Page 93 of Boss

Kassidy opened her mouth to speak, and then Daniel’s head exploded. Blood sprayed everywhere. His dead body dropped on her. Kassidy screamed and kicked him off her. She kept screaming.

44.

“Stop, stop, look at me damn it!” Tarek grabbed her by the face. “Look at me. You’re okay. I swear, sweetheart. You’re okay.”

She threw her arms around Tarek’s neck, relieved to be alive. He drew her up against him. He held her tightly to his chest. She wept against his shoulder as the trauma of seeing two men die ruptured her brain.

“He wanted to kill me. Daniel wanted to kill me. Why? Why?”

“I don’t know. But I plan to find out. He helped her stand. They helped each other. Together they dragged and limped to the front door. Once outside of it she saw how badly Tarek was breathing.

“You need medical attention.”

Tarek dropped the shotgun. Kassidy picked it up. She helped him down the steps to the car. Tarek leaned against the car and Kassidy opened the door. She looked inside.

“Damn it! The keys.”

“Who was driving?” Tarek wheezed.

“That investigator you hired. Cash. He was behind the wheel.” Kassidy looked back to the barn. “I need to go get the keys. You stay in the car. I’ll come right back.”

“No. No.” Tarek said. “We go together.”

“What? Tarek, you can’t make it.”

“I can. Listen to me sweetheart. We need to get our stories straight. We get inside we call the police.”

“How?” she asked.

“Cash has a cell phone. We’ll go inside and call the police and bring them here. And then you say nothing. Let me handle the rest.”

“But?”

“Let’s go,” he said.

Kassidy had no choice but to do as he asked. They went as slow as her frozen bloody feet, and his haggard breathing would allow.

“Cash and Daniel. They wanted something from you. What was Daniel talking about, Kassidy?” Tarek asked her. “What is this thing Cash asked you for?”

Kassidy swallowed. She hadn’t thought to tell him the truth of what she stole from Havarti. After all they’d been through she still she found it hard to confess. She wanted his trust, wanted him to have faith in her. What he think of another lie between them?

“Kassidy?”

“I found a USB drive in Bill Havarti’s office. I didn’t know what’s on it. I swear. I later found out it was account numbers. Wire transfers.”

Tarek looked over at her shocked. “Who did you give it too?”

“No one. Well actually I gave it to Daniel and he said it was useless and gave it back to me.”

“Did he make a copy of those account numbers? Did he?”

“No. That’s why he wanted it back from me. He didn’t have it. Daniel was desperate. You heard him. You saw him.”

They started again toward the barn door, but it was his turn to go weak. He had to stop. The room swam in his head and his vision blurred. Before he lost consciousness he told Kassidy the story she was to tell the police officers. She listened to him and repeated the plan verbatim. When he was certain she knew how to handle the cops he felt a sense of control return. Kassidy let him go near a stall door. He slumped to the ground. The pain in his chest was unbearable now. He couldn’t make another step if he wanted too.

“Cell phone. Go get it,” he told her.

“Okay,” she said. He was reluctant to let her go. But again his head felt heavy and fiery hot. The only relief he felt was when he closed his eyes.

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