Page 50 of Final Cost

“Where’s Winwood?” I ask, the only thing I can think of to say.

He tips his head toward the side of the desk. “Over there. He had a little mishap.”

I don’t want to look. But I force myself, turning my head slowly so I have time to brace myself. And what do I see? Winwood stretched out on his back, eyes closed with a widening pool of red behind his head and a bloodstained paperweight nearby on the floor.

Then I hear something that terrifies me and thrills me. Lucien’s voice calling from the hallway. “Tamsyn? Is that you?”

I want to shout a warning. Tell him to run. To save himself. To call the police.Something. But there’s no time and it’s already too late. Lucien appears in the doorway, grinning at the sight of me. Until he sees the look on my face and all his pleasure dies. “What’s wrong?”

Daniel answers for me, gesturing at the floor. “You’re just in time, Lucien. Winwood had a little accident.” I watch in absolute horror as Daniel reaches behind his back and withdraws Winwood’s pistol, which he’d evidently tucked into his waistband. He clicks off the safety, then pumps a round into the chamber before casually lowering it to his side and focusing on us. “So careless of him to drop his pistol, don’t you think?”

20

Tamsyn

All the colorleaches from Lucien’s face as he swiftly scans the scene, his expression cycling through disbelief, sudden comprehension and veiled alarm. Anger comes last. His attention lingers on Winwood, the gun and the distance between me and each of them. Then he flashes a warning look at me—Do nothing; let me handle this—and reins in his temper as he faces Daniel. I see the effort it takes for Lucien to control his rage in the straining cords of his neck as he swallows hard and in the muscle that pulses in his temple.

“What’s going on here, Daniel?” he says, his voice perfectly calm. Perfectly reasonable.

“We’re having a discussion, Lucien.” Daniel matches his tone, but there’s a hint of a nasty smile hovering around his mouth. Of triumph. “We’re clearing a few things up. Evidently, Winwood reappeared with some theories that he was happy to share with Tamsyn. I happened to overhear the tail end of their theories. Now here we are.”

“Okay,” Lucien says. “What happened to Winwood? You skipped over that part.”

Daniel shoots a disinterested glance at Winwood. “I decided it was best if I neutralized Winwood before he caused me any more problems. He’s not the kind of guy you want coming after you.”

“Indeed,” says Lucien. “You seem like a man with a lot on your mind. I’m back now. Why don’t we let Tamsyn go and you and I can talk and clear things up.”

A brief sneer from Daniel. “This is the problem with you, Lucien. You think you’re the Lord of the Universe, but you’re not. There is nowe.You’renot in charge of the situation.Iam. Let’s get that straight.”

“Fine,” Lucien says with an easy shrug. “Why don’t you let Tamsyn go.” He pauses.“Please.”

A hearty laugh from Daniel. “Full marks for manners. But Tamsyn’s not going anywhere. I have the feeling you’ll be much more cooperative while she’s in the room. No one quite holds your attention like Tamsyn does, do they? Not even your late wife.”

Lucien’s mouth twists. I get the feeling he’s waging another epic battle with his temper. “You want to talk? Let’s talk. Why don’t you bring me up to speed?”

Daniel looks at me. There’s no humanity in his expression. He’s at absolute zero. The realization makes my stomach clench with fear. “Why don’tyoustart, Tamsyn. Tell Lucien why Winwood showed up tonight. I wasn’t here for that part.”

I take a deep breath, but my voice still shakes. “Winwood admitted to having sex with Ravenna the night you kicked her out of Ackerley. He’d planned to review the security tapes to see what they revealed about her activities, then hand them over to the police. But when he realized the tapes had been doctored, he stole them and disappeared because he didn’t want to take the fall for murdering Ravenna. He’s been hiding in a neighbor’s house nearby while he recovered the lost footage.” I pause, shooting a wary glance at Daniel. I don’t want to piss him off with this recitation. He’s clearly capable of things I never imagined. But he’s watching me with all the patience in the world. So I continue. “The missing footage showed thatDanielwas the one who let Ravenna onto the estate the night of the fire. And it also showed them kissing.”

A bark of derisive laughter from Lucien. “I see.”

“When I saw the footage of Daniel’s car, I realized that I’d seen a car like it before,” I continue. “I saw it on the footage of the gas station from you driving near the beach, the night Ravenna was killed. Daniel’s car also drove in that direction.”

Lucien’s shocked to gaze swings back to Daniel, who raises his shoulders in awhat can you doshrug. Then Lucien looks back at me. “Got it. Anything else?”

“Yes. I found a picture of Ravenna with one of her dresses upstairs. It was from three years ago. Daniel was in the background looking at her as if he wanted to swallow her whole.” Some wicked impulse prompts me to poke the bear. Just a little. “But it didn’t seem like Ravenna noticed him at all.”

Daniel’s mouth spasms. “There you go, Lucien. You’re up to speed.”

Lucien stares at him long and hard, making no attempt to hide his dawning horror. “Is this true?”

Daniel widens his stance, tapping the gun against his thigh, his finger on the trigger. “That I loved your wife? Yes.”

A wave of revulsion knocks the shock off Lucien’s expression. “Since when?”

“Since the second I saw her when you brought her home to Ackerley,” Daniel replies, and he doesn’t say it so much as he hurls it.

Lucien nods as though he knew it all along. I get the feeling a lot of puzzle pieces are dropping into place for him. I know they are for me. “So you were, what? Having an affair with her? My whole marriage?”

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