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Chapter Nineteen
Ezra
Dark storm clouds dapple the sky just above the far horizon on the third morning of the retreat, but I’m hopeful we’ll still get to enjoy the fishing excursion. Grim is already behind the captain’s wheel, prepping for launch, and Bennett is busy helping load the Cattle into their restraints below deck.
I stayed at Kindra’s villa until well after midnight, so I can only hope she got enough sleep to make it out this morning. She wasn’t exactly keen to wake up at the crack of dawn to sit on a boat all day, but I convinced her by saying we could discuss a strategy for sussing out the Abattoir Adonis.
Who is, of course, me, but she doesn’t know that. Yet.
I still plan to tell her the truth on the last day. It’s selfish of me to steal this time with her before coming clean, but I can’t help myself. She’ll get what she wants in the end, and I’ll probably get what I deserve.
Until that moment, I’ll make the best of my time with her.
Staring down the shoreline, I spot two figures making their way toward the dock. Judging by the bright neon-green swimsuit, one of them must be Cat, which means the other figure is Kindra.
Excitement and dread take up equal space in my chest. I look forward to spending time with her, but the topic of her brother’s killer will come up at some point, and the lying is what I don’t look forward to.
She raises her hand in a wave as she reaches the dock, and I wave back. She’s stunning in a black one-piece swimsuit and short denim shorts. I feel a bit overdressed in khaki shorts and a polo, but I have no plans to go in the water. That’s what the Cattle are for.
“I plied her with coffee, so she’s a little less angry than she was twenty minutes ago,” Cat says as she boards the boat.
Kindra rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t angry. I was groggy. There’s a difference.”
The girls each carry a large beach bag with snacks, drinks, and supplies. They haul these to the front of the boat and take a seat on one of the benches. Bennett joins us, and we give Grim the thumbs up. Instead of starting the engine, he comes toward us.
“Are you sure you want to go out this morning?” he says. “The waves in the distance don’t look very friendly, and the skies are getting darker.”
We all turn our heads toward the horizon, and he’s right. The sporadic spots of darkness have pulled together to form an ominous inkblot over the water.
“Couldn’t we go out for a bit, then turn back when it gets closer?” Cat asks. “I’ve never been deep-sea fishing before.”
Bennett scoffs. “You’ve never done a lot of things before. Like killing someone.”
“Play nice, children,” Kindra says. She turns to Grim. “How serious is it, really?”
Grim pulls off his glasses and begins cleaning them with his shirt. “I am not afraid to go toward the storm, but I have lived a long life. Take from that what you will.”
“I’m still in,” Bennett says.
“Me too,” Cat says, though I hear the tremor in her voice. She’s only doing this to show my brother that her balls are as big as his are.
I look at Kindra, but she’s still considering her options. I can’t leave Bennett and Cat alone and trust that Grim will stop them from killing each other, so I can only hope she’ll still tag along.
Finally, she nods. “Okay, I’ll stay too.”
Grim retreats back to the wheel while we settle in.
No one talks on the way to the fishing spot. Cat is too busy puking over the side of the boat, and the rest of us wouldn’t be able to hear each other anyway. The waves are choppy as hell, and Grim plows into them like he has a death wish. Maybe we should have heeded his warning.
When the boat finally stops and Grim drops anchor, Kindra and I head below deck to get some bait. We brought along three Cattle, all of which are currently nude, but they belong to the pink or red jumpsuit corral. Metal collars circle each of their necks, with a chain running from the collar to a steel bar attached to the wall.
Kindra moves toward one of the men. I chose him because he murdered his wife and two sons, then kept his ten-year-old daughter around for his nefarious purposes. He’s a real piece of work, and I’m glad I’ll witness his suffering.
“Do we just chop off whatever we want to use for bait?” she asks.
I step toward a cabinet and pull an electric cauterizing iron from inside. “Yes, and then you use this to stop the bleeding so that we can keep going.”
“Perfect,” Kindra says as she plucks the tool from my hand and plugs it into a nearby outlet. “I know just what I’ll take off first.”
