Birthright

have killed her.”
    “Yes. No police. This is between you and me. I understand that. Can I talk to her? Let me talk to her, please.”
    “ ‘Let me talk to her, please,’ ” Dory mimicked. “You’re talking to me ! I’m running the show now, Dr. Bitch. I’m in charge.”
    “Yes, you’re in charge.” Callie fought to keep her voice steady.
    “And you’ll talk to me. We’ll talk about payment, about what you’re going to have to do. Just you and me. You come alone or I’ll kill her. I’ll kill her without a second thought. You know I will.”
    “I’ll be alone. Where?”
    “Simon’s Hole. You’ve got ten minutes or I start cutting her. Ten minutes, and the clock just started ticking. Better hurry.”
    “Cell phone,” Jake said the minute she hung up. “They’re going to try to triangulate.”
    “No time. She’s got my mother. Jesus, ten minutes.” She was bolting for the front door.
    “Hold it. Goddamn it, you can’t go running out without thinking.”
    “She gave me ten minutes to get to the pond. I can barely make it now. She’s got my mother. She’s going to kill her if I don’t come. Now and alone. For God’s sake, I don’t even know which one she’s got.”
    He held on a moment longer, then pulled the knife from his boot. “Take this. I’ll be right behind you.”
    “You can’t. She’ll—”
    “You have to trust me.” He took her arms again. “There’s no room, no time for anything else. You have to trust me. I’m trusting you.”
    She stared into his eyes and made the leap. “Hurry,” she said, and ran.
    Sweat trickled down her back as she pushed the Rover to dangerous speeds on narrow, winding roads. Every time her tires screamed on pavement, she bore down harder. Every time she looked down at the luminous dial of her watch, her heart skipped.
    It could be a lie, it could be a trap. Still she drove faster than sanity allowed, concentrating on her own headlights as they sliced through the dark.
    She made it in nine minutes.
    She saw nothing in the field, in the water, in the trees. It didn’t stop her from bolting out of the car, swinging over the fence.
    “Dory! I’m here. I’m alone. Don’t hurt her.”
    She walked toward the water, toward the trees with fear skating up and down her spine. “It’s between you and me, remember. You and me. You can let her go. I’m here.”
    She saw a light flash, spun toward it. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
    “Stop right there. You made good time. But you could’ve called the cops on the way.”
    “I didn’t. For God’s sake, she’s my mother. I won’t risk her just to punish you.”
    “You’ve already punished me. And for what ? To prove how smart you are? Not so smart now, are you?”
    “It was my life.” She moved forward on legs gone weak and trembly. “I just wanted to know how it happened to me. Wouldn’t you, Dory?”
    “Stay where you are. Keep your hands where I can see them. Marcus Carlyle was a great man. A visionary. And he was smart. Smarter than you’ll ever be. Even dead he’s better than you.”
    “What do you want me to do?” Her eyes were adjusted now. She saw Dory, her face ugly with bruises and hate. And sensed something—someone else—just at the edge of her vision. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
    “Suffer. Stay where you are.” Dory stepped back, into the shadows. Seconds later a form rolled forward, halfway to the edge of the pond.
    Callie saw a glint of blond hair, a hint of pale skin, and started to spring forward.
    “I’ll kill her. You stay back or I’ll kill her.” She held up a gun. “Look at this! I said I had a knife, didn’t I? I seem to be mistaken. This looks like a gun. In fact, it looks like the same gun I used to nearly put a hole in your very sexy ex-husband. I could have, you know.”
    She shone the light so Callie was forced to shield her eyes from the glare. “It would’ve been easy. I’d already killed Dolan. That was sort of an accident. I’d intended to knock him out. An impulse thing when I saw him sneaking around—just as I was sneaking around.”
    She laughed, poked the bound-and-gagged form with her foot. Callie thought she heard a soft moan, and prayed.
    “But I hit him harder than I meant to. Seemed the best thing was to dump him in Simon’s Hole. I hoped you’d get blamed for it, but that didn’t work out.”
    I’ll be right behind you, Jake had said, she remembered. Trust him. She had to stay calm and