Torch Scene (15 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Ken came into the room, in his jeans, blue tee shirt, and light jacket. A smile was etched on his too-perfect face. And a big gun in his too-perfect hand. I was sure he knew how to use it, too.

“Darling, what’s going on?” Nadine asked him, her voice puzzled. “What’s with that ridiculous thing in your hand?”

“He’s going to kill us,” I murmured.

She was still clueless. “Why?”

He stared at her. “Because your detective friend knows I’m the one who killed Nick.”

“You? Whatever for?”

I resisted the urge to throw up my hands.
Jeez, did we have to explain everything?
“Because you’re the beneficiary of Nick’s life insurance policy,” I said. “He kills Nick and by the time the policy pays out, you’re married and he gets his hands on the money.” I turned to him. “What’s your deal?”

It was his turn for a blank look. “Huh?”

“Why are you so desperate for money?”

The smile grew wider, but now with a perverse twist that ruined its perfection. “I like nice things, and they cost money. And I’ve got an image to keep up, for the ladies. Tack on some bad investments and I was in real trouble. This one,” he gestured at Nadine, “wanted me to wine and dine her, even though I didn’t have the money, and I was about to cut her loose when she came home laughing about how Nick still had her as the beneficiary on his life insurance policy.” He shook his head in awe. “It couldn’t have been more perfect.”

“Yeah, it sure seemed that way,” I said. “Only I figured it out.”

The smile faded. “A bit too late, don’t you think?”

Nadine finally regained her faculties. “Ken, put down that gun this instant.”

“No, darling.” He mocked her sultry tone. “You may have been able to order me around before, but not anymore.”

“What?” She covered her mouth for a second, shocked. “How dare you. And what do you mean you were going to dump me?”

He snorted. “You are way too high maintenance. Good in the sack, but not for much else.”

She emitted a sound that was a cross between a gasp and a cry, full of indignation. “How dare you!” she repeated.

“You give yourself too much credit,” he continued. “Why would I want to be saddled with your debt and mine? You’ve got your looks, babe, but not much else.”

“Don’t say that,” she said with a wounded tone. “We can work this out Ken, darling.”

“It’s over.”

My cell phone vibrated and I surreptitiously reached into my pocket. I was sure it was Cal, calling me back with information about Nadine’s finances. If I could answer it, maybe he could hear our conversation and call in the Cavalry.

“Hey!” Ken aimed the gun at me. “Take your hand out, slowly.”

Damn! Not surreptitiously enough
, I chided myself.

“Relax,” I said. “It’s only my phone.” I pulled out the phone and he snatched it from me and tossed it across the room. He eyed me carefully. “And the gun.” I tried not to show my disappointment as I took the Glock from the holster. He grabbed that as well and stuffed it into the waist of his jeans.

He stepped back and gestured with the gun. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” she said.

“The basement.” We apparently didn’t move fast enough because he snarled and said, “Move!”

Nadine leaped forward with me right behind her. I wondered if I could slug him as I stepped by, but he backpedaled out of reach. Maybe I could get him distracted and then I could make a play for him.

“So how’d you kill Nick?” I asked as we headed down the hall to a stairwell. Nadine opened the door and headed down. I followed, with Ken back far enough that I couldn’t trip him.

“When Nadine came home and told me about the policy, I saw my chance to get in on some cash. Of course she was her typical snide self and she insulted Nick, and after that, there was no way he’d forget about changing the policy, so I knew I had to act fast before he did. I figured I could start a fire to cover the murder, so I watched his apartment. I had to wait for a few days until there was a time when your girlfriend was with you, and that lady on the second floor was gone.”

I was halfway down the basement stairs, but I stopped to look back at him. “Why?”

“I didn’t want a triple murder on my hands.” He said it as if it was so obvious.

“Oh, that makes perfect sense,” I said sarcastically. “One murder, no problem. Two murders, maybe. But three? Now that would just be wrong!”

He glared at me, then continued. He was in a talkative mood. “One night, the opportunity presented itself. I went up to his apartment and knocked on the door. He was surprised to see me, but he let me in. I said I was there because Nadine had a question about one of their creditors, but she didn’t want to talk to him in person. When he turned around, I hit him with a wrench. Knocked him out. I started the fire to cover my tracks. Then you came along and screwed up my perfect plan.”

We’d reached the basement. It was unfinished, with concrete walls, exposed ceiling joists and insulation pressed between them. To our right, a pool table sat in the middle of the room, and a poker table with folding chairs was in the corner.

“To the left,” he ordered.

We ended up in an open room that had an old couch against one wall with a cheap coffee table sitting in front of it, folded cardboard boxes stacked in a corner, and other junk. I glanced around nervously. Plenty of fuel to help a fire burn well, if he was thinking of covering his tracks again. Nadine was on autopilot, not saying a word, her body listless.

“Your plan wasn’t so perfect,” I went on.
Keep him talking
. “You spilled accelerant.”

He glared at me. “You’re pretty mouthy.”

“Yeah, and you made mistakes.”

“What mistakes?”

“The spilled accelerant, for one.”

“Yeah.” He exhaled in frustration. “I thought Nick was out cold, but he jerked awake. Kicked the bottle of accelerant out of my hands. I had to hit him again and then I put him on the bed.”

“And the fire didn’t burn fast enough,” I said. “They still would’ve found out Nick had been murdered.”

He shrugged.

“How’d you burn your arm?”

He touched it. “Spilled some accelerant on my coat and when I started the fire, it ignited. Go figure.”

“Another mistake.”

His eyes flared.

Something else dawned on me. The person that night outside Willie’s house, and the eerie feeling I’d had when I came home from B 52’s. “You’ve been following me.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Once you started investigating things, I had to get you out of the way.”

“But what about bombing my car?” I cocked an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t kill me.”

He lips twisted into a crooked line. “Yeah, I had that bomb on a timer. I wanted it to blow up in the street, so it wouldn’t damage the garage.”

“You are such a thoughtful arsonist.”

I got another glare. He was trying hard to control his anger. “I’m not a pyromaniac, I just wanted you out of the way.”

“Sure,” I said. “But like I said, you failed, because I’m here.”

“Uh,” he pointed at me with the gun. “You’re the one about to die.”

Good point.

“But what about the policy?” I asked. “If you kill Nadine, you won’t get the money.”

His face reddened with anger. “Like
I
said, you screwed things up, and I can’t get the money now. And it’s time for you to pay for that.”

He jerked his head toward the couch. “Sit down.”

We shuffled over and sat down. Ken pulled some silver duct tape from his jacket pocket and handed it to Nadine. She looked at it, then at him.

“What?” she mumbled.

“Tape his hands, tight,” he said. He focused on me. “Hands behind your back. No tricks.”

I did as instructed. Nadine fumbled with the tape, but finally managed to wrap it around my wrists. I tried to leave some space between my wrists, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t move my arms.

“Now his legs.”

She looped tape around my ankles and I was securely trussed up. Ken grabbed my arm and yanked me to one end of the couch. Then he returned to Nadine and taped her up. When he finished, he stood back and surveyed his handiwork.

“That should keep you out of my hair,” he said.

“Darling, what are you going to doing?” Nadine whispered.

“Well,” he said too casually, “since this yahoo ruined my plans, and I can’t get the money anymore, I thought I’d have a little fun.”

“Fun?” She wailed. “How is tying us up fun?”

“This is just the start,” he said. “I’m going to set this house on fire. Only,” he narrowed his eyes at me, “this time I’m not going to make any mistakes. This place is going to burn to the ground.”

“I thought you weren’t a pyromaniac,” I said.

He moved like lightning, striking me with the gun. I groaned, feeling blood flow from my forehead. He bent down, his face in mine. “I’m going to enjoy watching this place burn, knowing you’re in here. Or maybe I’ll set you on fire first, let you feel the flames burning your flesh. Once your screams are finished, then I’ll set the house on fire. It’ll be the perfect fire. And you won’t be able to screw it up.”

Oops, I’d gone too far. He had crossed over, the lunacy evident in his demeanor.

“You don’t have to do this,” Nadine said.

He patted his coat pocket and pulled out a lighter. “Well, I don’t want to go to prison, so yeah, I kind of do.”

“They’ll find you,” I said.

“By the time they figure out you’re in here, I’ll be long gone.” He squatted down and checked the tape. Satisfied that I was secure, he stood up.

“Don’t try anything,” he said. “I’ve got work to do upstairs, but I’ll be back down in a little bit.” His eyes roved around the room and then toward the ceiling. “With a little help, this place’ll go up in flames pretty quickly.”

With that, he stalked away. We heard his footsteps thudded up the stairs and faded away.

“What now?” Nadine asked.

I was out of suggestions.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“This is just great,” she snapped a moment later. “I can’t believe you thought
I
would do all that stuff.”

“Ten seconds ago, you don’t know what to say and now you’re attacking me?” I flung back. I tried to pull my wrists apart, but only succeeded in causing a sharp pain in my shoulders. I sighed. She was right. She might be capable of knocking out Nick and starting the fire in his apartment, but how would she know how to set the bomb in my car? That was far less likely. I was too frustrated, and too tired. I was making mistakes, and it could cost me my life and Nadine’s.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly.

Nadine glanced at me. “What?”

“I should’ve known it was Ken.”

“So should I.”

Something thumped upstairs. He was moving around up there.

“You really know how to pick ’em,” I said.

“Shut up,” she muttered, then burst into tears. Not so femme fatale right there.

“Stop that,” I chided her. Blood ran into my eye and I leaned over and wiped my head on the couch.

“Oh, nice,” she said.

I ignored her. “We have to figure a way out of this.”

“How?”

“Can you move your arms or legs?”

She shook her head. “This tape is on tight.”

“Maybe we can pull it off.”

“Are you kidding?”

“It’s worth a try,” I said. I rolled over on the couch toward her. “Come on, turn around.”

She exhaled dramatically, then turned over so her back was to me. I sidled on down until we were back to back.

“Reach for the tape,” I said. I wiggled my fingers.

A second later, I felt her fingers touch mine. She groped around and found the tape.

“Try pulling on it,” I said.

“I’m trying,” she said with a whine.

She tugged at the tape. “Maybe if I can find the end…” Her fingers explored around, then she tried tugging again. “It’s no use,” she finally said. “I can’t get it.”

“Let me try yours.” I felt for the tape on her wrists, feeling like a blind man reading Braille. I ran my hands over the tape, feeling for the edge. I found it and tried to pinch it between my thumb and index fingers. “I can almost get it,” I muttered.

“Almost isn’t good enough.”

“Lay off me,” I growled. I kept at the edge but couldn’t get a grip on it. I cursed, then tried grabbing the tape and pulling.

“Ow!” she yelped.

I let go. “Sorry.”

“Oh, this is useless.”

The couch jarred. I cranked my head around and saw that she’d planted her face into the cushions.

Footsteps pounded above us.

“He’s coming back,” I hissed. “Get back where you were.”

She turned back around and I rolled to the other end of the couch. I was breathing hard as Ken came down the stairs and into the room.

“Everybody’s still here,” he said a little too cheerily.

“Where would we go?” I asked.

He studied us. “You look a little flushed.” He wagged a finger back and forth. “You two getting it on down here?”

“Oh please,” Nadine said. “With him?”

“Thanks a lot,” I murmured.

Ken watched us closely, then came and checked the tape. “Don’t try anything stupid.”

I wisely kept my mouth shut. He contemplated us for a second, then whirled around and left.

I looked around. “We need to cut the tape.”

“With what?”

My mind raced. I stared at the coffee table. “Maybe…”

“What?”

I sat up. “I need to stand up.”

“Huh?”

A banging sound interrupted us. We stared up at the ceiling. There it was again: Boom, boom.

“What’s he doing?”

We waited in eerie silence. Boom, boom. Then an acrid odor wafted down to us.

She crinkled her nose. “Is that gasoline?”

I nodded. “He’s poking holes in the walls.”

“What for?”

“He’ll put the accelerant in there. The house’ll burn faster that way.”

“Oh my god.”

“We’ve got to hurry,” I said.

I leaned forward and stood up, careful not to lose my balance. Then I hopped and turned myself around.

“What’re you doing?”

I now had my butt to the table. “I’m going to break the table.”

She sat up, curious. “What on earth for?”

“So I can get a sharp edge and cut this tape.”

I sat down hard in the center of table, putting all my weight into the fall. The wood cracked.

Nadine’s look was one of disgust. “I told Nick that table was trash,” she said.

I struggled to sit up. I bent forward and ended up doing a face-plant into the couch. Nadine muttered something unflattering, but I finally managed to get to back on my feet. I dropped again and the coffee table split in two, with me lying in the middle.

“Got it,” I said triumphantly.

“Oh, that’s brilliant.”

I ignored her and worked my way to one of the splintered ends of the table top. I got my hands somewhere over the splinters and raked my hands across. My shoulders stretched and burned. I couldn’t see what I was doing or if the effort had made any difference.

The pounding upstairs became more frequent. We glanced up in unison.

“Oh geez,” Nadine said. “Hurry. We’re running out of time,” she said. Snide had turned to frantic.

I worked at the tape again, trying a back and forth motion across the splinters. Something warm and wet ran down my palms, and my hands hurt. I’d cut myself. I steeled myself against the pain and shoved my hands back into the splinters. A jagged piece of wood poked into the tape and I sawed at the tape. Suddenly it gave, just a little.

The gasoline smell grew stronger. Ken would have this bonfire ready to go soon. We had to get out, and fast.

“Hurry!” Nadine said again.

“I’m trying,” I muttered.

I felt for the jagged piece and raked the tape across it again. The tape split wider and I pushed out with my hands. Not quite enough. I kept at it and the tape ripped an inch more. I pushed and pulled, my arms aching, and suddenly my arms separated.

“Got it!” I worked myself to my feet and sat on the edge of the couch.

“Get us out of here,” Nadine said.

The tape around my ankles was easier because I could see what I was doing. Sort of. I wiped again at the blood on my face, then started on my ankles. I found the edge of the tape and pulled at it, finally getting a piece to tear off. It took much longer than I would’ve preferred, but I finally freed my ankles. I stood up and looked around.

“What about me?” Nadine asked.

“Hold on.”

I stomped on the jagged edge of the table and broke off a large splinter. Using it as a knife, I crudely hacked at the tape on her wrists and ankles, and finally freed her.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said.

“You don’t have to ask me twice.”

I looked at one of the basement windows, high up on the wall. It was about two feet wide and a foot high.

“We’ll never fit through those.” I cursed, then turned to her. “We have to sneak out.”

“He’s going to burn my house down! I can’t just let him.”

“Better the house than us.” I grabbed her hand. “Come on.”

We made our way to the stairs and I held up a hand. I peeked around the corner and listened. I heard a couple of distant thumps.

“I think he’s on the second floor,” I whispered. “I’ll go up first and if it’s clear, we’ll make a beeline for the front door. Got it?”

She nodded, barely breathing.

“Let’s go.”

We tiptoed up the stairs. As we neared the basement door, I raised my hand and stopped. She bumped into me and I whirled around and glared at her.

“Sorry,” she mouthed.

I put a finger to my lips, indicating she should be quiet and I turned my head. Did I hear something or was it just the electricity in my nerves? After a minute, I continued to the door. I eased it open and looked around. If Ken was lurking somewhere, I couldn’t tell.

I stepped into the hallway, waited a second, then signaled for her to come on up. She joined me in the hallway and I pointed to the front door. We eased across the floor.

A
whump
came from somewhere upstairs. He’d lit the place on fire, and it was burning fast.

“He’s got this rigged to blow sky high,” I said. “Move!”

We made it to the end of the hall and the doorway was within reach when a banshee cry split the air. I turned halfway around, in time to see Ken launching himself at me. I raised an arm, but it was too late. He plowed into me, knocking me into Nadine. She crashed against the front door and slid to the floor, stunned.

“NO!” he screamed.

His fists pummeled me and I put up my hands to ward off the blows. I grabbed at him and got my hands around his neck. I squeezed and he made a choking sound, then kneed me in the gut. My grip loosened and he rolled away. I got to my knees as he scrambled to his feet and threw a roundhouse at me. I ducked and the blow hit me on the side of the head. He yowled in pain and I saw sparks in my vision. I became aware of flames at the top of the stairs, followed by heat. Somewhere behind me, Nadine moaned.

Ken roared with rage and kicked at me, but I deflected it and he tumbled backward. I pounced and landed on top of him. We wrestled and then he slapped me on the side of the head again and everything blurred. Another whoosh sounded, closer this time, and heat surrounded us. I blinked and fought to focus, aware that I might die in this ugly conflagration. Ken screamed again and swiped at me. I shifted left, then balled my hand into a fist and slammed it into his stomach. His breath came out in a rush and he staggered backward into the living room. Smoke grew thicker as I pushed myself to my feet. I suddenly felt lightheaded, and I swayed for a second. Around the edge of the room, yellow and orange licked at the walls. I shook my head, not sure if it was real.

Then I sensed movement to my left and I jumped toward Ken. I stole a look over my shoulder. Nadine was pushing herself up, using the front door as leverage. She righted herself, grabbed the doorknob, and yanked it open. The fire reveled in the oxygen. A harsh boom rocked us and the walls in the living room exploded. A blast of air hit me and I slammed into Ken. We ended up in a heap again. All around us were flames. I kicked at him and he scooted back. Then his arm suddenly burst into flame. More spilled accelerant? He screamed and waved his arm in terror, then rolled over, trying to put out the fire.

I got up and grabbed the big vase and threw it at the bay window. The glass cracked. I didn’t waste any time. I put up my arms and hurled myself into the glass. It shattered and broke, and I tumbled into the grass outside. Another explosion rocked me and I dog-paddled through the lawn, thinking of nothing but putting distance between me and the fire. Somewhere back in the blaze, I thought I heard Ken, still screaming. Or it might’ve been me.

Hands grabbed me. I fought for a second until it dawned on me that they were dragging me away from the heat, smoke and flames. I coughed and gagged, then rolled over.

“It’s okay,” a sweet voice said.

I looked up into Willie’s face. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she held my face. Behind her, Cal was staring down at me. And then I noticed the Goofball Brothers, hovering nearby, unsure of what to do.

“It’s going to be okay,” she repeated. She leaned down and kissed my sweaty, bloodstained face. “I love you, Reed.”

“I love you, too,” I croaked, my throat like sandpaper.

I trembled uncontrollably, aware of noise and people around me. And Willie holding me. It was nice.

I sucked in air as I stared back at the house. It was completely enveloped in flames, the inferno lighting up the night sky.

A thought crossed my mind. Ken had been right. It was a perfect fire.