No Exit by Taylor Adams 2

makes her a liability. So we came up here to kill her after she
gave us the key. Make it look like a robbery-gone-wrong,
gunshot-to-the-face deal. But I wasn’t expecting the blizzard,
or for her to bring Cousin Ed. And I wasn’t expecting you,
obviously.”
It all interlocked and made a macabre sort of sense.
Except for one last unknown, burning in the back of Darby’s
mind with unresolved tension. “Then … if there’s no ransom
money, what’re you going to do with Jay?”
“Hey.” Ashley snapped his fingers in her face again.
“Answer mine first, okay? Where are my keys?”
“What are you going to do with her?”
He smiled guiltily. “It’ll just make you uncooperative.”
“Yeah? What the hell have I been all night?”
“Trust me, Darbs. Just trust me on this one.” He stood up,
hefting the orange nail gun, and paced across the room.
“Because, hallelujah, I’ve figured you out. I could slam that
door on each of your fingers until the sun comes up, until you
have nothing but bloody hamburger-hands, and you still won’t
tell me what I need to know, because you’re just not that kind
of person. You’re a hero, a bleeding-heart. Your whole night
went to hell because you broke into a van to save a stranger.
So guess what? Here’s your chance to save another one.”
He crouched beside Ed and pressed the nail gun to his
forehead. The older man’s eyelids slid groggily half-open.
“Now, Darbs,” Ashley said, “I’m going to count down
from five. You’re going to tell me where you hid my keychain,
or I’ll kill Ed.”
She shook her head, thrashing left to right, helpless denial.
Up on the wall, the Garfield clock now read 5:30 (4:30) a.m.
It’s been thirty-two minutes. The police are late—
Ashley raised his voice. “Five.”
“No. I … I can’t—”