Chapter 150

The gun burped again, and his other kneecap shattered. “That was for burning down my cabin. I loved that cabin. It was the only place I ever felt quite at home.”

“Fuck you,” Frankie screamed through his pain and rage.

“Good-bye, Frankie,” the man said.

He heard the gun burp one final time, and then nothing else registered as the bullet entered his skull.

One down, two to go, the killer thought as he slipped out the backdoor of the house. With any luck, it might be a few days before anybody missed Frankie enough to come looking for him.

He found his rental car right where he’d left it and headed for Los Angeles.

Maggie Valley, NC

THE FIRE HAD BEEN allowed to die down, and I made sure that it was safely contained. Mike took Thor out for a final time; then we retired. We slept a little later than usual the next morning and woke to find that our guests had already headed home.

“Alone at last,” Mike said.

“Yeah. Let’s go back to bed.”

“Race you.”