The Edge

“Fred lied and said he’d agreed to give her half the inheritance even if she didn’t stay at Bing and Sons.”

“Screwing people runs in the family, I guess.”

“I saw you and Earl on film at Wilbur Kingman’s funeral service. Were you telling him that you knew he was the reason the boat sank and Kingman died?”

“Damn, Devine, you are good,” Bing said.

“It was actually the only logical explanation.”

“Wilbur let Earl pilot the boat while he was fixing some gear. The idiot got mixed up in the fog, hit the throttle, and ran ’em right into that shoal.”

“But how did you find out?”

Bing coughed up more blood, and the pace of his conversation started to noticeably slow. “The day before the funeral Earl went to Bing and Sons after the viewing was over and confessed his guilt to a corpse. The recorders were on for some reason, so my family got his confession on tape and told me about it. At the funeral I told him we knew, just in case I ever needed something from him. And boy, did I.”

“Fred also killed Bertie Palmer in a hit-and-run. He’s repairing the vehicle in the garage back at the house.”

“They told me that Alex had some sort of fit while she was with Bertie, and named Freddy as her rapist. Bertie went straight to Françoise to see if this was possible. I mean, she had no proof, only what Alex said during the seizure.”

“So Françoise tells her brother what happened with Alex, and Fred takes care of Bertie?”

“Yep. Then they waited to see if another shoe dropped, but it didn’t happen. Freddy didn’t want to kill Alex. He was still head over heels for the chick.”

“But fifteen years ago you killed Steve and Valerie.”

“They tried to blackmail the Bings. So I took care of that, too, and got Franny to look the other way on the autopsies. And now here I am bleeding out. No more beach, no more golf. Life sucks.”

“And Earl?”

“Dude was going to crack and tell all. We gave Earl a beddy-bye shot beforehand. Françoise made sure no tests would be run that might have detected it.” Bing belly-laughed and then ended up whimpering from the resulting pain.

“Then you found out about the polymer casings showing up? That was when the little band of killers fell out.”

“Harper texted me. He had no idea I was up here, of course. Then I knew the little shits were setting me up to take the fall.”

“So you confronted your niece and nephew and...?”

“And the ungrateful little assholes got the drop on me.”

“And they tied you up in the secret room, put you on the drip to sedate you, and were probably deciding how best to dispose of you?”

“But they didn’t factor in that I’ve taken a lot of painkillers in my time and built up resistance, and I’m still strong as shit. Françoise came in to give me another dose of happy juice. I played dead but I’d gotten my hands free and turned the tables on her. She cut me with a knife but I got the upper hand. She told me what I needed to know and then I wrung her little neck, drove her to a secluded spot, dragged her there, and pitched her on the rocks. Then I headed here. Freddy came out of nowhere and shot me when I was searching the place for him. Hell, he was probably aiming at something else and hit me.” He coughed for another stretch and said in a rattling, hollow voice, “Now, I’ve answered a lot of your questions. Answer one of mine. How did Jenny figure things out?”

“Satellite imagery Jenny dialed up from back then. Only she figured you for it because of the police car in the picture. I thought that initially, but then I realized there was no way a careful guy like you would take a police car to rape someone. And Alex lived. You would have made sure she was dead. And there was an image of the Palmers looking surprised as they passed the cruiser. They wouldn’t have been if you were driving. They hadn’t found Alex yet, you see. But they saw Fred driving it, not you, that’s what surprised them.”

“The little asswipe went joyriding in it like some big shot, saw the gal of his dreams all alone, and did what he did. Then he didn’t have the balls to finish the job.”

“Where are Fred and Alex?”

“If I were you, I’d check the crematorium. He probably wants to get rid of the evidence. And blame it on me.” He hacked one more time, at the absolute limits of the human body. “Fuck, this hurts.”

The next instant, Bing came up with his own painkiller solution of all solutions.

When the shot was fired, Devine snatched up his phone, kicked open the door, and saw the big man sitting against the far wall with most of his face missing.

Next instant Devine was running for the crematorium.

Chapter 81

Alex awoke suddenly and slowly looked around, feeling groggy and out of sorts.

The room was large and filled with specialized equipment. The smells were bitter and unpleasant, and the sounds both erratic and ominous. She tried to sit up but something was holding her down. She saw the ropes around her. She tugged against them but they were too tight. She laid her head back and turned to the side.

And saw him hard at work.