Page 123 of Still See You Everywhere

“I don’t think you’re a killer,” I say at last.

A grimace crosses his face. “You don’t know anything.”

I study him again, trying to slow down the moment, buy me some time to think. “You could’ve taken out Marilee. You were close enough to put a bullet through her brain. But you didn’t.”

He doesn’t answer, his face once again contorting in a wave of emotions. “In case I need a copilot in order to leave,” he allows at last.

“You could’ve taken out Charlie—”

“He pointed a shotgun at me!”

“Exactly. You fired in self-defense. You’re no killer. A gambling addict, bad friend, and sex predator, maybe, but not a cold-blooded murderer.”

“I’m not a sex predator!” Now he’s offended.

“Leilani is only seventeen.”

“Please, she came on to me. And it’s not like I’m her first. I’m the one saving her.”

“From MacManus?”

“Exactly!”

Damn, she’s good.

“Why isn’t she with you, Brent? Shouldn’t she have run to your side by now? I mean, if you’re truly in this together.”

“She has her own job to do.”

This catches my attention. “And what is that?”

“Where are Mac and Lea? Tell me!”

I continue as if I haven’t heard him: “I’m assuming Keahi is here to kill MacManus. Which makes you what, the backup band? You know she’ll slit your throat the minute she’s done with him. She didn’t break out of prison just to share her sister with someone else.”

“She won’t. She needs me to get off this atoll.”

“I’m sorry. She’ll slit your throat the minute you three touch down in Honolulu.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I don’t need her to get off the atoll.”

“Ah, the classic double cross. You wait for Keahi to butcher MacManus, then you shoot Keahi. Does Leilani know about this little plan?”

He smirks, and suddenly I get it. The realization nearly rocks me back on my heels.

“That’s what Leilani wants? She organized all of this to kill her sister? But why? The good state of Texas was going to do that in a matter of weeks.” Then, in the next instant I realize the answers to my own questions. “But this way she gets to use Keahi first. No one will question an escaped serial killer taking out MacManus, or for that matter, a dozen people on a remote island. Leilani’s wielding her sister like a weapon. And once that weapon has served its purpose… Damn, that’s brilliant. Sure this is the woman you want to spend your forever with? I’m thinking she’ll take that until-death-do-us-part promise much more literally than you.”

“Shut up. Just shut the fuck up. You have no idea—”

“Did you see what Keahi did to Jason? Were you there while she carved him up? How much did he scream before she was done?” Just saying the words churns my stomach. But they turn Brent positively green, the pistol now trembling in his hand. He did see. And it was as horrible as it sounds.

“You’re not a killer,” I repeat softly.

“But I am!”

“No. Marilee is still alive. I’m here for the first aid kit. We need some kind of needle thingy to fix her collapsed lung. Let me get it for her. She can still be your copilot for the flight home.”

He just stares at me, lips pressed into a mutinous line. In his silence, I recall the other terrible happenings on the atoll.

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