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Chapter 22
The air smelled of fresh moss. Luckily, the rain remained light, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable walking down the small, muddy path all the way to the opening the man had told me about. It was a twenty-minute walk with absolutely no sign of anyone in sight. No houses, no gardens, no streets, nothing.
I stepped out into the clearing and looked at the lake. It was maybe several football fields in size, surrounded by trees. There was something soothing about staring out at the water, watching the raindrops hit its surface.
The snapping of a tree branch sent a shiver through my veins. I spun around. Could it be her?
“It was foolish of you to come.” Andrei was dressed immaculately even now, in a white dress shirt with suit pants. His hair looked perfect, not like that of a man on the run from the law.
“I could say the same to you; who says I’m alone?”
Andrei threw his head back in laughter. “I guess we’re both fools then.” He looked at me for a moment, then stepped beside me to look out at the water. “I should kill you for what you’ve done to us,” he said in a flatly.
“Then why didn’t you?” I asked, briefly brushing my hand over my gun. “Try, at least,” I added.
His gaze followed my hand, then returned to the water.
“Is the answer to that not as clear as the water in front of us?”
I looked at the lake again. It was beautiful.
“I think you give me too much credit. She might not mind if you kill me after all.”
“Ah, yes. You lied to her, deceived her, broke her heart.”
If he’d shot me in the chest, it might have hurt less than those words. I looked at him. “I did all of that.”
Andrei nodded. “Despicable.” Then he shrugged his shoulders. “And yet, when Murphy approached for the final time today, offering you the moon and stars, you stood by her. She knew who I was. I’m sure my naïve sister must have told you that in the heat of the moment.”
I shook my head. “How do you know about all this? Is Murphy working for you?”
Andrei shook his head. “That man is working for nobody and everybody, true to only himself. We’ve worked together before, and we tried to kill one another in the past.”
“And where do you stand now?”
Andrei frowned. “Why waste time I don’t have on unimportant things?”
“It’s not unimportant to me. The FBI has almost nothing against you. Come back, face them. You might walk free.”
“And you won’t mind that?”
I remained silent. It’s not that I wouldn’t; he was still a killer, but—
“Or do you think my sister would forgive you in that case? Love you again?”
My eyes dropped to the ground.
“Just what I thought,” he said. “But to get to the point, I can’t go back. For two reasons, one which you can see if you walk all the way to the edge of this lake.”
Confused, I looked at him, but all he did was nod in the direction of the lake. Carefully, I made my way over slippery roots and wet mud to the edge of the lake, Andrei following close behind me. I almost gasped in shock when I reached the water. In the farthest right corner of the lake, invisible from where I stood, was a little wooden house. A warm, yellow light was glowing from inside. Smoke wound its way out of a chimney.
“Is...” My voice broke off. “Is she in there?”
Andrei nodded.
“But why would you bring me here?”
“As I said, one of the two reasons why I can’t face the feds is her.”
