Merton said, “We’re wasting time. He’s stalling.”
Chris looked at him. “You moved his car out of sight, right?”
Merton nodded.
“And we took the battery out of his phone. Relax. There’s time.” He turned back toward Adam. “Don’t you see, Adam? Your wife had deceived you. You had a right to know.”
“Maybe,” Adam said. “But not from you.” He felt his right wrist start slipping through the chain. “Your friend Ingrid is dead because of you.”
“You did that,” Merton shouted.
“No. Someone killed her. And not just her.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The same person who killed your friend also murdered Heidi Dann.”
That made them all stop. Gabrielle said, “Oh my God.”
Chris’s eyes narrowed. “What did you say?”
“You didn’t know about that, did you? Ingrid isn’t the only murder victim. Heidi Dann was shot and killed too.”
Gabrielle said, “Chris?”
“Let me think.”
“Heidi was murdered first,” Adam continued. “Then Ingrid. And on top of that, my wife is missing. That’s what your revealing of secrets got you.”
“Just shut up,” Chris said. “We need to figure this out.”
“I think he’s telling the truth,” the long-haired guy added.
“He’s not,” Merton shouted, hoisting the gun up and pointing it back at Adam. “But even if he is, he’s a threat to us. We have no choice here. He’s been asking questions and searching for us.”
Adam kept his voice as steady as he could. “I’ve been searching for my wife.”
“We don’t know where she is,” Gabrielle said.
“So what happened, then?”
Chris stood there, still stunned. “Heidi Dann is dead?”
“Yes. And maybe my wife is next. You need to tell me what you did to her.”
“We didn’t do anything,” Chris said.
The wrist was almost free. “Like you said before, start at the beginning,” Adam said. “When you blackmailed my wife, how did she react? Did she refuse to pay?”
Chris turned and looked at the long-haired man behind him. Then he turned back to Adam and knelt down next to him. Adam was still working his wrist free. He was close. Of course, what would he do then? Merton had taken a step back. If he grabbed Chris, Merton would have plenty of time to aim the gun.
“Adam?”
“What?”
“We never blackmailed your wife. We never even spoke to her.”
Adam didn’t understand. “You blackmailed Suzanne.”
“Yes.”
“And Heidi.”
“Yes. But your case was different.”
“Different how?”
“We were hired to do it.”
For a moment, the pain in his head was gone, pushed out by pure confusion. “Someone hired you to tell me that?”
“They hired us to find lies and secrets about your wife and then reveal them.”
“Who hired you?”
“I don’t know the name of the client,” Chris said, “but we were hired by an investigation firm named CBW.”
Adam felt something inside of him plummet.
“What is it?” Chris asked.
“Untie me.”
Merton stepped forward. “No way. You ain’t going—”
Then a gunfire blast shattered the room. And Merton’s head exploded in blood.
Chapter 52
Kuntz had gotten the address of Eduardo’s garage from Ingrid.
He sat on it and waited. It didn’t take long. Eduardo had driven up through the mountains and over Dingman’s Ferry Bridge. Kuntz followed him. When Eduardo arrived, the skinhead wannabe was already there. That would be Merton Sules. Then the woman showed. That would be the one named Gabrielle Dunbar.
One more to go.
Kuntz stayed hidden. As he did, he spotted another man creeping through the woods. He had no idea who the man was. Had Ingrid forgotten to mention him? Not likely. By the end, Ingrid had told him everything. She had told him everything and begged for death.
So who was this guy?
Kuntz stayed still and watched the setup. He saw Merton hide behind a tree with a baseball bat. He saw Gabrielle stand in the clearing and draw the man out. He almost called out a warning when he saw Merton sneak up behind the man, the baseball bat raised. But he didn’t. He needed to wait. He needed to make sure they were all here.
So he watched Merton swing the bat and connect with the back of the man’s head. The man staggered and fell. Merton, probably unnecessarily, hit him again. For a moment, Kuntz thought that Merton’s intent was murder. That would be strange and interesting. The group, according to Ingrid, was completely nonviolent.