So About the Money (50 page)

Skin twitched around Nicole’s eyes as the memory of the lunch meeting with the attorney registered. “So what?”

“Walt told me Tim filed divorce papers.”

Nicole’s porcelain skin flamed with fury. She shook the pistol at Holly. “You’re such a liar. How can you stand yourself? You make up shit about everyone.”

“Get out your cell phone. Call him. Ask him.”

Nicole glanced at her purse, as if she were actually thinking about it.
 

Holly didn’t need a second invitation. She turned on her heels and ran. She bypassed the grapevines. The long rows were a death trap. The narrow aisles would make her an easy target.
 

She’d almost made it to the orchard when a pistol blast shattered the silence. A tree limb exploded above her head. She dove under the sheltering branches of an apple tree. On hands and knees, she scrambled to get away. Another bullet tore the bark off a nearby tree.
 

She jumped to her feet and ran.
 

Nicole screamed at her, but the words made no sense.
 

Holly circled through the orchard, peering desperately through the trees as she went.
Where was Nicole?
She didn’t hear any yells or gunfire, only a steady thump in the distance.
 

Back pressed against an apple tree, she whipped her cell from her pocket. Damn. No bars. No JC. No calling in the cops to rescue her.
 

If the cops weren’t coming to her, she’d go to them. If she found the road, she could flag down one of the police cars that surely were prowling around out there, searching for them.

Where in the hell was the road?
 

The unmistakable
crunch
and
ding
of rocks pinging against a car’s undercarriage came from her left.
 

JC! The police!

She sprinted toward the approaching vehicle and burst from the screening trees right in front of a beige Tahoe.
 

The SUV slid to a halt in a cloud of dust. Tim rolled down the window. Loud rock and roll poured out to greet her.
 

She ran toward it. “Thank God, you’re here.”

He turned off the ignition, killing the music, opened the door, and stepped out. “Holly? What are you doing here?”

“You have to stop her.” A desperate glance revealed an empty clearing, but she heard a shout in the distance.

“What are you talking about? Stop who from doing what?”

 
“You honestly don’t know?” She collapsed against the side of the Tahoe, trying to catch her breath. She pressed a hand to her chest, as if that would keep her heart from bursting through. “Then why are you here?”

“I came up to test the grapes. I need to check the sugar level. Why? What’s going on?”

“Your wife has lost it. She thinks we’re having an affair.”

His jaw dropped. “What?”

“She knows about Marcy. And now she’s using me for target practice.”

Nicole’s shouts grew louder. A bullet ricocheted off the hood of Tim’s car. He flinched and spun around. “What the
hell
?”

He ducked behind the Tahoe, pulling Holly with him. “Where’d Nicole get a pistol?”

“How should I know? Talk to her. She won’t shoot you.”

He peered around the back fender, then turned back to her. “Wait. Are you saying—”

She watched emotions flicker as he fought to catch up.
 

 
“Oh, my God.” Blood drained from his face.

“Yeah,” she said. “Nicole probably shot Marcy. And that black SUV you’re missing? Your wife probably borrowed it. Look, I don’t care if you were having an affair. Nicole obviously had a problem with that, but you have to convince her there is nothing going on between you and me.”

He stared at her. “Let me think about this.”
 

“Are you
kidding
me?”

Turning, he jammed his fingers through his hair. “Nicole killed Marcy?”

“It sure looks that way.”

“Oh, fuck.” He paced the length of the car.

She risked a glance around the corner of the car. Nicole stood at the far side of the clearing, apparently consulting the committee in her head about her next move.
 

“You realize what this means.” Tim was suddenly right behind Holly, his voice an octave higher than normal.

“Yeah. It means we need to climb in your car and get the hell out of here.”

Nicole pointed the pistol at the Tahoe and fired. Window glass exploded.

“Shit,” Tim yelped. They ducked, pressing in close to the rear tire.
 

“Come on. Let’s go while we still can.” Holly reached for the passenger door handle.

“Not a chance. You’ll ruin everything.” Tim’s voice screeched in her ear.
 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She cut him an incredulous look.

“I know you know about the loans. First thing Monday morning, you’re probably going to call the banks and tell them about the extra companies.”

Well, yeah, but she certainly wasn’t going to admit it right now. “What are you talking about?”
 

“It wasn’t my fault. The banks made it too easy. Everything was fine until credit just dried up. I’ll figure it out, but if you walk out of here alive, I’m screwed. You’ll send my wife to prison for murder and me to jail for a couple of bad business decisions.”

Holly scrambled backward. The dirt lane suddenly looked a lot safer than the Tahoe’s shadow. “You can’t be serious.”

He stalked after her. “You realize this isn’t personal, right?”

Chapter Forty-nine

“Tim.” Holly backed away from the Tahoe. “You’re talking about
murder
. The premeditated kind.”

“You don’t give me much choice.”

The man was as nuts as his wife. “Of course you have a choice. Do it and you’ll fry.” She sprinted up the dirt road.

Tim lunged and caught her wrist. He dragged her backward, then shoved.
 

She skidded across the driveway, adding a new layer of scrapes and bruises. Sprawled on the ground beside the SUV, she lay directly in Nicole’s line of sight.
 

Oh, crap
.

Nicole pointed, yelled, and a bullet pinged off the Tahoe’s fender.
 

Holly scrambled to her feet and dove behind the metal barrier.
 

“Everything was going great. Why couldn’t you just go along?” Tim locked onto her arm again.

“Who me? With what?” Holly ping-ponged her attention between Nicole and Tim. “Wait a minute. Are you talking about Alex?”

“You’re divorcing me?” Nicole yelled, redirecting her rage at Tim.
 

“Was Alex part of it?” If she was going to die, she wanted a few answers first.
 

“What the hell has Alex got to do with anything?” Tim peeked over the fender at his wife. “Of course I’m not divorcing you, honey. I love you.”

“With the fraud. Your stealing.” Holly jerked against Tim’s hold. Where could she go if she broke free? “Did you use Alex to flush money back into the system? Was that why you pushed so hard to get us together?”

Tim scowled. “You screwed up things with Alex all by yourself. That boy’s going places and you dumped him for some two-bit cop.”

“Money isn’t everything.”

“Since when?”

The rhythmic thump Holly had noticed earlier grew louder, and a helicopter buzzed over the tree line. An amplified voice called, “This is the police. Drop your weapon.”

That command only works on sane people,
competed with,
Thank you, God
.

Her relief was short-lived. Tim shoved her again. She grabbed the fender and hung on.
 

“Let go.” He jerked at her arms.
 

Hell
no. She kicked him, but her sneakers didn’t make a dent in his determination. His fingers tightened around her wrist and wrestled her injured hand from the fender. She shrieked in pain and slammed her shoe into his groin.
 

He yelped and staggered back, hunched around his pain, but he didn’t release her wrist. “Goddamn you.”
 

The chopper swooped lower, raising a cloud of dirt and fine pebbles. A man shouted through the loudspeaker. “Drop it
now
!”

“You
bastard
.” Nicole’s shrill voice cut through the bedlam.

Tim halted warily, one hand still clutching the family jewels.
 

“She’s yelling at
you
, asshole,” Holly said. “Maybe you should rethink your throw-me-to-the-wolves plan.”

“Me?” His head turned toward Nicole. “Why’s she yelling at me?”

“You’d leave me for that
whore
?” Nicole was already halfway across the clearing. She squeezed off another round. More parts of the Tahoe shattered.
 

Tim dropped to the ground, jerking Holly with him.
 

“Do something! Say something,” she urged.

Tim looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Finally, he rose to his knees and peeked through the mangled rear window. “Honey?”

“Why?” Nicole stood less than ten feet away. Tears streamed down her face.

The plaintive question tore at Holly’s heart, but she wasn’t waiting around for the next act. She took a step toward the orchard but Tim whipped out a hand and grabbed her again. He locked an arm around her waist.
 

“We had a good life—a perfect life. I made it perfect for you.” Anguish twisted Nicole’s features.
 

Tim dragged Holly back to the car and held her clamped against his chest, a human shield. “Sweetheart, I know that.”

“You coward.” Holly writhed in his grip, a helpless hostage. “Be a man for once in your life.”

The cops in the helicopter were still yelling over the loudspeaker, but no one paid any attention to them.
 

Tim’s wife advanced on him. Judging from the expression on Nicole’s face, Holly didn’t even exist anymore.

Tim had her arms pinned. She stomped on his foot again, but her sneakers didn’t stand a chance against his work boots. In desperation, she tucked her chin and slammed her head backward into his face.
 

“God
dammit
.”
 

She heard his roar through a haze of stars and pain. He clamped down on her body until she could barely breathe.

Nicole braced a hand against the Tahoe’s hood, the pistol pointing at Tim. The only problem with that arrangement was Holly was in front of him, right in the line of fire.
 

The helicopter changed position and hovered behind Tim and her. “Drop your weapon
now
,” a male voice thundered.

Like that worked the first time?
 

A rifle blast split the air.
 

A pistol shot echoed it.
 

Holly screamed. Tim dodged away from the flying bullets, dragging her down with him. When she opened her eyes, Nicole no longer stood on the other side of the car.
 

“Nicole.” Tim threw Holly aside and raced around the Tahoe.
 

Holly took off in the other direction, straight toward the police cars barreling down the dirt road.

~$~

Cops were everywhere.
 

Uniformed officers spread out, swarming the grounds. Several disappeared inside the farm building, while others examined a damaged white truck. Another group focused on the Kia. Two cops deposited a handcuffed Tim into the back seat of a cruiser. More officers surrounded Nicole. Her plaintive calls for Tim rose above the noise of auto engines, men’s voices, and the whump of helicopter blades.