Page 65 of The Ghost Assassin

When someone does something stupid and they outrank you, plus carry a gun, all you can do is let them shoot themself in the foot. If he wants to die in Maryland, I’m not the hero who stops him. Some might say I’m not a hero at all.

I motion to Jay and Enrique. “Help him.”

A few minutes later, the lot of them are gone, and Tic Tac lifts a finger. “Houston—”

“Don’t say that again,” I warn. “What did you find?”

“Mark has a house in the Hamptons. He’s a wealthy man, whose company hit big with a weapons patent.”

Hamptons wealthy, I think. The kind that could hire an assassin.

“And ouch,” Tic Tac adds. “Oh man, I screwed up. I just realized that Mark and Elsa’s phones haven’t left the ranch in several days. If they’re the killers, they aren’t carrying their phones with them. Should we tell Ellis?”

“I don’t think so,” Jack interjects. “He’s a dumbass to go to Maryland on his own and shut out Agent Love-Mendez.”

Agent Love-Mendez. I’d tell him how stupid he sounds, but he’s actually been helpful, and there are other things on my mind. Ellis was a little too eager to take on Maryland himself, without me. What if Marie wasn’t the only one with a financial interest in all of this in some way? What if Ellis had one, too?

I reach into my field bag and retrieve Marie’s journal. Once I’ve gloved up, I remove the plastic and I tab through dates. The entire month of April is missing. I toss my gloves and return the journal to the plastic covering before handing it off to Tic Tac. “I found that under Marie Rodriguez’s mattress. See what you can do with it.” I push to my feet and then announce, “I’m going to the Hamptons,” only to have Jack literally cheer.

If irritation kills, this man is going to be the death of me.

Only a few minutes later, I’m in the lobby of the building, intending to hunt down Jay and Enrique, when a familiar man steps in front of me. A man my husband believes would love to see me dead.

“Just who I came to see,” he greets in a heavily accented voice. “My new daughter-in-law. It’s past time we have a private chat, don’t you think?”

the end…for now