its black water choppy with wind and rain, its reflection of the city lights a dark kaleidoscope.
“Let her go!” Bennie advanced slowly, her gun raised. “This is between you and me.”
“Stop!” Alice moved farther backwards, out of the security light and into the shadows beyond. “One more step and she’s dead!”
“If you hurt her, you’re dead!” Bennie left the light, blinking rain from her eyes, and followed Alice onto the pier.
Suddenly, the security light went off, plunging them all in total darkness. She could see Alice and Judy only in silhouette, against the fog of the sky and the brightness of the opposite shore.
“Stop or I’ll kill her!” Alice shouted, but the time for talk was over.
Bennie raised her gun, aiming at the silhouettes in the black and the rain. She was a decent shot but couldn’t take a chance, not yet.
In the next instant, there was a scuffle on the dock.
A gun went off, and Judy screamed.
And all hell broke loose.
Chapter Ninety
Alice was dragging Judy off when all of a sudden, the girl kicked her in the shin with her clog.
The gun fired, and the bullet found its target.
Judy screamed, and hot blood spattered everywhere.
Alice shoved her off the dock, sending her over the side, her arms pinwheeling. The girl screamed all the way into the darkness until she hit the water with a splash.
Alice tore down the dock in the rain, the messenger bag thumping at her side. She heard shouting behind her. She heard another splash. She knew what it was. Bennie had gone after the kid. She’d save Judy rather than catch Alice. They all would. Fine with her.
She ran harder. She spotted another pier to the right. She could run that way and double back to the Boulevard. But the cops would be searching there in no time. Her heart was pounding, her chest hurt.
She was almost at the end of the pier, which pointed at the dark water like a finger.
She ran to the very end, took a deep breath, and jumped into thin air.
Chapter Ninety-one
Mary screamed, anguished. She ran to the pier, tears streaming down her face. She reached the spot where Judy had gone over the side and almost fell in looking for her in the gloom. Grady caught her from behind and stopped her.
“Stay back!” he shouted, but Mary was hysterical.
“She got shot! Alice shot her!”
“I know, calm down. Bennie’s down there! Stay here! I’ll go!”
“Grady, help!” Bennie called from the depths, her frantic cry drowned by the rain.
Grady dove into the blackness beside the ship, disappearing.
Mary heard a splash. She kept watching. She could make out three heads below in black water.
“
“Oh, Ma. It’s Judy. Judy, Ma.”
“Oh, no,
Fiorella stood behind them, soaked. “Your father ran to the restaurant to call 911.”
“Thank God.” Mary tried to control herself, hanging on to her mother like a little girl, not sure who was comforting whom. She looked down, watching the heads in the water, scared to death.
Then she heard her mother praying and joined her.
Until the sirens came.
Chapter Ninety-two
Bennie kept Carrier afloat by treading water and holding her under the arm on one side, with Grady helping on the other. Still the girl had lost consciousness. Her head fell back, her eyes closed, and her mouth flopped open, her jaw slack.
“I got her!” Grady shouted. “You okay?”
“Yes!” Bennie shouted back. Rain fell everywhere. Sirens sounded far away. She didn’t know if they’d get here in time. It didn’t look good. “What should we do? Can we get her up, on land?”
“Don’t see how!” Grady looked up. “Too damn high.”
Bennie could see that Carrier was losing blood. She patted her cheeks, trying to keep her alive, but her skin had taken on a terrible pallor. “Stay with us, girl! Stay with us!”
The sirens grew closer, and there was a new sound, the rumbling of an engine, coming from out on the water. Bennie looked downriver. Two police boats were speeding toward them, cutting through the storm.
“Look, help!” Grady shouted.
“Swim to them!” Bennie and Grady kept a hold on Carrier and swam away from the pier, stroking past debris, floating oil, and rotting fish. The current flowed stronger mid-river, and they struggled to stay above water.
“Help! Over here!” Grady waved frantically.
“Help! Help!” Bennie hollered.
Mary and the others screamed to the police boats from the pier. Sirens blared closer. Red lights flashed as cruisers hit the Boulevard.
“Thank God!” Grady shouted, joyful.
Bennie could see they were losing Carrier. Her eyes fluttered open, then rolled back in her head, the whites looking sightless at the sky. Rain fell mercilessly on her upturned face.
“Help!” Bennie shouted, wishing, now more than ever, that she had killed Alice.
But her gun was probably on the bottom of the river, and Alice had vanished into the storm.
Chapter Ninety-three
Alice swam against the wind and storm. The chop slapped her in the face, rain poured onto her head. She swallowed a gulp of gritty water, then spewed it out. Police boats sped toward the pier but they were already well behind her. She was getting closer to the Jersey side, swimming hard.
The river reeked, and plywood floated by with a nail sticking up. She felt something slither around her leg and kicked it off. Oil dotted the surface of the water. Gunk stuck in her teeth, tasting disgusting.
The current pulled her downriver. She fought it, keeping the bright lights of the Camden waterfront to her left, trying to swim straight. Her heart pounded, water chilled her skin. Her messenger bag weighed her down, too heavy to float. She kept putting it back on her shoulder, pulling it along by its strap as she swam.
She glanced back. The storm grayed her view. She could see the flashing red of a police cruiser. They’d gotten there quick. They’d look for her first on land.
She swam harder, her thoughts churning. The money had already been transferred to the Bahamas. All she had
