Ball & Chain (Cut & Run 8)

Zane hurried to catch up. “Wait, Ty, you want to do that with her with us?”

“She’s a year old. She won’t understand death and destruction for at least another year.”

“If we ever decide to adopt, you’re a mute in any interviews.”

“Understood.”

They found Nick and Kelly outside, sitting on the patio with Emma and Marley. Kelly had a stick in his hand, and he seemed to be drawing things in the dusty brick. Nick had his sunglasses on even though the day was overcast, and he was sipping from a glass that Zane doubted was tea. Emma and Marley were talking animatedly, but Zane couldn’t tell if either Nick or Kelly was listening, much less responding.

Emma glanced up when she noticed Ty and Zane there, and her face transformed into a bright smile. “My baby!” she cried, and she held her hands out for Amelia.

“No!” Amelia shouted, clinging to Ty’s shirt.

“What did you bribe her with?” Emma asked him.

“Unicorns and rainbows and fun,” Ty said with a grin. “What are you guys doing?”

“We were pregaming the next murder,” Nick said before taking a sip of his drink. Emma and Marley both raised their own glasses and drank with him.

Kelly glanced up. “I over-drugged him last night. He may be a little cranky.”

“A little,” Emma agreed, snorting.

Nick lowered his sunglasses, squinting at Zane. He looked like he was completely done with everything on this island. “Any new leads?”

“That’s why we came out here, actually. It’s time for all of us to sit down and figure out what we know.” He pointed at Emma and Marley. “You too.”

Nick gave that a curt nod. He pushed his sunglasses back up and hefted himself out of his chair. Amelia immediately lunged for him and grabbed his sunglasses. Nick held on to them, and after the ensuing tug of war he somehow wound up with Amelia in his arms, wearing his sunglasses on her little round face.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” he asked.

“Do what it says, no one gets hurt,” Ty said, putting her lamb on top of Nick’s head before going to retrieve more chairs.

“Ty, you know I don’t do well with kids!”

Kelly stood to take Amelia from him, but the little girl clung to him just as she had to Ty. Nick rolled his eyes and sat back down with her.

They gathered more chairs and circled them on the patio. It was pretty wide open, but Zane trusted it more than any of the rooms in the house since there were passages and peepholes in the walls. They leaned close so their voices wouldn’t carry to anyone nearby.

“What’d you two find on the videos?” Zane asked Emma and Marley.

“Nada,” Marley answered. “That dude avoided the lens like a vampire. In total, I found seven frames with him in them. Frames. That’s like less than half a second of video.”

“And we didn’t find anyone that screamed ‘I’m a killer’ either,” Emma added. “Nothing really suspicious. Although, the dead girl was on her phone in almost every single frame she’s in, and I thought it was weird because there’s no service here.”

“Nikki Webb,” Nick provided. “She mentioned looking for service to text her boyfriend. Her roommate said she was up half the night trying to get a signal. And several witnesses stated they saw Milton on his phone. That’s pretty much the only thing I know the two victims had in common.”

“Hell,” Kelly said as he propped his feet on Nick’s knees. “I’ve seen every person here wander around looking for a signal at least once.”

“Livi told me Nikki showed up around two months ago, took one of her classes. That’s how they met,” Ty told everyone.

“How’d she earn maid of honor?” Nick asked.

Ty shrugged. “She was a party planner. Livi didn’t have to choose between her better friends. It’s chick logic.”

Emma snorted derisively. “If that girl was a party planner, I’ll eat my boots.”

Ty frowned at his cousin, looking troubled. He glanced at Nick and then met Zane’s eyes.

Zane nodded, knowing exactly what Ty was thinking. “Sounds like Nikki Webb was a plant.”

Nick sat forward, shifting Amelia onto his shoulder. She had fallen asleep on him, and she clutched at his shirt as she snored, resting her head on his shoulder. “Livi told me Milton was the reason she and your brother met. He steered Deacon toward her class.”

Ty brushed a hand over his chin. “Livi’s a friendly girl. It’d be easy to strike up a conversation at her class, make contact with her as a mark. She’s the least sheltered member of the family, the easiest way into the company. But why plant Deacon with her?”

Nick shrugged. “I’m just telling you what I know. What really bothers me is that watch.”

“What really bothers me is getting shot at,” Kelly spat.

“You guys got shot at?” Emma blurted.

“Last night, in the woods,” Ty answered. “We were checking to make sure the boats really were taken out by the storm. On the way back, a few shots were exchanged. I had Fraser, the groundskeeper, do a sweep of the woods. He didn’t find any trace of anyone being hit. No casings, nothing.”

“Come on,” Kelly said in annoyance. “We know those were silenced shots, and we all know who would have silencers on this island. Those Snake Eaters are part of this.”

“Kels, those Snake Eaters are ex–special forces,” Nick said in exasperation. It sounded like they’d had this conversation a few times already. “If they’d fired at us last night, they would have hit us.”

“They did hit you,” Kelly snapped without looking back at Nick.

Nick closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers over his nose.

“There are way too many weapons on this island,” Emma said.

Zane found himself nodding. Not only were the Snake Eaters all heavily armed, but there was a room devoted to nothing but hunting and stalking, lined with rifles. Not to mention all the gear they had brought with them.

“We could try to round it all up,” Kelly suggested.

“That should go over well,” Ty said. “Worth a try, though.”

“What good is that going to do?” Nick asked. “Anyone intending to use their weapon isn’t going to give it up voluntarily. And you don’t need a gun to kill someone, even without training. What are you going to do, play Mr. Green and Colonel Mustard and round up all the candlesticks and lead pipes, too?”