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“Do we need to worry about your brother coming out here?” Colvin asked.
“No,” Seth said. “I keep Abel out of this. He doesn’t know anything. Only to stay inside the house when I’m out here working.”
Colvin released Aubrey, and she stopped near the firepit.
“Now what?” Aubrey asked.
“We wait for the rest of our party to join us,” Seth said, glancing at his watch. “Should be here any minute. He’s always punctual.”
Charlie glanced around. Forced herself to concentrate. Sharpen her senses. She needed to think of a way out of this. Find an advantage.
The farmhouse was about two hundred feet upwind from the pigpen. Seth’s brother lived there. If she got free somehow and made it to the house, she could call for help if there was a landline. But would she be able to make it with three armed men in pursuit?
A vehicle approached. Headlights cut through the darkness, drawing closer. The SUV stopped. The engine cut off. A car door slammed shut.
Someone heavy-footed came up the path. A man wearing a white button-down and slacks came into the light of the fire. Blond and balding. Average height. Lanky.
Charlie recognized him from the photos. He was the unidentified man.
“What in the hell is going on?” he asked, his gaze bouncing between Aubrey and Charlie. “What are they doing here?”
“We’ve got some business to take care of,” Seth said.
“I don’t get involved with this side of things.” The guy backed up, raising his palms. “Just give me my cut. That’s why I’m here. Then I’m gone.”
“This does involve you. She’s been taking pictures!” Seth pointed to Charlie. “Of us together. Including you.”
His gaze swept to Charlie, his eyes growing wide with panic. “What?” He turned to Seth. “I can’t be implicated in any of this. I’ll be disbarred. I could go to jail. You have to handle it.”
This was their lawyer. The one who was helping them make all this possible. There must have been layers of legal red tape used to hide their identities with the offshore shell companies.
“That’s what I’m doing. Fixing it.” Seth put a hand on the wood rail of the pigpen and leaned against it. “Come here,” he said to Aubrey, beckoning to her with a gloved hand.
“Please. Let me go,” she said. “I told you a million times that I’m sorry.”
“Don’t make me tell you twice.”
Trembling, Aubrey treaded carefully over to him, holding out one arm to maintain her balance on the uneven ground and clutching her purse with the other.
“Good girl,” Seth said, like she was dog, and Charlie gritted her teeth. “Give me that switchblade you carry around all the time.”
Tears leaked from Aubrey’s eyes. “Remember I was the one who told you to watch out for her. That she was following you. Taking pictures of you. Of all of you,” she said, pointing a finger at Colvin and Eklund.
“Only after she made that little scene inside the club,” Seth said. “When you had no other choice but to tell me.”
“I never should have talked to her.” Aubrey glared at Charlie, and then looked back at Seth. “Lesson learned,” she sobbed. “Okay.”
Seth held out his palm. “I’m waiting.”
With shaking hands, Aubrey unzipped her purse and gave him the knife. “You’ve got to believe me,” she pleaded. “It’ll never happen again.”
“I know it won’t.” Seth smiled as he caressed her cheek. In the firelight, his eyes were dark and empty like those of a snake. “Because I’m going to make sure of it.” He pressed the button on the handle. The blade slashed out with aflick.
“What are you doing?” the lawyer asked, a terrified look stretching across his face.
Aubrey cringed. “But why?” she cried. “I didn’t tell her anything useful.”
“No loose ends.” Seth slit her jugular in one smooth motion.
