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For a moment, I centered myself. If this was him, I had to keep myself steady. I couldn’t lose my temper. I couldn’t show him any emotion. He couldn’t know that he was under my skin. I couldn’t give him any kind of advantage over me.
I dialed the number and switched the call to speaker before setting the phone on the table. It didn’t ring a full cycle before it clicked on. “Nathan West.”
His voice sounded much like I’d imagined it would. Like someone who could be charming, charismatic, and make you think the world of him. He sounded like a person who’d never been told no. I glanced over at Jude, who was typing quickly.
“Hello?” Nathan said. “Who is this?”
“The thief.” The atmosphere went taut. The call didn’t end though. I had to keep him here. “I’m calling to ask you what you want.”
“You know what I want.” The words were soft and smooth. Not incriminating, a simple confirmation.
We were talking to him. It didn’t seem real, after him being a ghost for so long. I took a deep breath and looked around at the others. They nodded. I took another breath and focused on the phone and on keeping my voice level.
“Whatever you have planned, Nathan, it’s not going to happen.”
Silence.
“You need to get out of here,” I said evenly. “Leave Garnet Bend while you still can.”
Another silence.
“I’m suggesting that for your own good, because if you touch Evelyn—if you touch any one of us—all bets are off. Nothing will stop us from finding you, and we are not people who go back on our word.”
I used that phrasing intentionally. If that was what was really important to him, then I was speaking his language.
For long moments, there was nothing but the soft sound of Jude’s typing. Then Nathan spoke. And every word was dripping with delight. I could hear him smiling. “See you at the funeral.”
The line went dead, and I let out a curse. “Did you get it?”
“Not quite. General area only.”
I snatched the phone off the table and hit redial. Nothing. Not even a ring. The number had been disconnected. “Fuck.”
“He’s here,” Jude said. “Couldn’t pinpoint it, but the signal was close enough. He’s local.”
“Is there anything that will help us find him? If he’s here, I want to go find him and nail his ass to the wall. We’ve sat here and waited long enough.”
A dangerous quiet blanketed the room. “You’re not going anywhere,” Daniel finally said. “Not when he’s gunning for you as hard as Evelyn.”
I glared at my friend, but he stared me down. There wasn’t going to be any changing his mind, and I didn’t have to ask the others to know they agreed.
“Jude, Liam, go check out the cabin that Charlie told us about,” Daniel said. “Make sure you’re not seen if he’s there. If the signal is close, it may not be a coincidence.”
The police chief was doing us a solid, and I needed to thank him. But I wanted to go. I needed to see if he was there. “I’m going too.”
“No.” Harlan’s voice brooked no argument. “Sit down.”
Anger spiked. The seven of us were equals. We’d made that agreement when we started this place. Each one of us had our roles and specialties, but no one had more power than another, and when one of us was out of line, we were allowed to call them out.
Jude and Liam left, and I was still standing. My own stubbornness wasn’t going to allow me to sit right now. I wasn’t going to do what I was told. “If this is going to be another conversation asking me how deep in I am, you can save it.”
“It’s not,” Daniel said. “But we need to know if you can handle this.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Harlan’s face was hard. I’d seen that face before. It was unyielding. I was going to hear what he had to say whether I liked it or not. “We mean we want to know how much of this is because you’re terrified you’ll fail to save another person and how much is because you’re in love with Evelyn.”
The breath went out of my lungs.
