”
She’d prepped all afternoon for this moment. She read the headline. “Yankees Beat Mets 6–3.” She paused and cleared her throat. “Hez, take care of our new puppy, ’kay? Take care of Cass, ’kay?” She slurred the words slightly as though she was nervous. “I’ll see you soon, ’kay? Twelve hours.”
Now that she’d delivered her lines, it felt impossible that Hez would get what she was trying to tell him. The ominous music fromJawsswelled to a crescendo. If Hez didn’t figure it out, she and Simon would be food for the sharks.
“Focus!” Hez leaned back in the Justice Chamber’s lone decent chair and shook his head so hard that he got a warning twinge from the still-healing surgical site on the left side of his skull. But he couldn’t shake the memory of Martine out of his brain. He needed to devote every neuron to saving Savannah and Simon—not analyzing the incident at the Campbell Motel. That would have to wait. And yet his mind wouldn’t let it.
What had happened at the motel? It had the trappings of a secret tryst—the cheap motel, Martine’s dress and makeup, the wine—but Martine hadn’t even tried to seduce him. She apologized and ran as soon as he was in the room demanding answers. Why? The only explanation that made sense was that the whole thing was a setup. But what exactly had been set up? Presumably, the room had been staged to make it appear they’d been having an affair—but was that all? Did Martine flee the room so it would look like Hez attacked her? And was that shape in the hedges a photographer? Had there been a camera hidden in the room too?
Hez shook his head again, more carefully this time. He inhaled—and got a whiff of Martine’s perfume from his TGU sweatshirt. He tore it off and hurled it across the room. It hit the opposite wall and slid down, landing in a heap on the floor. None of this was important now when he needed to find Savannah and Simon.
His phone buzzed—and all thoughts of Martine vanished when he saw the name on the screen: Hornbrook. Hez tapped the recording app Hope had asked him to put on the phone, then took the call. “Hez Webster.”
