Deadline (Sandra Brown)

ran.
    “Once, during a standoff, one of his gang members tried to surrender. He walked out of a motel room with his hands raised. He was killed on the spot, but not by police. Carl, from inside the motel room, shot him in the back of the head and then escaped during the confusion that ensued.”
    Headly was laying it on thick, perhaps for shock value, but Dawson was glad he wasn’t sparing Amelia the cold reality of the kind of man her father-in-law was. Jeremy had the same bloodline.
    Headly continued. “Carl Wingert is unconscionable. He believes his actions, no matter how detestable, are justified. He’ll vanquish anyone he considers disloyal, and you, Amelia, were disloyal.
    “I’m sure Jeremy’s mind has been poisoned against you. But even if he still worships the ground you walk on, even if he is madly in love with you and entertaining a fantasy about reuniting with you and his sons, Carl will never allow it. He’ll kill you.”
    “Then why didn’t he yesterday when I was alone at the beach house?”
    “Because he’s too smart to have followed up Jeremy’s mistake with another. He couldn’t kill you and then disappear. That would have been too obvious. It probably galled him, but he had to continue playing Bernie until he was safely off the island. Now he has time to plan something else.”
    “What am I supposed to do in the meantime? While he’s planning . The boys and I can’t remain under lock and key indefinitely.”
    “It won’t be indefinite.”
    Dawson stopped prowling around the room and looked sharply at Headly, whose expression was as grim as he’d ever seen it. “What does that mean?”
    “Everything I’ve told you up till now?”
    “Yeah?”
    “That’s the good news.”

Chapter 20
    I s this Harriet Plummer?”
    “Isn’t that who you asked for? Who’s this?”
    “My name is Bernie Clarkson. I’m calling you from Saint Nelda’s Island.”
    “Where?”
    “Offshore from Savannah. I hate to bother you, Ms. Plummer, but he wrote your name on the back of his business card.”
    “Who did? Dawson?”
    “Uh…let’s see, I had it right here…Yes, Dawson Scott. Tall, long hair?”
    “Why did he give you my name?”
    “So you do know him? He does write for the magazine?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. That makes me feel better.”
    “About what?”
    “About what he’s up to.”
    “Look, if you’re a reporter—”
    “Reporter?”
    “The magazine has no comment other than to say that Dawson was questioned by the police, but it was pro forma, nothing came of it, and he was released. That’s it. Okay?”
    “I know all that. I’m not a reporter. Just an ordinary person who wants to know if Mr. Scott is, well, safe to talk to.”
    “Safe? Maybe you’d better back up and start at the beginning, Mr. Clarkson.”
    “Well, I was walking on the beach, which I do twice a day. The exercise helps my hips.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Mr. Scott approached me and struck up a conversation. Seemed to be a nice enough fellow. We chatted about this and that, then he asked if he could interview me.”
    “Why would he want to interview you?”
    “That’s why I’m calling you, to ask why he would want to interview me.”
    “He didn’t tell you?”
    “He said he was working on a story for the magazine.”
    “He’s covering the Willard Strong trial. Are you familiar with it?”
    “It’s big news down here.”
    “Well, Dawson is writing a story about the double murder of Strong’s wife and her lover.”
    “Jeremy Wesson.”
    “You knew him?”
    “I never met him, but I know his ex-wife very well. Amelia and her children spend summers next door to me on the island.”
    “Well, there you go. That’s the connection. The last time I spoke to Dawson, he was hoping to get an interview with her.”
    “Why?”
    “Because typically an ex-wife is a great source of information on a subject. If you’re well acquainted with the former Mrs. Wesson, it makes sense that Dawson would want to talk to you, possibly as an inroad to her. Okay? Now if there’s nothing—”
    “I don’t know that I’d want to be quoted.”
    “If you ask Dawson not to quote you, he won’t. Or he’ll refer to you as ‘an unnamed source.’”
    “I wouldn’t want to hurt Amelia’s feelings by talking behind her back.”
    “That’s very noble of you, but I can vouch for Dawson’s journalistic integrity. He treats his subjects with sensitivity. Sometimes to an irritating degree, if I’m being