Never Tell Them N.L. Hinkens (books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📖

that Tom bled that much after hitting his head on the bench. His death had been no accident. It had been a cold-blooded and heartless murder—perpetrated on a helpless man.

“Why?” Ray whispered. ”What did Tom ever do to you?”

“It’s not about what he did; it’s about what he knew,” Finn said, lifting his gaze to stare out the window. “Turns out Katie was a lot more resourceful than I gave her credit for.” He gestured to the trapdoor in the floor. “I kept her and the boy in the bunker when I wasn’t around. When I was home, I sometimes let them stay up here so they could move about. I was chopping wood at the back of the cabin one day, and she managed to pick the lock on the door with a nail and escape with Henry. Took me a couple of hours to track her down, but I found her, eventually, hiding in a hollowed-out tree like a scared rabbit.” He fell silent, anger sparking in his steely eyes. “She wouldn’t tell me where she’d hidden Henry. Tom must have found him shortly before you showed up at his cabin—probably heard him whimpering or something. Henry wasn’t much of a talker, but he knew his mother’s name. It wouldn’t have taken Tom long to put two and two together. I couldn’t let him live.”

“And Katie?” Sonia asked, fixing an accusing gaze on Finn. “Where is she?”

Finn grinned, and began crooning in a mocking fashion. “If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise.” He laughed and slapped his thigh. “The forest’s full of wild surprises, my love: bear, wild boar, coyotes, cougars. Take your pick.”

“You’re the only animal here!” Sonia spat at him. “You killed her, didn’t you?”

Finn laughed again before turning back to Ray. ”I wasn’t looking for a dog that day when I bumped into you—I was looking for Katie. She fought me like a banshee when I found her, screaming and hollering. I had to get rid of her. I passed Tom’s cabin on my way back and overheard you telling him Celia was dead. And then you two started getting into it over Tom neglecting his son. I hung around and watched you take off with Henry. When I saw Tom trying to get up off the floor, I knew it was my chance to unload Henry on you.”

“How could you murder two innocent people in cold blood like that?” Sonia screamed at him. “Are we next, Finn? Is that your grand finale?”

He smoothed a hand over his beard. ”It doesn’t have to be. I have a proposal for Ray if he decides to cooperate.”

Ray scowled at him. “That depends on what you have in mind.”

“You agree to sign Celia’s estate over to me, and I’ll let you live. Of course, I’ll have to keep you in the bunker until the money hits my account, but, once it does, I’ll put in an anonymous call to the police and let them know where to find you.”

“And if I agree, what about Sonia?” Ray asked.

Finn narrowed his eyes. “You got something going with my wife, or what? Why do you care what happens to her? She goes where I go.”

“I’m not your wife anymore!” Sonia hissed through gritted teeth.

“Either she stays here with me, or there’s no deal,” Ray said.

Finn smirked. “That’s heroic. She can stay here, for now, so long as you keep up your end of the bargain. Otherwise, you’ll both be digging graves by the light of the moon.”

”You’ve done nothing but lie to me ever since I met you,” Ray said. “Why should I believe you now?”

Finn gave a nonchalant shrug. ”Your choice.” He ran a finger along the gun in his hands. “So, do you want to die today, or do you want to sign the paperwork I left at Tom’s cabin?”

Ray threw Sonia a searching look. Her pale face was streaked with tears and dirt, her hair damp and tangled, and her eyes filled with the fear of prey that had walked into a trap and knew it was a fatal blunder. This was all his fault. He had dragged her into this mess by asking her to drive him to the cabin. Somehow, he needed to get her out of here. The first step was to buy some time. ”All right, I’ll sign it.”

Finn grunted his approval and got to his feet. He paused at the door and flashed them a broad grin. ”Tell you what, I’ll even throw in Henry for good measure. Then you can all be one big happy family.”

Ray clenched his teeth until the sound of Finn’s maniacal laughter gradually faded.

“I’m so sorry—“ he began.

Sonia cut him off. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I can’t believe my family has been living off your mother for the past five years—stealing from her.”

“You didn’t know,” Ray said. “That was all on Finn.”

Sonia shook her head. “I should have been paying more attention to what was going on. I remember thinking at one point it was odd that I wasn’t getting military-related correspondence anymore. But to be honest, I was just so glad to have Finn out of our lives that I didn’t question it. I didn’t even notice that the child support had started coming from a new account. I never told your mother Finn was abusive—I didn’t want Jessica to find out. If only I’d said something, he would never have been able to dupe her like he did.”

“None of this is your fault,” Ray assured her. “I really am sorry I dragged you into this mess, and I’m sorry for lying to you about my wife dying of cancer. I made that up to shut down any questions about Henry’s mother. It’s all coming back to me bit by bit.”

Sonia suppressed a sob. ”Finn was so angry when I filed for divorce. He always told me he would win in the end. If he kills