“Nick,” Zane whispered.
“His cane is a gun, Garrett.”
Zane’s eyes darted to Hamish’s cane.
“Are you serious right now?”
“I’ve seen them before,” Nick assured Zane. “It’s a gun.”
“That’s preposterous!” Hamish shouted. He raised the cane to wave it around, and Ty hit Zane from the side, tackling him to the ground and covering his body with his. There was a sound like someone opening a biscuit can, and then the room devolved into madness. Zane rolled to his feet, drawing his weapon.
Solomon Frost, the blond Snake Eater who seemed to have made friends with everyone, had tackled Nick to the ground, and they were now wrestling over the gun in their hands. It went off, punching a hole through the wood paneling near Deuce and Livi’s heads. Livi screamed and Deuce lunged in front of her, shielding her and forcing her low to the ground. He reached out for the woman next to him, Miyoko Mason, who was holding her bloody arm and screaming that she’d been shot. The bullet fired from Hamish’s cane gun had hit her instead of Zane.
Hamish was frantically groping for something on the handle of his cane, and just as Kelly was about to take a run at the old man, he found the switch and a short knife flipped out of the bottom of the cane. Kelly skidded to a halt and took a step back.
“What the f**k kind of butler are you?” he shouted.
Hamish grinned and pointed his cane at Kelly’s face. “A bitter one.”
Zane didn’t know which way to turn or who to help first. Ty hadn’t gotten off the round yet. He was curled on his side, holding his arm, but it wasn’t clear if he’d been shot or if he’d merely aggravated his already hurt shoulder.
Nick hadn’t yet gained the upper hand against Frost, but he had managed to land an elbow or two to the man’s face and wrap his legs around Frost’s waist so he couldn’t roll off and get away.
Kelly had his gun out, pointing it at Hamish and ordering him to stand down. But he didn’t seem like he wanted to pull the trigger, and the old butler could see that.
“You had your own wife murdered,” Kelly said to him.
“You’ve obviously never been married.”
Kelly pursed his lips thoughtfully, shrugging like he might understand that reasoning.
English and Park pounced on Frost, burying Nick under yet another dog pile of limbs. Zane turned his gun on Hamish, only to fire off to the right at the last second when he saw a man standing directly behind Hamish, shovel raised high.
Chester took a mighty swing and whacked Hamish in the back of the head. The butler collapsed to the ground, his cane falling harmlessly at his side. English managed to subdue Frost, holding him in a headlock as Nick scratched and clawed his way out from under their weight.
Zane still stood in the middle of the chaos, every sense alert to every movement, every fiber of his being telling him there was still danger.
“What the f**k just happened?” Deuce shouted.
Chester laid his shovel over his shoulder and grinned at Zane. English and Park finally got Frost on his face, holding him down with a knee to his back. Kelly was helping Ty off the ground, looking at his shoulder and nodding. Nick was still sprawled on the floor, staring at the ceiling.
“Anyone have any rope?” English called out.
Kelly pulled out a pair of handcuffs and thrust them at Park.
“Why the hell do you have those?” Ty asked.
Kelly shrugged and grinned. “They’re Nick’s.”
“Oh God, no,” Ty blurted, covering his eyes.
Nick laughed. He rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees, but he remained there, either unable or unwilling to stand. He glanced up at Ty and Zane. “He likes the uniform, too.”
“No no no!” Ty cried.
“Well, that’s just unnecessary,” Earl said from the doorway. He had grabbed Mara and the two uninjured bridesmaids when the shooting had started and shoved them out of the room to safety. He also had the antique rifle from the dining room in his hands.
Hamish moaned and began to move. Zane shoved him to his back with the toe of his boot and pointed his gun in the old man’s face. “Start from the beginning.”
“I don’t know who paid us,” Hamish said groggily. His head was bleeding freely, but no one cared. “And you know the rest.”
“Humor me.”
“Jockie came to me with this plan. He said a man in a tavern had approached him. This island belonged to our families for centuries, and look at us! We’re servants on our own home!”
“Who else was involved?”
“No one! My wife had second thoughts and said she was going to tell Stanton, so we voted to get rid of her. That woman Nikki killed Aileen, then she and Maisie cut open Milton’s body to make you think Aileen was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Gross,” Ty grunted.
“It worked,” Kelly added.
“Who killed Milton and why?” Zane demanded.
“I think we have that answer over here,” English called. He had his gun in Frost’s mouth, and he took it out and pressed it to Frost’s cheek. “Talk.”
“Nikki figured out Milton was working for the government. She told me she needed backup for their meet,” Frost told them. He sounded both ashamed and sorrowful, like the entire thing had been something he’d been convinced to do rather than wanted to do. “I’m sorry, boss.”
“Shut up,” English snarled. “Lenny’s dead because of you. You’re dead to me too, for all you’re worth.”
Frost blinked up at him, his jaw tightening.
“Keep going,” Park ordered. They were the first words Zane had heard the man speak.
“Milton gave Nikki a flash drive. She gave him a suitcase of money. Then I hit him in the head and we left him there. We didn’t realize until later that the flash drive was corrupted. It put a virus on the computer we uploaded it to and erased everything.”
“Did you put that flash drive on my laptop?” Zane asked, remembering the inexplicable failure of his brand-new laptop.
Frost nodded.
“Did you kill Nikki?” Zane asked him.
“Yes. That was my job, to clear her after she’d done hers. I thought I was the last man standing, so when people kept dying I started freaking out too. And I didn’t even f**king know Kline was with us until she went crazy and put a gun to Stanton’s head. I swear to God I didn’t kill the guy upstairs!”