Chapter Nineteen

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"Marlie," Brynn repeated, her voice all breath and hardly any sound.

Ruby saw the information register on Brynn's face, but there wasn't much surprise in her expression. Then again, Ruby hadn't been surprised to hear it either since Marlie was a prime suspect.

"I had arranged for a tail to be on Marlie, but she had already left her place before the operative arrived," Ruby explained. "Once the cops have the security feed, they can search the storm drain for the hammer, along with putting out an APB for Marlie's arrest."

In the meantime, Ruby's tech was going to continue to map out the route Marlie would have taken to get from Trent's apartment. If other cameras had picked her up along the way, they could maybe spot blood on her. Or any anomalies that would indicate Marlie had been set up.

"How did Marlie even find Trent?" Brynn asked. "Because I couldn't."

Ruby had to shake her head on that. Owen and she had looked as well and hadn't located the SOB.

"It's possible Marlie found him by snooping around in Francine's office," Ruby speculated. "Or by following Alice. Carlton saw Trent and Alice together just a couple of months ago. When Owen and I told Marlie about that, she was livid. That could be her motive for murdering Trent."

She paused, letting the silence settle over the room. Letting Brynn and Owen come to the huge question that was throbbing in her head. Owen was the one to voice it.

"Then, why would Marlie have murdered Howie and the detective and also tried to kill Carlton?" he asked.

Ruby waited to see if Brynn had a theory about that, but she went with a headshake as well.

"All right, here goes a possibility," Ruby said. "After Brynn escaped, Trent could have asked Marlie to eliminate anyone who might have known what he did to Brynn. A way of covering his sorry ass. Marlie could have obliged."

Owen made a sound of agreement. "Marlie could have easily gotten close enough to Howie to kill him since they were friends. And McKinney, too, if he got to know Marlie while he was helping Trent."

That made sense. Trent would have needed a go-between for McKinney and him, and Marlie would have been perfect for that. Then again, Alice or Francine could have filled those particular shoes as well.

"But what about Carlton?" Brynn pressed. "He would have helped Trent, so why go after him?"

Yeah, that didn't fit. Unless… "Maybe Carlton didn't help him, and Trent was pissed about that," Ruby threw out there. "Or Trent could have just wanted him silenced because Carlton knew that Trent had held you all this time."

Ruby was glad that Trent had finally gotten a dose of his own violent medicine, but she wished he could be around for a minute or two to clear up some of these questions.

"Marlie will come after me," Brynn stated, causing Ruby's attention to shift back to her, "and I can't have anywhere near a normal life if I stay in hiding." She stopped. "And it's possible Marlie isn't even the one who's cleaning up after Trent. It could be Alice or Francine."

She was right, and while there was enough evidence to arrest Marlie, that was a long way from getting a conviction. She could walk, especially if that hammer was never found. Marlie could simply say she'd found it and tossed it in the drain. Or that it wasn't even her in the camera feed but rather someone wearing a mask to set her up.

And that could be true.

Those masks were damn realistic, and either Francine or Alice could have worn one to set up Marlie.

"I can put you in a safe house until Ruby and I catch the killer," Owen told Brynn.

"Thank you," she muttered. "But I have something else in mind. Something you're not going to like," Brynn quickly tacked onto that.

Owen and Ruby groaned in unison because they both knew what Brynn was about to say. "You want to make yourself bait," Ruby spelled out.

Brynn looked her straight in the eyes. "I am going to make myself bait," she said with no hesitation or doubt. "In fact, it's already in motion."

Owen cursed, and a chill shot through Ruby's body. "What did you do?" Ruby couldn't ask fast enough.

Brynn pulled in a long breath. "Before I came here, I sent Alice, Marlie, and Francine a text from a burner, asking them to meet me."

"Where?" Owen demanded after he did more cursing.

"I didn't say. I told them I'd give them that info in another text. I also didn't let them know that I'd contacted all three of them. Unless they're talking to each other, they think it'll be a meeting between me and just one of them, and I'll stagger the meeting times until I find out which one is the killer."

"And what makes you think they'll bite on something like that?" Owen snapped.

Brynn stood, looked them both straight in the eyes, and in that moment, she had the fierce determination of her mother.

Hell.

That meant she wasn't going to back down on something like this.

"At least one of them will bite because she'll think I have something she needs," Brynn said. "I told each one of them I had evidence that Trent left behind. Evidence that will link them to me being kidnapped and held against my will for three years. Evidence to convict them of aiding and abetting a criminal, obstruction of justice, and a whole laundry list of other offenses."

Brynn had clearly done her homework. A multitude of charges like that could land someone in jail for at least a decade or two. And that was even before tacking on the murders.

"I also told them I had a secret recording of Trent talking about them," Brynn went on a heartbeat later, "and that I didn't trust you, so not to try to involve you or Ruby in this. I spelled out that if I had trusted either of you, I would have gone to you when I escaped a month ago."

They might buy that. Might .

"Then, I ended the text with a bottom line," Brynn said. "If they want the info I have, then bring a hundred thousand dollars and a knife to the meeting."

"A knife?" Ruby and Owen questioned at the same time.

Brynn nodded. "I told them I expect to be paid in cash and blood. Their blood. For them to get the evidence, they'll have to cut themselves so they can bleed the way I did when Trent tried to kill me. I thought that would sound convincing enough that I was there for payback and not to trap them."

Well, it sounded like the demand of a woman hellbent on a little payback for the hell Trent and his accomplice had put her through.

There was a dinging sound, and Brynn took out her phone.

"Good," Brynn said, looking at the screen. "Francine has taken the bait."

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