Betrayed 2(243)

I said, “I don’t understand.”

“This one, the one you’re sleeping with.” She tapped the fingernail to Rick’s photo and left it there. “I believe the other two were following his orders. He was responsible for your fiancé’s death, Miss Duval, and now you’re fucking him. It makes me wonder, were you in on the murder, too? I know your fiancé had a sizable life insurance policy. Did you conspire with The Wright Brothers to kill Brent Griffin? Because that’s the way it looks to me and I’m pretty sure the D.A. will see it the same way.”

“No… I would never… I loved Brent…”

“You’ve got a damn funny way of showing it,” she said, her voice filled with disgust.

That did it.

My resolve broke and my eyes slowly lowered to Rick’s mugshot. I couldn’t believe that he had anything to do with Brent’s murder. I had convinced myself that it wasn’t possible. Rick was a good man, regardless of what she was saying. Or was he just good at deceiving stupid women who fell for his charms hook, line and sinker?

She picked up the pen and took off the cap, then leaned into the table. “Miss Duval, I’m going to give you one chance to make things right, for the sake of Brent Griffin, a man you once claimed to love. If you had anything to do with his death, or if this is just one huge coincidence, you have one chance to come clean. Otherwise, you’re going down with the rest of these pieces of shit.”

I wiped my eyes on the back of my hand and took a deep, shuddering breath. For Brent’s sake, I said, “I just wanted to kill them all…”



RICK



Chunk was behind the wheel of the panel van he had stolen for the Crown job. It was pale blue when he stole it from a Wal-Mart parking lot two days ago. Now it was white with a fake license plate and a City Electric magnet on the side.

I was in the passenger seat. Eddie, Ronnie, and Pete were in the back. Dottie was sleeping peacefully in Barstow at the Motor Inn. Sandy was probably at home. Waiting for my call.

The plan was for Chunk to drop us off at the curb in front of Crown’s, then remain behind the wheel with the motor running, parked half a block down. Me, Eddie, and Ronnie would go inside. Ronnie would take out the security guard with a stun gun and Eddie would watch over anyone that happened to be inside. I would force old man Crown to hand over the diamonds. Pete would stand watch on the sidewalk and alert us if any trouble headed our way.

We had to be in and out in less than three minutes because that was the average response time for LAPD in this part of town. Any longer and our chances of getting caught increased exponentially.

I had one firm rule when we were pulling a job that involved people. No guns. Ronnie had the stun gun, Eddie and I had the telescopic steel batons; neither of which were considered a deadly weapon by the state’s legal system. The reason I did not allow guns on a job like this was the amount of time you’d serve if you got caught in the act of robbery with a deadly weapon.

Get convicted of robbery with a gun in your hand and the minimum sentence was five years and the average was fifteen.

Get caught with a stun gun or a baton and you’d be out in twenty-four months; eighteen with good behavior.

Eddie always said he could do eighteen months standing on his head.

I’d never been in jail, but I imagined it wasn’t as easy as Eddie let on. Nothing ever was.



We sat down the block for half an hour, watching people and traffic come and go. Crown’s was relatively quiet. No one had gone in or come out in the last half hour. I looked at my watch. It was 4:30. Dottie had told me the armored car always came at 5 o’clock on Friday. Old man Crown usually spent a couple of hours getting the shipments ready in a locked back room, meaning the diamonds would not be in a safe. Ronnie could crack a safe, but not in three minutes, which was all we had. I had yet to find a locked door I couldn’t put my foot through in a couple of seconds.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said. I looked over my shoulder and made eye contact with Eddie. “Everybody be cool, do what you’re supposed to, and we’ll be in and out in no time.”

Chunk pulled out of the parking space and stopped directly in front of Crown Jewelers. Me, Eddie, and Ronnie pulled our black ski masks down over our faces, put on black latex gloves, and made it from the van to the store’s front door in three seconds. Chunk pulled away and Pete stood casually on the sidewalk outside.

We came through the door so quickly that the guard barely had time to react before Ronnie shoved the stun gun into his meaty neck and knocked him out cold. Ronnie took the guard’s gun and emptied the rounds from the chamber, then slid the gun back into its holster. He pulled the guard’s hands behind his back and zip-tied them.