Page 74 of Worse Than Wicked
“How do you want us to avenge you?” he asks carefully, pushing up his glasses.
“You know how.”
“You want me to kill him.”
“What did he do to you?” Duke asks.
“You know what.”
I look away from them both, up at the canopy of glossy oak leaves shading us, not able to bear their eyes on me when Iknow what they’re thinking. They know what sort of thing he did to me.
“I think every man I set up deserved it,” I say. “I don’t regret a single one of them. But Iknowhe deserves it, and he’s still walking around free.”
Baron makes a noncommittal noise, looking thoughtful. “And how would we go about that?”
“It was easy enough with my grandfather.”
“That was an accident,” Duke says.
I open my mouth to correct him, but Baron frowns at me, and I close it again. Duke needs to believe that the same way he needs to believe that if he can make my body respond, then I want it.
“I told you, we can’t just leave dead bodies all over town,” Baron says. “People will notice it happened when we came back, and the FBI will have a solid case when they realize that people also died in Tennessee when you were there, and a guy disappeared in Maine, even if they never found a body. His wife reported him missing.”
“And Jane,” Duke says.
“She’s a variable too,” Baron says, nodding. “Though there’s no police reports that match the description of what we did to her, and no Jane Doe has been found in the area.”
“So, Jane disappeared from here, but she wasn’t reported missing, so that doesn’t count,” I say slowly. “And one old man died of a fall. I don’t think it’s enough for the town to get suspicious yet. I think we can afford one murder.”
“One murder can put you away for life,” Baron points out.
“Maybe we don’t have to do the killing,” I say. “Maybe the Black Widow Killer will do it for us.”
“He’s still following you?” Duke asks.
I shrug. “Only one way to find out.”
Baron watches, eyes intense behind the lenses of his glasses. At last, he nods. “We can set up a trap. It should be easy enough, using your old methods. If they’re still watching you, they’ll see what you’re doing and follow your teacher like they did your other victims.”
“They weren’t victims,” I say. “They were predators.”
Neither of them argue. They don’t say, “We’re predators too.” They don’t think of themselves that way. They don’t consider that I’ve taken them off the streets as much as the other men. The only difference is, they’re alive. But as long as they keep their promise to me, they won’t harm anyone else.
Baron opens his laptop, and we set up my new profile. I’ve always simply gone into a male space and dangled myself like bait, and the creeps swarmed. This time, we’re hunting with purpose. As if he can sense the shift, Seeley Boots comes trotting back across the lawn and hops up into my lap. I pet him while I watch Baron cast a line. To my surprise, he slides the laptop in front of me.
“You want me to lure him in?” I ask.
“You’re the expert,” he says, and I can tell by the way he’s looking at me that he’s impressed by my skill. He’s probably the only man alive who would like to know his girlfriend possesses that ability, but that only makes me glow brighter than his praise did.
I take the laptop and start working while Baron watches with a mixture of curiosity and pride. Duke swings one foot back and forth lazily until Seeley takes notice and stalks over. He crouches low, watching the enticing motion. At last, he launches himself, pouncing on the moving object. Duke yelps when the cat sinks his teeth and claws in, scrabbling for purchase as Duke howls and tries to shake him loose.
I can’t help but laugh.
Duke dumps out of the hammock, and Seeley shoots off across the yard while his victim hops around on one foots, cursing and casting me grievous glances.
“That cat’s a menace,” he says, stomping past us and through the back door. “It ought to be put down.”
“One could say the same about you,” I say lightly, still grinning as I type in all the things I know Mr. Harris will love to hear.
