Shiver(106)
Aidan grabbed Genie by the arm and pulled her up and out of the snow. “I don’t give a shit who you are. Why did you take Fox?”
“I want the gold. Since Earl is dead—thank you for that by the way—I figure I’m the closest thing to his wife so the gold belongs to me.”
“This is twisted,” Raven said.
“You don’t know twisted, honey, until you’ve slept with a Harte.” She glanced between Raven and Aidan and laughed. “But then I guess you do, don’t you?”
Aidan gave Genie a hard shake. “Where’s Fox?”
“How the hell should I know? He left me here.” She gestured wide to the trees. “Ran off and left me to die.”
“You kidnapped him.” Raven advanced. “You killed his dog.”
“Had to. The mutt was after us, plus getting rid of the dog put your kid in line. Guess you spared the rod with that one, didn’t you?”
“You bitch.” Raven slapped her across the face and pointed the gun at Genie, her finger pressing the trigger.
“Raven,” Aidan said, his voice low, calming. “Fox first. You can take care of her later.”
Raven forced herself to relax her grip and lowered the gun a few inches. “Last chance. Where is my son?”
“I told you.” Genie’s tone was shrill, her hand holding her cheek. “He went off that way, into the trees.”
“Aidan, do we have anything to tie her up with?” Raven asked, advancing closer to Genie.
“Hey,” Genie complained.
“It’s either that, or I put a bullet in your head.”
Quick as a cat, Genie grabbed the gun from Raven and pointed it at her. “I don’t think so. Throw the rifle over there or this bitch gets it.”
“Shoot her, Aidan.”
But Aidan complied with Genie’s demand, dropping the rifle to the snow.
“You shut up.” Genie waved the gun at Raven. “I’m sick of your mouth. This whole plan has gone to shit because of you. I’ve been watching. I know what kind of woman you are. And they call me names.”
“You’re the one who hit me over the head,” Aidan said, as the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together. “You ransacked the cabin and my rental?”
“Looks as though Fox’s smart genes came from his daddy. Bingo. I’ve been trying to get you out of that shithole this whole time. But then she’d show up and either nurses you back or pisses you off into staying.”
“You set the fire to the woodpile.”
“Wasn’t that brilliant?” Genie chuckled. “Can’t live in a place with no heat. Not in Alaska. That should have given me plenty of time to search Earl’s place.”
“But Roland showed up,” Aidan said, obviously trying to get the anger and attention off of Raven and onto him.
“There he was bragging to me that any day now he was going to be flush and how Mexico looked real good this time of year. No mention of me going with him. And I had been satisfying his every fantasy. Even some he didn’t know he had.”
“Let me guess. You were adding drugs in with the sex?”
Genie scoffed. “Yep, you’re definitely the brains of the family. The bastard caught on to what I was doing.”
“Is that why you killed him?”
“It was easy. Killing a man like Roland should have been harder. For you it would have been, you did put a bullet in your own father. Roland was sure pissed about that.” A sick smile crossed her hard lips. “Men don’t think women have the balls to do what needs to be done. I shimmied up to him, playing all nice promising him all kinds of sexual favors if he’d let me partner up with him. The idiot actually laughed at me. You should have seen his face when I stuck him with my knife. He’ll never stick me again. Get it? Stick me again?” She giggled, and the sound of a little girl coming out of the hardened prostitute sent a chill up Raven’s spine.
“Yeah, I got it,” Aidan said. “So what’s your plan now?”
“Well, I gotta get rid of you two. Your brat should be done for soon, if he hasn’t frozen to death before now.”
A sound of distress escaped Raven, even though she’d tried not to bring attention to herself while Aidan kept Genie busy with her vent-fest. Now Genie focused more on her, the gun level with Raven’s heart.
“I figure, with the three of you gone, no one will have the slightest idea that a woman was behind all this. They should have the gold packed into your rental shortly, and then I’ll just drive off with it. Smart of me to get you men bending over for me for a change.”
“There’s something you haven’t counted on.”