“A-Astrid.”
“Pretty name. I'm Angel.”
“Not a very fitting name for a killer.” This was really the kind of thought that should just remain in one's head.
“It is when the last part isof death,” he replied without missing a beat.
Suddenly the blindfold was gone.
For someone just caught at a crime scene, he appeared cool and collected driving down the road in the middle of the night like everything was fine. To add another level of emotional complication, he was distressingly good-looking—something she hadn't been able to fully process when she'd walked in on him at the house.
She didn't want the guy who held her life in his hands and might be planning something really terrible to be this beautiful. She'd fallen into that stupid trap already with Joey. But Joey was nothing next to this guy. This guy could have gotten rich just on those looks. So if he was out killing people, it wasn't because it was his only option in life. It was because he liked it.
A cellphone rang with a dated ring tone that she hadn't heard in at least five years.
“Astrid, I'm going to answer this. The person calling me is not someone who will help you. In fact, he's likely to panic and offer to pay me more to kill you. I find it difficult to turn down good money so if you're smart, you'll stay quiet. Are you smart?”
She nodded quickly.
“Good girl.” He answered the phone, “Angel.”
A pause.
“It's done. I ran into a complication. The plan changed.”
Astrid couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but she could hear the rage behind the voice.
“Simmer down. Look, I told you, preferences for exact details would be taken into account, but you'll recall I also told you realities on the ground don't always allow for them. Best laid plans and all. The kill looked too weird. Believe me, it would cause too many questions and too much investigation. This wasn't going to be the open and shut case you wanted it to be. It's better if there is no body at all.”
There was a long bit of silence from Angel's side as he listened patiently to the person on the other end.
“I've got it with me. I'm dumping it.” Angel sighed. “Just because things didn't happen as I planned, doesn't mean my backups aren't solid. It will never surface.” He laughed. “You don't want to negotiate with me. I'm doing extra work without extra pay so if I don't see the exact amount of money we agreed to, it's coming out of your hide. I'll send you a photo before I dump it. Don't call me again. Ever.”
Angel disconnected the call.
Minutes later they pulled up at an abandoned marina.
“Don't bother screaming. Nobody ever comes out here,” he said as if she planned suddenly start screaming now.
Astrid watched him warily as he got out of the car and came around to her side. He carried her to the only boat at the dock and sat her on a blue vinyl bench. Or at least it seemed blue. The only visible light was the headlights from the SUV so it was hard to tell. It could have just as easily been green or purple. She tried to focus on these stupid mundane details so she wouldn't have a complete breakdown. She was fairly sure he'd kill her if she became too annoying, and hysterical freakouts would be annoying to someone like him.
“Don't go anywhere,” he said.
Hilarious.
Angel went back to the SUV. When he returned, he carried a body wrapped in heavy plastic. She still could feel nothing but relief at the sight of that son of a bitch's lifeless corpse. Angel started the boat without a word and took them out to sea.
Astrid shivered in the wind as she looked out at the dark water. What if he got over whatever had held him back from killing her and just threw her over? Why did she have to have that thought? Now that it was in her head it didn't seem to want to let go. Surely he'd had time to realize it made more sense to just get rid of her. Now, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the image of him throwing her overboard out of her head.
“Hey? If you change your mind about killing me, don't drown me, okay? J-just s-snap my neck first. B-before you throw me over.”
Angel was shrouded in shadow. “I told you, I'm not going to hurt you. I admit I'm not exactly following the standard moral code, but I kill for money, not pleasure. I kill people the world won't miss. I can't justify killing you. Even if I could, I don't want to. So stop thinking about it. It's not happening. I've already made up my mind.”
“Okay, well, then you have to let me go.”
“Like hell I do.”
“Well you can't just keep me a prisoner forever!”