“I don’t know anything about blackmail,” Viv said. If Helen was setting up Robert to blackmail him, why was her husband having Marnie follow her?
“‘I don’t know anything about blackmail,’” Robert said snidely, mocking her. “That’s a likely story. You’re so innocent, right? You just sit behind your desk and watch a man like me get fucked—and I don’t just mean in bed. You watch Helen and her husband pull a number on me like it’s a TV show. ‘Here’s the scene where she lures him to the motel. And here’s the scene where someone takes pictures of them.’” His expression changed as an idea occurred to him. “Who took the photos? Those fucking photos of me and Helen that were sent to my goddamn office? It was someone at this motel, wasn’t it?” He took another step toward her. “Maybe it was even you.”
Viv shook her head. She’d had it wrong. She’d thought that Helen was the one being investigated, that she would lose her marriage and her easy life. But Helen and her husband must have arranged it. They must have arranged the photos for blackmail. If they were running some kind of con, that was why they’d used an intermediary to hire Marnie—to keep Marnie in the dark.
Viv wasn’t about to give Marnie away. Not to anyone, and certainly not to this enraged man. “I didn’t take the pictures,” she said, her voice coming out surprisingly calm.
He was still coming closer to her. She could only back up so much before she was in the office, and she wasn’t sure she wanted him in the office with her. “Those photos got sent to my office,” Robert said. “My assistant handed me the envelope. For God’s sake, she’s worked for me for a decade. If she’d seen what was inside, my career would be finished—which is what Helen wanted, isn’t it? For my assistant to see the photos and the blackmail letter.”
Viv put her hand on the frame of the office door. She might be able to duck back inside and close the door on him.
“But that wasn’t good enough, was it?” Robert continued. “Not for greedy Helen. No, she had to call my wife and tell her I’m cheating on her. My goddamned wife. I came home to find her in tears, and when I told her it wasn’t true, she didn’t believe me. She’s moved into her sister’s house and taken our kids with her. All because of a fucking phone call.”
He was livid. Viv felt the chill of fear go down her spine. I made that phone call, she thought. It was me. She hoped her thoughts didn’t show on her face. She felt like they were floating in the air, the words easy to read. She pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t speak.
“I’ve got her goddamned money,” Robert said. “She told me to meet her here in room one-twelve. But you say she isn’t here. Why wouldn’t she be here to collect her paycheck? That’s what this whole thing was about, right? Helen has to be here. Unless you’re lying, you little bitch.”
He was fast. She thought she had time to duck, but she didn’t. Robert grabbed her wrist in a hard grip and yanked her forward, pulling her off-balance. He pushed her into the vinyl siding of the motel, shoving her wrist into the middle of her chest and jerking her like a doll. The back of Viv’s head knocked against the wall. She opened her mouth, but Robert already had one hand over her throat, his grip strong and male, willing to do anything.
“Don’t scream,” he said.
Viv gasped as his grip tightened just a little.
Robert’s eyes looked into hers. They were hard with fury. He didn’t look like a normal, rational man. He looked crazy.
“Tell me the truth or I’ll kill you,” he said.
Viv felt her breath saw in her throat. “I don’t know anything.”
He squeezed a little, his fingertips digging into her flesh. “You think I won’t kill you? You think I can’t? There’s no one here, bitch. I can choke the life out of you and leave you in the parking lot.”
She had left her knife in her purse in the office. Six feet away, but it might as well be on planet Mars. She was never making that mistake again. “Please don’t,” she said.
“‘Please don’t,’” he said in that mocking voice of his. “You’re pathetic. The more I look at you, the more I know that you’re covering for her. She was too afraid to meet me in person, wasn’t she? She knew how angry I’d be. She knew I’d hurt her. So she sent you instead. What did she promise you? A cut of the money? She’s a lying bitch. She doesn’t intend to give you a penny. You’re as stupid as I was. It would probably be a mercy to strangle you right now.”
“You’re wrong,” Viv managed. She had to convince him. She had to get out of his grip, get to her knife. If she could get to her knife, this would never happen again. “You have it all wrong. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
There was the hum of a car motor, and headlights appeared on Number Six Road. The approaching car slowed, and Viv realized that even through the rain, she and Robert were clearly visible under one of the motel lights, Robert with one hand on her wrist and the other on her throat, pinning her against the motel siding. Whoever was in the car could see them.
She opened her mouth to shout for help, then realized that the person in the car was Helen.
For a second, their eyes met. Robert squeezed Viv’s throat, and she gasped for breath. His back was to the road,
