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“Sweet, lovable Bernie is a sham. In truth, he never existed. It was Carl Wingert all along, and he duped you well. Because, behind the limp and age spots, he’s a terrorist who believes that you deserve to die. I’m as certain of that as I am that it’s gravity holding me onto the planet.”
“Why would he want me dead?”
“Punishment for leaving Jeremy.”
“Jeremy was the one who destroyed our marriage. I wasn’t the one having an affair.”
“This isn’t about morality. Do you think Carl cares who slept with whom? No. It’s about loyalty. He has strong feelings about it. But—and here’s the kicker—it’s one-sided. It’s loyalty to him that he’s a fanatic about.
“Conversely, he doesn’t blink over leaving someone behind. He saves his own skin first. He’s done it time and again. At Golden Branch, he sacrificed one of his men so he could escape, and, frankly, I’m amazed that he took Jeremy and Flora, straight out of childbed, with him when he ran.
“Once, during a standoff, one of his gang members tried to surrender. He walked out of a motel room with his hands raised. He was killed on the spot, but not by police. Carl, from inside the motel room, shot him in the back of the head and then escaped during the confusion that ensued.”
Headly was laying it on thick, perhaps for shock value
, but Dawson was glad he wasn’t sparing Amelia the cold reality of the kind of man her father-in-law was. Jeremy had the same bloodline.
Headly continued. “Carl Wingert is unconscionable. He believes his actions, no matter how detestable, are justified. He’ll vanquish anyone he considers disloyal, and you, Amelia, were disloyal.
“I’m sure Jeremy’s mind has been poisoned against you. But even if he still worships the ground you walk on, even if he is madly in love with you and entertaining a fantasy about reuniting with you and his sons, Carl will never allow it. He’ll kill you.”
“Then why didn’t he yesterday when I was alone at the beach house?”
“Because he’s too smart to have followed up Jeremy’s mistake with another. He couldn’t kill you and then disappear. That would have been too obvious. It probably galled him, but he had to continue playing Bernie until he was safely off the island. Now he has time to plan something else.”
“What am I supposed to do in the meantime? While he’s planning. The boys and I can’t remain under lock and key indefinitely.”
“It won’t be indefinite.”
Dawson stopped prowling around the room and looked sharply at Headly, whose expression was as grim as he’d ever seen it. “What does that mean?”
“Everything I’ve told you up till now?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s the good news.”
Chapter 20
Is this Harriet Plummer?”
“Isn’t that who you asked for? Who’s this?”
“My name is Bernie Clarkson. I’m calling you from Saint Nelda’s Island.”
“Where?”
“Offshore from Savannah. I hate to bother you, Ms. Plummer, but he wrote your name on the back of his business card.”
“Who did? Dawson?”
“Uh…let’s see, I had it right here…Yes, Dawson Scott. Tall, long hair?”
“Why did he give you my name?”
“So you do know him? He does write for the magazine?”
“Yes.”
