Page 54 of The Perfect Revenge
"Trust me.I investigated.I'm sure.The only reason I didn't say anything was because it might have voided the life insurance, and then I wouldn't have the resources to get away from that skank and her beta boy husband."
There was an edge in his voice that Hannah had never heard before.And though she could empathize with his pain, she didn’t love his tone or his words.
“Do you want to talk about something else?”she offered.
“Sure,” he said, fiddling absently with something on the ground behind his backpack.After a moment, he pulled it out.It was a handgun.“I brought this by the way.You never know what you’re going to run into out here.”
Hannah felt unease wash over her.No camping list she’d ever made included a firearm.The fact that he hadn’t mentioned it until now was almost as unsettling as the fact that he had it.
“Wouldn’t bear spray do the job?”she tried to joke.
“You wanted to talk about something else,” he said, ignoring her comment.He sounded strangely nervous.“Let’s talk about how a man can work passionately to accomplish a goal only to have it upended by some hateful whore.”
“Dallas,” she said, trying to keep the judgment out of her voice, “I get that you went through something very painful.But I’m not sure how constructive it is to talk about your mom like this.I thought you wanted to change the subject.”
"Oh, Iamchanging the subject,” he insisted, running his finger along the barrel of the gun.“I’m not talking about my parents anymore.I’m talking about someone else, a truly great man whose dream was cut short before he could accomplish it.”
“Who are we talking about then?”she asked.
The way he was lovingly fondling the weapon was making her as nervous as he sounded.She stood up, trying to change the dynamic and shake him out of whatever this emotional spiral was.He looked up from the ground.It was almost too dark now to see much of anything, but in the shadows, he appeared to be grinning.
“I’m talking about Mark Haddonfield, of course.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
For a second, Hannah wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.
“Who?”
“You know, Mark Haddonfield, the Clone Killer.The man who tried to teach your sister a lesson.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“I don’t know if you think this is funny or something, but I can assure you that it’s not.”
“I’m not trying to be funny, Hannah.”
Her disbelief was turning into anger.Had she misjudged Dallas that badly?Was the guy just some poser who was trying to get into her pants because she was part of a tabloid true crime story?
“Whatareyou trying to do?Because if you thought this was the way to win me over, you’ve seriously miscalculated.”
“I’m not trying to win you over, bitch!”he shouted.“I’m here to finish what he started!”
His voice echoed through the hills.Hannah stared at him.He was still sitting down, caressing the gun.But even in the darkness, she could see that his grin had turned into a sneer.
In that moment, it all became clear to her.Dallas Henry was a Mark Haddonfield fanboy.She remembered Jamil trying to parse the identities of the people who had sent Haddonfield adoring letters.One was supposedly college age.She remembered the phrase that had made his letter stand out.
“Tip of the spear,” she whispered.
“That’s me,” he said.
The clouds blocking the moon briefly parted, and she saw him stand up, the gun in his hand.Even as she sensed the danger she was in, she kept talking, partly to solve the puzzle and partly to keep him engaged.
“You didn’t just happen to enroll at UC Irvine, did you?”
“Once I found out you were there, I had to really apply myself academically so I could join you.”
“And you became a Psychology major so we’d be in the same classes and my guard would be down when you approached me.”
