True Evil

into her waistband at the small of her back, and hurried into the hall.

Andrew Rusk stopped the elevator one floor short of his office. He wasn't about to drag a hysterical Thora Shepard past Janice. Besides, he no longer felt safe discussing anything sensitive in his office.

When the doors opened, he smelled sawdust. Several walls had been knocked out on this floor, where a remodel was in progress. Hoping to find some privacy, he marched Thora down the hall, but a guy with a ponytail was patching drywall in the area he'd hoped to use. Looking around, Rusk saw that Ponytail was the only workman in the area. He dug out his wallet, handed a C-note to the workman, and said he needed twenty minutes with the lady. Ponytail grinned and headed for the elevator.

Rusk walked over exposed concrete to a tall window, then turned and spoke to Thora with all the pent-up frustration of the past hours.

'What the hell has gotten into you, lady? Have you lost what little mind you have?'

'Fuck you!' Thora shouted, shaking her forefinger in his face. 'You told me this was safe! You told me nothing could go wrong. You remember that, you cocky bastard? But something has gone wrong. Chris knows everything!'

'That's impossible.'

Her eyes blazed. 'You think so? He called me, you stupid prick. He said, ‘I might be dead in a year, but you're dead, too.' He also said I'd never see Ben again, because I'd be in prison. How does that make you feel, Andy? Does that wipe the smirk off your face?'

Rusk tried not to show how deeply her words had disturbed him.

'You have to call it off,' Thora insisted. 'That's the only option.'

He started to explain why he couldn't do that, then stopped himself. He couldn't tell this woman that he had zero control over Eldon Tarver. 'You're right,' he said. 'Of course we'll stop it.'

She burst into tears. 'I can't believe this. Any of it. What am I going to do? What can I possibly tell Chris?'

'Nothing.' Rusk stepped closer to her. 'He can't prove anything. He's getting all this from an FBI agent who's already been fired. It's going to be okay, Thora.'

'You think I believe that? What the hell do you know about marriage, anyway?'

A lot more than most people, Rusk thought wearily.

'I have to tell him something!'

Rusk shook his head with deliberation. 'You're not going to tell him anything. You're not going to tell anyone anything.'

Thora's despair reverted to fury in a heartbeat. 'Don't tell me what I'm going to do! I'll do whatever the hell I decide to do. I was crazy ever to listen to you.'

'That's not what you said after Red Simmons died and made you a multimillionaire.'

She looked like she wanted to cut his throat. 'That's ancient history. We're talking about Chris now. Listen to me. I'm telling you to call whatever scumbag does this stuff for you and cancel my contract. Right now! You're not going to get another cent from me anyway.'

Rusk grabbed her arms and let her glimpse the fear behind his eyes. 'Before you start making threats, you should know a couple of things. First, you can't hurt me without hurting yourself. But that's really not the point. The person who handles these jobs is an extremely dangerous man. He has no conscience as you know it, no compassion. You should think of him as a very efficient machine. And if you upset that machine by doing something as insane as refusing to pay his fee, you will incur his wrath. Now…' Rusk tried to get hold of himself. 'If your husband really suspects the truth, I'll do what I can to stop what's been set in motion. But you will do nothing. If my partner had witnessed your behavior today, you would already be dead. No one would ever find your body, Thora. The only mother Ben would ever know would be the next woman Chris marries.'

She stared wildly at him, seemingly torn between the tangible fear of having her sins discovered and the theoretical fear of being murdered herself.

'When you look at me,' Rusk said softly, 'don't see me-see him. Do that, and you just might live through this.'

Thora's eyes jinked back and forth like a strung-out addict's. But after a time, she started blinking like a woman coming out of a seizure. 'What am I supposed to do?' she whimpered. 'Where can I go?'

'You can stay in my office for now. But you can't say one word about any of this within those walls. My office may be bugged. Break that rule, and I'll hand you over to my partner. Are we clear?'

Thora wiped her mascara-stained cheeks. 'I don't want to stay here. I want to see my son.'

'You can't. Not yet.'

'Bullshit! I haven't broken any law.'

Rusk gasped in amazement. 'You hired someone to kill your husband! Twice!'

She laughed like a child discovering a lie that would get her out of trouble with her parents. 'I consulted a divorce lawyer. No one can prove I did anything else.'

'You've already paid me a million dollars!'

Cool arrogance descended like a curtain over her eyes. 'I followed the investment advice you gave me. That put a million dollars under your control. If anyone looks at that deal, it'll look like you stole the money. Stole it and bought rough diamonds.'

Rusk was speechless.

'You're like every other goddamn contractor I deal with, Andrew. It's easy to guarantee your work. What's tough is honoring your guarantee.'

He looked past her to make sure that Ponytail hadn't returned. If anyone heard this conversation…

'Now,' Thora said, her voice utterly composed, 'I'm going to ride downstairs and go back to my old life. You are going to make sure that nothing happens to my husband. But if something should-or if even one policeman rings my doorbell-I will hang your ass out to dry, Andrew. Are we clear?'

Rusk's mind was spinning. This woman had no clue to the reality of the situation. There was no going back to her previous life-not for her or anyone else. Thora Shepard was one of those beauties who had slid through life without any mud sticking to her, no matter what sins she committed. She thought she could do the same thing now. But sooner or later-probably sooner, given the escalation of surveillance by the FBI-someone would lock her in a small room and turn up the heat. And she would crack like a china doll.

'You need to see something,' he said. You delusional bitch, he added silently. He stepped around a pile of Sheetrock lying across three sawhorses. 'Let me show you why you can't just go back to your old life.' He nodded toward the window, then offered to escort her with his arm. She looked contemptuously at the arm, but she did walk to the window.

'Do you see those men down there?' he asked, stepping over Ponytail's toolbox.

'Where?'

'There, on the corner. And on the steps across the street. See him?'

Thora splayed her hands on the window. 'The guy reading the newspaper?'

'Yep. FBI. The woman, too. The jogger.'

Thora's mouth opened. 'How do you know?'

Rusk looked over his shoulder, back through the metal studs of the new office. 'I have contacts at the Bureau.'

'But why are they here? How much do they know?'

'I don't know yet. Do you see any other likely agents?'

As Thora stood on tiptoe, he bent and lifted a claw hammer out of Ponytail's toolbox. Something shifted in the box as he rose, and Thora turned at the sound, but by then Rusk was already swinging. The head of the hammer smashed through her skull above the ear, deeply enough that he had to yank hard to free it. She tottered on her feet, then fell, blindly trying to shield her face. With all the repressed terror of being caught coursing through