He cocked his head.
She hurried on. “Unfortunately, my car’s in a ditch, and I could use some help getting it out.” Being forced to ask him for help was worse than her worst coughing fit, and she couldn’t leave it like that. “Or maybe I need to find someone with a little more muscle?”
He had more than enough muscle, and it was foolish of her to goad him.
He gazed along the road toward her car, then peered down at her. “I don’t think I like your attitude.”
“You’re not the first.”
His eyelids flickered in one of those facial tics she imagined psychopaths developed over time. “You have a strange way of asking for help.”
“We all have our quirks. How about a push?” Turning her back on him gave her the willies, but she did it anyway.
Dancer’s hooves struck the gravel as Theo trotted alongside her toward the car. She wondered if he’d started to believe Harp House was haunted. She hoped so. Ticktock goes the clock.
“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “I’ll help you if you help me.”
“I’d be glad to, except I have trouble cutting up dead bodies. All that bone.” Damn it! This was what happened when she spent too much time alone with her puppets. Their personalities took over.
Our personalities come from you, Dilly pointed out.
Theo pretended to look mystified. “What are you talking about?”
She backtracked. “What kind of help do you need?” Other than psychiatric?
“I want to rent the cottage from you.”
She came to a dead stop. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this. “And where am I supposed to stay?”
“Go back to New York. You don’t belong here. I’ll make it worth your while.”
Did he really think she was that stupid? She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
“I’ve never thought you were stupid.”
She picked up her steps, but kept her distance. “Why would I leave before my sixty days are over?”
He looked down at her, at first pretending to be puzzled and then acting upset, as though he’d finally remembered. “I forgot about that.”
“Sure you did.” She stopped walking. “Why do you want to rent the cottage? You already have more rooms than you know what to do with.”
He sneered just like Leo. “To get away from it all.”
I’d punch him for you, Peter said uneasily. But he’s awfully big.
He studied her Kia, then dismounted and tied Dancer to a branch on the other side of the road. “A car like this is useless around here. You should know that.”
“I’ll buy another one right away.”
He gave her a long look, then opened the car door and slid in. “Give it a push.”
“Me?”
“It’s your car.”
Jerkoff. She wasn’t strong enough to do the job, as he very well knew, but he kept her shoving away at the rear end as he called out orders. Only when she began to cough did he relinquish his spot behind the wheel and push her car out on his first try.
Her clothes were a mess, her face smudged, but he’d barely gotten his hands dirty. On the bright side, he hadn’t dragged her into the trees and slit her throat, so she had no reason to complain.
SHE WAS STILL THINKING ABOUT her encounter with Theo the next day as she hung her coat and backpack on the hooks by the back door of Harp House and exchanged her boots for sneakers. Just because he hadn’t tried to harm her physically didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it. For all she knew, he’d left her unharmed only because he didn’t want the inconvenience of a potential police visit caused by a dead female body washing up on the beach.
Just like Regan . . . She shoved the thought aside. Regan was the only person Theo had ever cared about.
She rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw Jaycie sitting motionless at the table. She wore her customary jeans and sweatshirt—all Annie had seen her in—but those casual clothes never looked quite right on her. Jaycie should be wearing flirty summer dresses and big sunglasses as she drove a red convertible down an Alabama road.
Annie set her laptop on the kitchen table. Jaycie didn’t look at her but said wearily, “It’s over.” She rested her elbows on the table and rubbed her temples. “He sent me a text this morning after he got back from his ride. He said he had to drive into town, and when he got back, we needed to talk about making another arrangement.”
Annie suppressed the urge to launch into a diatribe. “That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to fire you.” That was exactly what it meant.