“Gary, stop it.”
“You’re the worst girlfriend in the history of the world. You’re taking Trin’s side against mine. You have no idea what she is. She wants me dead. I have to kill her before she kills me. It’s self-defense.”
Dominique sighed. “You could leave her and declare bankruptcy. They couldn’t come after you for the money.”
“Nope. Believe me, I thought of that. But I checked everything with a lawyer, and I’d still be screwed.”
“Let me guess. That’s what Tom Klepper said.”
“Of course.”
“Tom is nothing but trouble. He’s the creep who steered you into this lousy deal with Trin’s family in the first place. Maybe there is some way out of the deal, but Tom’s too stupid to find it.”
Gary shook his head. “That’s your problem. You don’t trust people. Tom’s a great guy. He’s just not much of a lawyer compared to a sociopath like Zachary Amberson. That’s why Trin has been able to stomp all over me. The devil’s got her back.” Gary lifted his glass in a toast. “To everybody getting what they deserve.”
“You sure that’s what you want to drink to, Gary?”
He clinked his glass against hers and took a long drink. “I knew I’d never be able to keep the truth about what I was doing from you, babe. That was the real reason I didn’t want to see you. I thought I’d be able to get rid of Trin and the coast would be clear for us.”
“Oh, really? What about you and your new girlfriend?”
Gary frowned at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dominique leveled her eyes on him. “It means that I know all about your little blonde pal. You know, the one who looks like a slutty cheerleader.”
“What are you talking about?” Gary looked and sounded genuinely baffled for a moment, until that familiar sardonic smile crept across his face. “You’ve been screwing around with someone else, haven’t you? So you’re going to try projecting the blame on me. Nice try, babe.” He took a drink. “Not going to work, but nice try.”
“I haven’t been seeing anyone else.”
“Sure.”
“Don’t play innocent with me! You kicked me out of your condo.”
“I had no choice about selling it. That was my only asset. How the hell do you think I financed this?” He waved one hand. “What do you think I used to hire those guys? They don’t work for peanuts.”
“This?” Dominique looked around the kitchen. “Seriously? If that’s true, you’re a bigger fool than I thought. How was the plan supposed to work? Why are we at this house? Why here?”
“This house is expendable. Max was going to shoot Trin in the head, and her houseboy if he was along for the ride. Then he was going to bring their bodies here, and we’d burn the house down. We couldn’t do that in the Hudson Valley—that house would take forever to burn, and too many people would see it. The fire department would take care of it. But here, in the middle of nowhere? The house would burn down and all the forensic evidence would be gone with it. Bye-bye, CSI.”
Dominique closed her eyes. She felt queasy, understanding the method behind Gary’s madness. “So we were going to run from the house, like we’d escaped the kidnappers, and Trin and Costa hadn’t?”
Gary nodded. “Don’t you feel the least bit, just the teeniest bit flattered, that I want to kill my wife so I can marry you?”
“Nana used to have this saying, ‘What a man will do with you, he’ll do to you.’” Dominique set her glass down. “That’s what comes to mind.”
“Well, you’re wrong. I’d never do this to you. I’d never do this to anybody but Trin.”
“Yeah, I kind of get the sense it’s mutual.”
Gary leaned forward. “Don’t tell me you called her.”
Dominique grimaced. She expected him to explode in a rage, but he just put his head in his hands. “You’re killing me here. I’m dating Pollyanna. If you didn’t have such a bad temper, you’d be a saint.”
“I’m saving your ass, too,” Dominique shot back. “I didn’t tell her what you did. You two can go back to your Cold War tomorrow.”
“You never got to meet Atlas,” Gary said. “You would’ve liked him. He definitely would’ve liked you.” Gary rubbed his forehead. “He was my mom’s dog, a Jack Russell terrier who couldn’t help but get into trouble all day long. But he was also the sweetest thing.” The edges of his mouth quivered, and he looked almost wistful. “After my mom died, Atlas moved in with me, which meant he also moved in with Trin, and that… that was a disaster. He liked to chew on things. Like shoes. And he got into one of Trin’s closets and… well, let’s just say the results weren’t pretty.”
“I see where this story’s going.”
“No, you don’t. Maybe you’re thinking she made me get rid of Atlas, but that’s not what happened.” He cleared his throat. “One day, I came home and Atlas was gone. Just… gone. Trin’s apartment is huge, so I looked for him, then figured he was napping somewhere. I asked Trin, and she said she hadn’t seen him. A while later, I got back to looking for him. Nothing. He’s the world’s friendliest dog, so I knew something was wrong. I keep looking, I ask the doorman if Atlas could’ve gotten out. No one’s seen him. Then, he suddenly shows up in the middle of the living room.”
“Where had he been?”
“The taxidermist’s. Trin had him killed, then had him stuffed.”
Dominique’s breath escaped in a little whoosh. “No. No one would do that.”
“She did. She called it a gift. She said he was old and decrepit and how wonderful it would be, now that I could enjoy him forever.”
They were both silent for a minute.
“The worst part was I promised my mom I’d take care of him. Then
