Envy Mass Market

/> “I was the element that made the plot work.”

Mike nodded somberly. “Every good plot has one component that links all the others. The common thread that seams the pieces together.”

“What’s the ending to be?”

“He wouldn’t tell me.”

“Maybe he doesn’t have an ending. Maybe deceiving me, bedding me, and being able to laugh up his sleeve at Noah over it is vengeance enough for him.”

Mike responded to the bitterness she couldn’t conceal. “I’m not justifying what he’s done, Maris. But I can understand it. Parker feels everything passionately or not at all. It’s the only level of experience that makes sense to him. Otherwise, why bother? How could he be less passionate about vengeance?

“He wanted Noah to experience at least twinges of the pain he had suffered because of him. He wanted Noah to know what it felt like to be deceived and betrayed to the nth degree. So Parker tricked you into coming to him. You both betrayed Noah by sleeping—”

“Oh, my God!” She reached out and gripped Mike’s sleeve. “I’ve just figured out his plot.”

“His—”

“Plot. His ending.” She wet her lips, spoke hurriedly. “Earlier, you quoted Noah from his videotaped deposition. He claimed that Parker had turned devious, lecherous, and…”

“Murderous,” Mike finished, slapping his forehead. “Goddamn me for being so old and stupid. As many plots as I’ve analyzed, I should have realized where he was going. That’s why he hasn’t shared the last chapter with me.”

Maris rattled off her racing thoughts. “Parker’s done everything Noah accused him of. Except—” She looked at Mike with alarm. “He couldn’t,” she said huskily. “He wouldn’t. I know he wouldn’t.”

“I don’t believe so, either.”

But neither sounded convinced. “He’s not capable of it,” she stressed. “I wouldn’t have been attracted to him, wouldn’t have—”

“Loved him?”

“For God’s sake, Mike, I fell in love with the main character of The Vanquished. And transferred that love to the author. Look where that got me. I no longer trust my emotions. I believed that Parker at least cared for me. If I hadn’t believed that, I wouldn’t have slept with him. But maybe I’m wrong again. Maybe…”

She pressed her fist against her heart, recalling how cruel Parker had been that awful morning. Considering all the pain and resentment, bitterness and anger that had been simmering inside him for the past fourteen years, perhaps he was capable of murder.

To his mind, Noah had stolen the life he’d had planned for himself. Tit for tat. An eye for an eye. Noah’s life for the one Noah had taken from him. Noah’s life in exchange for Mary Catherine’s.

Now, that she could easily believe. Parker might not kill for revenge, but he might for justice. He had liked that girl. He had regarded her as his friend and felt compassion for her. He would feel justified seeking vengeance for her death.

She surged to her feet. “We’ve got to stop him.”

But at the door, she drew herself up short. She had panicked unnecessarily. Clasping her hands, she bowed her head over them as though in prayer. “Thank God.” Turning back around, she said to Mike, “We’re not too late. Noah doesn’t know that the writer I’ve been working with is Parker. He hasn’t read Envy.”

Mike dragged his hands down his face, groaning, “Oh, no.”

Chapter 35

Noah, fresh off a chartered boat from the mainland, entered Terry’s Bar and Grill with a condescending attitude that immediately catapulted him to the top of the endangered species list.

The locals disliked nonislanders in general, but they particularly disliked any who looked down their noses at them. They despised Noah Reed on sight. In fact, he might not have been allowed to tie up his boat at the dock if Parker hadn’t spread word around that he was expecting a citified visitor from up north. If anybody spotted such a person, he was to be directed to Terry’s, where Parker would be waiting.

Noah approached the bar and addressed Terry with a rude, “Hey!”

Terry, who happened to be uncapping a longneck at the time, sent the bottle of beer sliding down the bar toward one of his regulars, ignoring Noah.

“Didn’t you hear me?”

Terry shifted a gnawed matchstick from one corner of his mouth to the other. “I heard ya. People wanna talk to me, they talk to me proper, else they’re likely to disappear. Now get the fuck outta my place.”

“I think you’ve already worn out your welcome, Noah.” At the sound of his voice, Noah spun around. Parker grinned up at him. “Record time, too.”