Page 83 of The Lady Has a Past

“Shit, Joe, there’s smoke. We gotta get out of here.”

The old, sun-faded curtains were going up fast now. The smoke was thickening. Behind the door, Raina waited, clutching the picture frame.

Joe stirred. His eyes opened partway. He struggled to sit up.

“Pete, you gotta help me,” he gasped.

Pete finally moved. He lurched out of the doorway and went toward Joe.

“What about the woman?” Pete said.

“Never mind her. Just get me out of here. This old house is a tinderbox.”

Raina did not hesitate. This was as good as it was going to get. With luck the men had left the keys in their vehicle.

She used both hands to hurl the picture frame in the general direction of Pete and Joe and then she bolted out from behind the door and ran into the hall. She paused to glance right and left, spotted the staircase, and rushed toward it.

She was halfway down the stairs, moving so fast she had to keep one hand on the railing to ensure that she did not fall, when a third man appeared. He wasn’t wearing a mask, either. He had a gun in his hand.

Billingsley. The owner of the hotel. He had come out of his office to welcome her and hand her the key to room two twenty-one.

“You’ve ruined everything, Kirk,” he said. “I should never have agreed to the deal. Guppy and I had such a sweet game going. But thanks to you and that bitch, I’ve got a fucking disaster on my hands.”

She froze. He knew her real name, the one she had been using since she had stopped being Mrs. Malcolm Whitlock.

“Boss.” Pete appeared at the top of the stairs, half dragging the barely conscious Joe. “She set the fucking house on fire.”

“What’s wrong with Joe?” Billingsley said.

“I think she hit him with a picture frame.” Pete started down the stairs, his movements hampered by his burden. “Let’s move. This house is old. A lot of the wood is rotten.”

“Leave Joe,” Billingsley ordered. “Get the woman.”

“What?” Pete looked confused. “Why? She’s the one who set the fire.”

“She’s our ticket out of town if someone tries to stop us,” Billingsley said. He motioned at Raina. “Get down here. Move or I’ll kill you where you are and leave you behind with Joe. In fact, now that I think about it, maybe killing you here and now is the best way out of this thing. The fire will take care of your body. They might never find it, and if they do, they won’t be able to identify you.”

“Wait, don’t shoot her, not yet,” Pete yelped. “You might hit me.”

There was a thump on the stairs. Raina glanced back and saw that Pete had abandoned Joe and was leaping down the stairs to get to the bottom before Billingsley pulled the trigger.

Even if she reversed course and made her way back up the stairs, she would be trapped by the fire.

That left only one reasonable option. She would try to fake a stumble at the bottom of the stairs. If she managed to collide with Billingsley, she might get another chance to get out the front door.

“Don’t shoot,” she said. “I’m coming down.”

“Hurry,” Billingsley snapped. “You’ll live as long as you cooperate.”

Pete plunged past Raina. When he reached the bottom of the stairshe headed toward the front door. Billingsley ignored him. He motioned with the gun.

“Move, you stupid woman,” he roared.

Luther spoke from the shadows of the downstairs hall beneath the stairs.

“Freeze, Billingsley. Youmightlive, but only if you drop the pistol.”

“Fuck.”Billingsley whirled toward the sound of Luther’s voice and fired three shots in rapid succession.

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