“Look up,” he said.
When she did, the black eye of his rifle barrel was pointed between her eyes.
“I’m going to enjoy this.” His breath, smelling of rot and infection, rolled over her. His eyes, blue and malicious, gleamed with vivid rapture. In slow motion, he wrapped his finger around the trigger. “You’re sweating, Sheriff Kwinault.”
“You should be sweating, too.” Kateri breathed. Just breathed. If she was going to die, she would first put the fear of a god into John Terrance. Today, he would see the frog god. Putting aside her fear, she placed her palms flat on the floor. She looked past the end of the rifle into Terrance’s eyes and called on the Lord of the Deep.
Terrance took a step backward. “What’s wrong with your face?”
Kateri knew what he saw. The cold green gaze of the frog god looked out of her eyes.
His finger tightened on the trigger.
Kateri prepared to die.
Then … salvation! Lilith loomed behind him, raised Edgar Allan Poe’s raven over her head and slammed it down on his skull.
Kateri ducked.
His bullet whistled past Kateri’s cheek.
Lilith slammed the bird down again.
John Terrance fell to the floor, bleeding and unconscious.
Lilith hit him again. And again. She shouted at him, “You think you can kill her? You piece of crap, not while I’m around. She’s a pain in the fanny, but she’s my stupid, lousy sister.” She kicked him in the ribs, lifted the raven again.
Kateri raised her hand. “Wait!”
Lilith paused. Her hair was mussed. She had a livid, growing bruise on her cheekbone. And she was clearly, absolutely outraged. She kicked John Terrance’s inert body again. “If anybody’s going to kill her, it’s me. Goddamn it!”
Kateri staggered to her feet. Her knees were shaking. Her hands were shaking. She laughed too loudly. “You’re going to have a black eye!”
Kateri didn’t know it was possible, but Lilith got madder.
She turned on Kateri and stalked toward her like a cat stalking an eagle.
Kateri sobered. She caught the raven and pried it out of Lilith’s fingers. “You win. I’ll give you the marriage certificate.”
In a disconcertingly smooth assembly, Lilith pulled herself together. She smoothed her hair. Smiled tightly. “Very sensible of you.”
With four words, she made Kateri want to fight her again. Kateri turned away, toward the sprawled, inert body of John Terrance. She needed to restrain him … she searched at her belt, but she didn’t have cuffs on her.
Honest to God. She didn’t have her cuffs with her. She didn’t have her pistol on her. She wasn’t holding her staff … from now on, she’d be armed and ready no matter where she was, even in church, even in her own house, even …
Lilith continued, “You will have to come to Baltimore for the reading of the will.”
Hostility prickled along Kateri’s nerves. She swung back to face her sister. “Why?”
“You’re a beneficiary.”
Kateri’s temper crackled. “I told you. I don’t want that man’s money.”
“Oh, grow up! Your father was rich. It’s purely an accident of birth, but you might as well get some benefit out of it!”
Kateri opened her mouth.
Lilith cut her off before she could say the first word. “No! Don’t give it to charity!”
Kateri shut her mouth. Was she that transparent that Lilith knew what she’d intended to say?
“Spend it on yourself. Get some decent clothes. Spiff up your office.” Lilith saw Kateri’s scorn and went in for the kill. “Buy a house so your darling Lacey will have a fenced backyard.”
“Oh.” A house. Now that was temptation. Kateri knew just the one. Small, old, but well kept, close to downtown, backyard big enough to plant a few tomatoes and let Lacey run free.
“See?” Lilith was triumphant. “It only took the right incentive to turn you into the same greedy bitch as your sister.”
Carefully, Kateri set the raven on the coffee table. She stepped close to Lilith. She pulled her service 9mm semiautomatic.
Lilith’s eyes grew wide.
So Lilith was smart enough to be afraid.
Slowly, Kateri released the safety, pointed the firearm over Lilith’s shoulder …
… At the bloodied John Terrance. That murderous bastard sat up and raised his rifle.
Holding center mass, Kateri squeezed the trigger.
The detonation blasted, echoed.
John Terrance’s chest exploded. Twice. The force of the bullets threw his arms up, pushed him back against the wall.
Kateri stared, not understanding. Two kill shots? But she’d shot only once.
“Katherine!” Lilith gasped and pointed toward the front door.
Pistol raised, Kateri flung herself around.
Stag Denali stood there, lowering his rifle. “I would have come in sooner, but I hated to interrupt the family reunion.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
WELCOME TO VIRTUE FALLS
FOUNDED 1902
YOUR VACATION DESTINATION ON THE WASHINGTON COAST
HOME OF THE WORLD FAMOUS VIRTUE FALLS CANYON
POPULATION 2487
The July 4th weekend had begun. The day was warm, the sky was clear and Virtue Falls’s sidewalks thronged with happy, sunburned tourists and smug, prosperous locals.
Kateri walked along Main Street, headed downtown toward Town Square Park. She wore a black sheath designer dress topped by a short-sleeved black jacket. Her black flats shouted expensive. Her hair had been cut and styled within an inch of its life. She wafted Chanel No. 5 Parfum Grand Extrait in fragrant waves behind her.
Dressed in his signature tailored black jeans and starched white shirt, Stag Denali swung into place beside her. “Been back long?”
“Came here right from SeaTac Airport. Got in town about five minutes ago.” And he’d found her right away. That pleased her more than it should.
“I see your sister took you shopping in Baltimore.”
“Dragged me.”
“That afternoon in your house … I thought you were going to murder her.”
“I wanted to. So badly.” Kateri lifted her hand and waved fondly at Moen, who stood across the street, staring at her with his mouth open. “She did save my life, and in retrospect I enjoyed seeing her swing that precious antique raven at Terrance’s skull.”
Stag grinned. “I wish I’d seen that. Every time you tell the story, I think it’s more awesome.”
With innate practicality, Kateri added, “Also, I wasn’t sure we weren’t going to get killed, and I didn’t want to go into the afterlife tangled up with her.”
“Very sensible. You look good.” He leaned close and took a deep breath. “Smell good.”
She wanted to begrudge Lilith the effort and embarrassment of shopping, but he was right. She did look good. “I clean up well.”
“You look better naked.”
He was a sweet talker. “You would know.”
“Why don’t you take your hair down?” He poked at the stiff creation with his index finger. “You resemble your sister when it’s fixed like that.”
“Don’t be mean.” Kateri gingerly touched the upsweep fashioned of her own long, dark hair. “It’s going to take an hour to pull out the pins and wash out the hair spray.”