“I didn’t—” She inhaled as the blade broke skin.
“One sound and I will cut you. Deep this time, whether I slice you or throw it at you. Do you understand?”
“What do you want with me?” Her voice wavered, but she had to keep him talking while she thought of a new plan. The front door was the best candidate.
“You ruined everything.”
Charlie being here made no sense. He should be running. “I was just doing my job.”
He shoved her against the couch and she fell deep into the cushions. Before she could bounce up again, he sat on the coffee table across from her. A second later he held her wrist in his grasp with the knife hovering right there.
He tapped the flat side against her skin. “Mark was supposed to disappear, but you had to go looking.”
“Yes.” She tried to pull away, but Charlie only tightened his hold.
“I told you Mark was blowing off steam and to let it go.” Charlie shook his head and treated her to an annoying hum. “You never listen.”
“But you killed him.”
“That was the deal.” He waved the knife in front of her face this time. Back and forth. “Pay off the mortgages and in return I helped Tony with a little problem.”
“Mark was a human being, not a problem. And Perry. Was he just an afterthought?”
Charlie made a face as he stood up. “So many questions from the spoiled little rich girl, but I’m not going to play along. I’m not one of the men you have wrapped around your finger, like your daddy and Joel.”
She watched Charlie move around her apartment, touching photographs and stopping at the front door to hit the lock button. The system chirped and the red light came on.
As if that would stop her if she had a clear shot to the outside. She would run and scream and he would have to track her down. She would go out fighting.
But she might be able to entice him with something he needed. “I have money.”
“That’s why this will look like a burglary turned rage-filled attack turned fire.” He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a towel. “You die and I take some items and cash.”
She bolted for the exit. He was on top of her before her hand hit the knob.
He smashed her into the door hard enough for it to shake on its hinges. Then he grabbed her around the waist and threw her. Her legs went out from under her. She put out her hands to stop her fall but landed in a sprawl on the foyer floor by his feet.
Her elbow hit the hardwood with a crack. Every part of her ached and her head throbbed. She didn’t even remember it slamming into the floor, but it must have.
“That’s enough of that.” He crouched down in front of her. “Want to know what happens next, Hope, the expert hiker and climber?”
“Joel will be here any minute.”
Charlie laughed at her. “I was outside and saw him go. He left you. Looked pretty happy to be gone, if you want to know the truth.”
“That’s not—”
“Ran to his car to get away from you instead of staying the night. What guy does that?”
She pushed that hurt out of her mind and concentrated on survival. Joel would want her to kick and bite and do whatever she had to do to survive. “He will come back.”
“Not tonight. He’s busy with Tony.”
A new horror spilled over her. More bodies. More death. “What did you do?”
“My partner got greedy. Now he’s dead.” Charlie took the lighter out of his pocket and lit the kitchen towel. The fire swallowed one end in a second. “The trail leads to me returning to camp. Joel will go there, only to get the call there’s been an accident.”
Fear swelled inside her. She’d battled back flames at the campsite and it had taken all of her strength. Seeing even this small fire twisted her stomach in knots. “You didn’t do so well with that before.”
“This time it’s foolproof. You die and the town house burns down.” He stood up and threw the burning rag on the couch. The cushion lit with fire almost instantly. “I think Joel will get the message, don’t you? He may have stopped one fire, but he’ll be too late for this one. See, I made sure to be on the security cameras at Tony’s house. I slipped out the side, but he’ll think I’m still there, and in a house the size of Tony’s without help, Joel will be there for a while.”
The fire crackled and she heard a whoosh. She knew she had mere minutes. And Charlie would want her dead before the fire took hold and raced through her house. “You’ll never get away with this.”
“If I wanted to stick around, you’re right. But see, I have the money Tony planned to hide and now I can leave. Let the banks have the campground. I don’t care.”