Page 66 of Twin Jeopardy

Vince glanced at Tammy. She was pale, but calm. Strong. “Let Tammy go and I’ll do whatever you want,” he said.

“Let her go right to the sheriff? I don’t think so. No, you two are the buy-one-get-one special today.” She shoved Tammy onto the sofa. “Sit down over here beside your girlfriend, and we’ll talk about what happens next.”

Vince sat. He wanted to keep her talking. As long as she was talking, she wasn’t shooting. And every word bought a little more time for the sheriff and his deputies to figure out that Elisabeth was V. She had shot her boyfriend and come after him and his family. “Why did you shoot Mitch?” he asked.

“I’ve already explained everything to your girlfriend. He was in the way of what I needed to do. Is he dead yet? I figured if the bullet didn’t finish him off, the fall into the canyon would.”

“He’s alive,” Vince said. “He’ll tell the cops everything.”

Tammy let out a whimper. Valerie glared at her, then turned her attention back to Vince. “By the time they find me, it will be too late,” she said. “I know how to change my appearance and my name and melt into the background. Paul taught me all that.”

“Who is Paul?”

Valerie sighed. “Again, I’ve already told Tammy. I don’t like repeating myself. He’s the man who saved me when myfamilythrew me out.”

“He was the camper you saw?” Vince guessed. “The one with the blue tent?”

“Again, you’re smarter than I thought. And a hero to boot, climbing mountains and descending into canyons to save complete strangers. That surprised me when I found out. You were always such a coward. Too bad you didn’t try harder to save me.”

He started to reply, but Tammy squeezed his hand, hard. A warning not to upset Valerie by arguing with her? He squeezed back, letting her know he got the message. “That was you in the casino in Omaha, the time Dad saw you, wasn’t it?” he asked.

“He told you about that, did he? I heard he came snooping around the next day, looking for me. But the manager had a thing for me, so he didn’t mind saying he didn’t know anything about me. I told him the guy asking questions was a creepy old man who was hassling me.”

“Was it you who made those phone calls—the ones saying ‘Help me’ and asking for Daddy?”

She looked away. “I don’t want to talk about that anymore. Stand up, both of you.” She motioned with the gun. “Time to get this show on the road.”

They stood.

“Oh, isn’t that sweet? You’re holding hands. But don’t think the two of you are going to get the better of me. I’ve had lots of time to think about this. Now, get into the bedroom and take off all your clothes.”

He and Tammy looked at each other with a mixture of shock and confusion. “Get going,” Valerie ordered. “It’s not like you two haven’t seen each other naked before.”

They went into the bedroom. “Clothes off!” Valerie barked. “Quit wasting my time.”

Vince sat on the edge of the bed and began unlacing his boots. Slowly. Instead of sitting beside him, Tammy moved to the other side of the bed and took off her earrings. Good idea. The more space between them, the more difficult it would be for Valerie to watch them both at once.

Boots off, Vince turned his attention to removing his belt. He weighed it in his hand, wondering if he could use it as a weapon.

The gunshot was deafening in the small space. He jumped up and saw that Valerie had fired into the mattress. “The next one will be right in her chest if you don’t get moving,” she said, pointing the gun at Tammy.

He draped the belt over the headboard, then moved more quickly, shucking his jeans and socks, then peeling off his shirt, until he was standing in front of her in his boxers. “That’s enough,” she said. “I can always strip the body later.” She turned once more to Tammy. “You lie down on the bed. Vince, you tie her up with those scarves.” She indicated two scarves draped around the bedposts. “One hand to each bedpost. And do a good job.”

Tammy remained standing, also in her underwear. “Why have him tie me up?”

“I’m setting the scene. Vince, depressed over the loss of his dear little sister, kills himself. But first, he kills you. After subjecting you to kinky sex.”

Valerie’s love of drama hadn’t changed. But he didn’t see any way out of doing what she wanted. He believed her when she said the next bullet would be for Tammy.

Tammy lay back on the bed. “Sorry about this,” Vince said, as he knelt beside her and picked up one of the scarves.

I love you, she mouthed, and he nodded, unable to get out any words past the lump in his throat. He tied her wrist to the bedpost, not too tight but in what he hoped was a convincing knot. Then he moved to the other wrist.

“Comfortable?” Valerie asked. She moved to check the wrist Vince had just tied and made a tsking sound. “As I suspected, not tight enough. Just for that, you’re going to get an extra bullet, Vince.”

The teasing tone she used enraged him. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she bent over the knot, the pistol balanced awkwardly in her right hand as she used her ring and pinkie fingers to hold the scarf in place as she tightened the knot.

He left the other wrist untied and grabbed hold of the belt. The heavy buckle hit Valerie hard on the cheek, drawing blood. She juggled the gun and it went off, but the bullet hit the wall. Tammy yanked her hand away and rolled off the bed, landing hard on the floor. Meanwhile, Vince had lunged, both hands around the wrist that held the gun, until he succeeded in wrenching it from her. But she knocked it from his hand, and it fired again as it hit the floor.

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