Page 73 of The Chain House
“Don’t mock me.”
“Why am I here?”
“Because this is what happens in the book.”
“What happens then … in the book … after the execution?”
“It’s Malcolm Dodd,” he said. “In the book. He’s executed. By firing squad.”
“On national television,” she said, eager to show him she was listening and taking him seriously. “Is Sal Batise supposed to represent …”
“Malcolm Dodd.”
“But what will happen after Batise is executed?”
“Then my army will create chaos,” he said. “And Oliver Crown will rise from the ashes. It’s all in the book.”
“What book?”
He pointed to his head with the barrel of the gun. “It’s in here.”
“You’ve memorized it?”
He nodded. “But the original is downstairs. In a safe.”
As calmly as she could, and without looking at the dead man’s body to her right, Beth said, “You mentioned your wife?”
“She’s off-limits.”
“So I do … have limits?”
No answer.
“Can I … meet her. Your wife?”
He stared at her.
“What’s her name? Oliver?”
“Her name is Elizabeth,” he said. “Elizabeth Bennet.”
Beth was familiar with the name, knew it from somewhere, and then it hit her. “The same name as the wife in Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen.”
“I know who wrote it.”
“You’ve read it?”
“Seven times,” he said, and the revelation couldn’t have shocked her more.
“And your wife’s parents … they must have been … Jane Austen fans?”
“I don’t know, were they?” he said, with snark. “But she is Elizabeth Bennet.”
“And that would make you … Mr. Darcy?”
“When I’m with her, yes,” he said.
“And when you aren’t … with her?”
