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Blossom didn’t seem to notice. Nor did she seem to hear Willa’s question. She appeared to be listening, as if she heard—
Willa froze as she picked up the sound of a boat motor. Landry! He was headed for the dock.
“What do you want?”
Blossom focused on her and smiled. “Don’t screw with me. I want the disk.”
Willa looked down at the first-aid kit in her hands. She could hear the boat motor growing louder. She couldn’t let Landry walk into a trap. Nor could she give up the disk.
“So all of that stuff about you being a star was just bunk?” she asked as she stepped a little closer to Blossom.
Goth Girl smiled. “Gotta admit I am one hell of an actress.”
“You work for Freddy Delgado?”
Bloss
om laughed. “Yeah, right.”
Willa was close enough that she could have gone for the gun. If she’d been crazy. “Well, you’re not a cop.”
“Not hardly. Come on, let’s get this over with before your boyfriend gets back,” Blossom said, still pointing the gun at Willa’s heart.
“I guess you won’t be needing this,” Willa said looking down at the metal first-aid kit in her hands. She’d popped the lid, remembering the small sharp metal objects her mother had put in the kit: scissors, clippers, tweezers, pins. Everything a South Dakota girl might need in the big city.
Blossom’s gaze went to the first-aid kit just an instant before Willa flung it at her face. Willa had expected to hear the boom of the gun as she slammed into Blossom, driving her back. Taken by surprise, Blossom fell over the chair behind her and went down hard. The gun skittered across the floor and disappeared under the couch.
Willa launched herself at the door, grabbing the knob and jerking the door open. She caught only a glimpse of Blossom scrambling to her feet with a knife in her hand as the door slammed behind her.
* * *
LANDRY BROUGHT THE BOAT into the dock, fighting the waves kicked up by the storm. The wind howled as rain lashed down. He could barely make out the villa through the driving rain as he hurriedly secured the boat to the lee side of the dock and ran up the beach.
His mind had been racing ever since he’d taken the boat and started back. So much about the missing disk and the people after it hadn’t made any sense. But as he’d fought the storm waves, running the boat back as fast as he could without swamping it, he’d had time to think.
His thoughts had taken a turn that had curdled his stomach. He had to be wrong.
He heard a creaking sound off to his right and swung his weapon as he turned toward it, half expecting Henri to come at him out of the storm.
He couldn’t make out what it was but he slowed, moving toward the sound. Creak. Creak. Creak.
And then he saw it.
His heart leapt to his throat and he let out a cry of alarm as the body swung into view. Henri. She hung by her neck from a rope tied to the ornate wrought iron along the front of the villa. Her body swung in the wind.
Henri was dead?
If Henri hadn’t killed Odell and Blossom, then…
* * *
THE STEPS WERE WET and slick. Willa fell, tumbling down the last few. She scraped her arm on the wrought-iron railing and cut her leg open. Her blood mixed with the rain as she struggled to get to her feet. Behind her, she heard her apartment door bang open. In a flash of lightning, she saw Blossom silhouetted against the storm. The light caught on the knife blade, glittering wickedly as Blossom descended the stairs at a run.
Willa was on her feet but Blossom leapt over the stair railing, tackling her and taking them both to the tile next to the pool. Willa rolled Blossom over, both hands on Blossom’s wrist holding the knife as she tried to wrestle it away from her.
But Blossom was strong and had obviously done this before. She bucked Willa off, throwing them both over the lip of the pool and into the putrid water.
Willa gasped as she hit the surface, dragged under by Blossom as they continued to fight for the knife. She opened her eyes but could see nothing in the darkness at the bottom of the pool as she and Blossom struggled.
