Jessie had seen the slashed tires in the parking lot. It would be too late for her Wilde men to find her. Think, Jessie. There’s got to be a way out of this. Keep the killer talking until I can free my hands.
Jessie tried to sound calm, though her heart was running like a race car’s engine. “Quite the plan you’ve cooked up here, Sam.”
“Thanks to me. My last plan should’ve worked beautifully. I had everything set. I trusted that snotty-nosed Rich to not fuck up. But you’re too smart of a bitch for him. That’s for sure.”
“I’m not too smart. Not as smart as you, obviously.” Jessie scanned the place for whatever might work to get free from this nightmare.
“Don’t be condescending to me, bitch. You’re the one who fucked up your investigation.”
“True. I never put you behind everything. You really are brilliant. How did you set the fire in the cafeteria? You were at Norma’s Diner according to a long list of witnesses.”
Samantha turned around and set the wires back on the rock. They were attached to a big, black box. A shiny, silver laptop was next to it.
Jessie looked at the young woman. She looked so innocent in the low, yellow glow coming from the droplight hanging on a bolt in the rock wall. “Please, Sam. I want to know.”
“Might as well tell you everything now, considering you won’t be leaving here alive.”
Don’t think about what Samantha’s planning. Just keep her talking. Panic scratched at all Jessie’s nerves, but still, she couldn’t help but wonder what had twisted such a bright mind to do such horrible things. “I’m listening.”
“I didn’t start the fire. Paul did. He also was the one who wired the electric panel to short-circuit. We got more than we planned fo
r, but so be it. Some people have to get hurt to make a point.”
“A point to whom?” Jessie spotted a shaft right behind Samantha. If she could push the laptop down it, then the remote firing program it held likely wouldn’t be accessible to the young woman.
“Austin Wilde, that’s who. Paul hated him, so getting him to come around to my plan was a snap. Sure, I had to fuck the old geezer half a dozen times, but a girl’s gotta do what she has to in order to get what she wants.”
“Did you kill him?” she asked meekly.
“Yes. He called me a week ago. Stupid idiot was filled with guilt. I knew it would only be a short time before he snapped and ruined everything.”
“When I saw you in the kitchen at Norma’s, he was threatening you.” Jessie wanted to keep the maniacal girl talking while she executed her plan. Luckily, Samantha had placed her next to one of the Old Wilde Mine’s walls.
With her rigorous training for her job at the agency, Jessie was no stranger to mines. Though her hands were tied behind her back, she still was able to stretch out her fingers. She touched a rock surface. The loose stone in the wall might work to save her. It had a sharp edge that she could use to cut her restraints.
“Yep. I’d just told him that if he didn’t do what I wanted, I was going to tell his wife everything.” Samantha grinned. “You came in and misread everything.”
“I guess I did.” Paul King had actually been trying to warn Jessie about Samantha. He’d told her to leave Wilde in the kitchen that day. The guy wasn’t a saint, but he wasn’t a devil either.
“So when he announced to me that he was ready to go to the sheriff and confess everything, I knew what I had to do. I could pin everything on Paul just by putting a bullet in his wife. So, I did.”
There wasn’t anything sane in Samantha. She was nothing more than a cold-blooded killer.
Jessie needed to keep her wits.
She needed Samantha to keep blathering on if she was going to keep the woman from hearing the sawing of the strands of the rope. “What about the explosion that almost killed Pappy Jack?”
Samantha pulled her cell out of her jeans and looked at the screen. “Another five minutes of talking about this, that’s all.”
“Agreed.” Jessie quietly began her work to loosen the stone. I’m going to need a manicure after this. That silly thought steadied Jessie’s nerves just enough. Destroying her nails, she began working her plan to escape. “I want to hear everything, Sam.”
The delusional, brilliant woman grinned and continued, “I hadn’t told Paul about your brakes or the mine explosion, but he had an idea I was behind it.”
Continuing her quiet attempt to free the rock with the little sharp edge, she asked, “You and Rich?” Though she’d tried to sound calm, her nerves had prevented that.
“Jessie, it’s okay to be scared.” Samantha patted her leg, and Jessie felt sickened by the touch. “Anyone would be terrified.”
Jessie froze her fingers in place, knowing if she moved them, her captor would feel the motion. “I suppose so, but I still want to know how you did all this. It really is remarkable. Go on about Rich. You got him to go along with your plan.”