Page 105 of The Chain House

“First words of the first six chapters.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it,” Givens said. “The rest made no sense, but by then she’d gotten her point across.”

“It just took you eight years to find it.”

“We had no reason to look,” Givens said.

Sam jumped in: “Were you aware?”

Batise turned toward Sam. “He speaks again.”

Sam stood strong. “Is that how you started those six chapters?”

“No,” he said. “I wrote all the novels in third person, so there should be no I, unless the chapter started with dialogue, which I was not in the habit of doing.”

“So someone changed what you’d written,” Sam said.

“As editors tend to do,” he said. “And with me being in here, I was never involved in the editing process.”

Agent Givens said, “We think Emily Hawthorne edited all your novels before they went off to the publisher.”

Batise grinned. “It appears she did a very good job.” And then he changed the subject. “It was as surprising to me as it must have been to your men, FBI Agent Givens, I assure you. That house blowing up. I had nothing to—”

“Where is he?” Givens asked. “Minks? Luther Wright? Oliver fucking Crown? Huh? Where is he?”

“Tell the governor to grant my stay,” Batise said. “When weighed against eternity, twenty minutes is still plenty of time to get that done.” And then, “Have your men finished the book yet, Agent Givens? Seems they’ve found it on her old computer, which is how they found Oliver Crown’s house, but have they finished it yet?”

“Not yet,” Agent Givens said, “but you can save us the time. What do we need to know?”

“Spoiler alert?” asked Batise. “I think not.”

The guard approached, gently clutched Batise’s arm, and led him toward the door. “We’re to take him down now,” the guard said.

“Tick-tock,” said Batise, and then, “But do let me know when they get to the good part of the book. It’s quite crucial to the rest of the series.”

Agent Givens gritted out, “What is going to happen?”

“Just make sure Governor Hawthorne knows the stakes,” said Batise. “Killing me may or may not save his wife. But keeping me alive could save thousands. And Sam, don’t stand too close to the windows.”

CHAPTER57

BETH COULD NO longer hear out of her right ear.

The bullet he’d fired had passed her head by inches and burrowed clear through the wall and into the neighboring room.

He’d stormed out soon thereafter and had yet to return.

Emily had screamed as well, but while the gunshot had temporarily paralyzed Beth, the ringing in her other ear still incessant, it had seemingly woken Emily from whatever stupor she’d been in, and for the first time since they’d spoken through the hole in the wall, Emily, on the other side of it, said Beth’s name. Beth was so stunned by almost being shot in the face that she hadn’t realized Emily had stopped typing again. And when Emily had called her name, it sounded like she was right on the other side of the wall, her lips to the hole.

“Beth, I left something for you. Hurry, grab it.”

Footsteps approached in the hallway again. Beth could feel the footfalls as much as hear them. She turned, stared into the hole, and saw something metallic resting atop the chain that connected them. She grabbed it seconds before the door to her room opened and Minks, in his Guy Fawkes mask, stepped back inside, where he again placed a chair down and sat in it, facing her. He carried a bottle of what she assumed to be wine, except the dark bottle had no label on it. In his other hand he held a wine glass. He poured wine into it and handed it to her. When she wouldn’t take it, he placed it on the floor next to her.

“From the Cask of Amontillado,” he said.

CHAPTER58