Page 134 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
“No. That whore is not having a child. I won’t allow it. She had her chance. She could have had an abortion and then none of this would be happening to her. But she didn’t. So now she will pay the price for her disobedience.”
He was crazy. Certifiably crazy.
I couldn’t reason with him. Begging wasn’t working. What was I going to do? I needed to think. I needed to get the eff out of here. But I wasn’t leaving Maisy here alone.
My mind raced, forming, then dismissing different escape plans. Nothing I thought of would work. I searched the room frantically but nothing would cut the zip ties at my wrists.
“Benson,” Everett said, “go pay Scottie a visit. He’s on the second floor. Find out what he said to Gigi. Then shove enough oxy down his throat so he’ll never wake up again.”
This wasn’t happening. I hadn’t just heard Everett order a man to go kill a teenaged kid.
“Everett, no!” I shouted. “He didn’t tell me anything about you. He just said that if I told Jess he was taking pills that he would hurt me and my daughter. I swear. Please. You don’t need to kill him. He’s just a kid! Let him be!”
“Too late, Gigi,” Everett said. “Scottie thought he could step up and join my crew. This was his test. He failed and now he’s out.” He pointed to the door. “Benson, go.”
This was a nightmare. Any minute I would wake up, safe at home in the farmhouse with Jess. This couldn’t be happening.
“Why?” I asked Everett. “Why are you doing this?”
“I want money and selling pills is quick cash. Especially with no competition. I’m tired of solving other people’s problems so I’ll exploit them instead, feed on the weaknesses of the poor and stupid. Soon I’ll leave, maybe move to the Maldives and never look back.”
Competition? He had to mean Wes. He was the only other drug dealer in Prescott. At least I hoped. With Wes out of the way, anyone wanting drugs would have to go through Everett.
“You killed Wes?” I gasped.
“I’m an extremely intelligent man, Gigi. Of course I didn’t kill Wes. Mr. Benson killed Wes. Besides, he had his own debt to settle after that beating Drummond gave him this summer.”
“Wes beat him up? Why?” I asked.
“I was moving in on what Wes considered his territory. His beating was intended to be a message. A threat. And I don’t respond well to threats. Something the late Mr. Drummond learned all too well.”
“But why me? Why Maisy? What are you going to do to us?”
“I’m afraid you have become too well informed. I’ve had Benson at your house keeping an eye on you and your beloved sheriff,” he said.
I thought I’d been imagining those lights the first night I saw them. I should have mentioned something to Jess. Stupid.
“Jess will find me. He’s out there looking now. I know it. You won’t get away with this.”
“Now, Gigi. I’ve told you that I don’t respond well to threats. The sheriff is nowhere near here. He has been so focused on Wes that I’ve gone completely unnoticed. And I’ve made sure to act like a timid and shy mouse whenever he’s around,” he said arrogantly.
“He knows there is someone in town selling pills,” I snapped.
“Yes. He does. But he’s so far away from my trail it will take him years to put it all together.”
Months ago, that day with Gus Johnson, I’d made the wrong assumption. He’d known it because he was the dealer. And damn it, I hadn’t told Jess about that either. He might have seen it from a different angle.
A heavy weight settled in my heart. If I didn’t escape, I was dead. Everett was a psychopath intent on killing me. I would never again feel my daughter’s arms wrapped around my neck or hear her tell me she loved me. I would never again feel Jess’s kiss on my head as I slept tucked into his side.
I closed my eyes and tried to calm my racing heart.
Think. Think. Think.
You can do this.
Find a way out.
I could do it. I just needed to keep it together and wait for my opening. Everett was so arrogant, surely he would make a mistake. Right?
