Ding Dong!! Is She Dead? (23 page)

Arriving right on time, J.D. parked his personal vehicle close to the road in a corn field that was seldom used. Mike met him and took the steaks from him so that those crazy dogs would be distracted. J.D. helped him douse the edge of the hay field across the road that was part of the Double G.

They poured the gasoline along a huge stretch of road so it could take the fire fighters hours to get it under control. Hopping back in the truck, they pulled out and Mike lit several matches and threw them into the field. They waited for the flame to catch and then J.D. drove off slowly so that no one would pay any attention to his vehicle.

He dropped Mike off at the edge of the Double G property with the steaks. Mike took off walking through the corn field that was right next to the empty field he had been watching from. This way he could cross the road and hope that the fire would provide cover so that he would not be found.

He arrived back at his hiding place to watch and see how long it would take for the family and the rest of the ranch hands to clear out to take care of the fire.

Once, the alert had been sounded, people were racing in many directions, so no one noticed when Mike walked up to the back door of the guest house.

He pounded on the door, hoping that the urgency would make them open up without looking to see who it was first.

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Allie had been helping Megan and Sally to repaint the old guest house. It had fallen into disarray years before when the big house had been remodeled with the basement apartment. The apartment was cozy, but when everything settled down, Megan and Sally would need a more permanent place to live that would be more of their own space. G.G. had given them the place with two months’ rent free in exchange for doing all the manual labor that was required. She knew that it would take Megan a while to get on her feet and no one wanted to accept charity so this would help both of them out. Settling on a lower rent if they would put the work that was needed into making the old house livable again as they came across things that needed fixed. Megan and Sally were so excited that they could paint and decorate any way that they wanted.

The house had been empty so long that most of the furniture had to go to the trash. The cleanup had taken two weeks to get ready for the painting process. The girls hadn’t been able to wait and got started as soon as Justin and His dad left that morning. So only a few hours after they left, the ladies were still at it with only a small break.

Realizing that she would have to stop the madness, Allie was just about to suggest that they come back and do the trim after lunch, when there was a banging on the door. Allie glanced out the window to see that there were vehicles and people running everywhere. Assuming that there was something majorly wrong she opened the door to find a gun in her face.

Mike was standing there pushing her into the room with Megan. Turning to see who was there, Megan dropped the paint brushes that she going to clean. Mike kept the gun trained on Allie because he knew that Megan wouldn’t actually try to hurt him.

“Allie, take your gun out and put it on the floor. Just know that even though I have a gun, I also have a knife, so if you even try anything crazy I will gut you just like I did Julie. Sit on the floor in the corner,” he tossed zip ties to Megan who was shaking so badly that she dropped them.

“Megan, tie her up and don’t do anything more than I tell you to.” Mike was hoping that all the years of training that he had instilled in Megan would take over and keep her in line.

Megan bent down and grabbed the zip ties. Trying to remember how much Mike could hurt them, she did what he asked. Allie simply held her hands out, making sure to keep them a little apart so that maybe she could slip out when Mike wasn’t looking.

“Make sure that you do her feet as well.” Mike watched to make sure that Allie was taken care of since she was his biggest threat now that Karen was no longer protecting them.

“Get back against that wall, Megan.” He walked closer to Allie. Having pulled out his knife; he placed his gun in the back of his waist band. Keeping the knife where she could see it, he pulled on the ties and made sure that it was cutting off circulation.

“There that is how you do it you stupid, cow. Any one worth their salt would have made sure it was on better than that. You just can’t do anything right, can you?” He focused his attention on Megan, who had slid down the wall and was just waiting for him to hit her. She knew what was coming and Mike was never gentle.

Allie decided that she wouldn’t keep her mouth shut, since it looked like Megan had gone into shock mode. “So Mike, do you really need a woman like Megan? I mean what did you ever see in her? What you need is a real woman that would slap you back when you hit her. Someone who isn’t afraid to take what you hand out or maybe you just hit on her because you are too afraid to admit that you might like the other lifestyle better. It makes you feel more like a man’s man to hit on someone smaller than you. That way no one will know that you really would like for some guy to give it to you.” Allie had been watching to see what would make Mike flinch; instead he just grew calm and turned to face Allie.

“I’m sure that when this is all over there will be lots of reasons why I did this to my wife. I have never wanted a man of any kind. Women do it for me, but when a wife is not submissive then she needs to be taught a lesson. Now Megan here, stepped way over her bounds and showed the whole town that I wasn’t being a good husband by allowing her to do that. When the missus is not keeping up with her responsibilities; that is when she needs a good beating to make sure that she won’t forget what her duties are anytime soon. All she had to do was make sure that I got home and in bed before half the town had seen me in my truck asleep. This entire mess could have been avoided if she had just done her job.” Mike sounded so confident and sure of himself.

Allie was simply amazed that any man would think that a wife was only good for cleaning up his mistakes. When she went to open her mouth, Mike stepped in front of her tapping her lips with the tip of the knife.

“I’d keep that shut for the moment, if you don’t want me to cut it out. This is between me and my wife as it should have been from the beginning.” Mike faced Megan so that he could see when she was sorry for her actions.

“Megan, honey, I just need to know that you are sorry for your actions then you and I can go somewhere and start over as a family with Sally. I know that you didn’t understand what you were doing to our reputations, but now that you know, it won’t happen again.

Moving toward Megan, Mike crouched down so that he could see her expression as he trailed the knife along the side of her face. “So Meg, are you going to apologize so that we can get going? I don’t want to wait while they get the fire under control.”

Megan looked up at Mike then, “You bastard, you set the fire so that everyone would be out there trying to save their crop and they wouldn’t be able to save us. How could you do that to such innocent people?” Megan had gotten so used to allowing Mike to do whatever he wanted to her. Trying to hurt her new family, now that was a different story.

“Oh, Meg, they are not as innocent as you would have them think. They are keeping you from me. They were destroying our family by allowing you and Sally to start over without me. What kind of good people would do something like that? Families are supposed to stay together.”

“Mike, they are the best family that we could have ever asked for, because they truly love us. They have helped to get past all the old stuff and start with a new beginning. Sally has gotten so attached to the ranch hands and really considers G.G. and James as adopted grandparents.” Megan wasn’t quite as scared of Mike when she thought about all the people that loved them and would take much better care than Mike ever had.

“How dare you call these people family? What, my family wasn’t good enough for you? I built our family so that we could be there for each other in the circle of trust. Do you have any idea how much you hurt me when you broke my trust by involving all these people?” Mike stood up at these words and started pacing.

“Really Megan, I provided for you, gave you a child and a home, what else could you possibly have needed?” Mike threw the knife at her feet barely missing her ankles. Bending over to retrieve the knife, he grabbed Megan’s shoulders instead and started to shake her.

“Why did you need that woman to be your friend? She’s the one that put all those ideas in your head. You would have been the perfect wife if she hadn’t come around the house trying to make you into someone that you weren’t. I loved you as my wife.” Mike ended each sentence with a rough shake that made Megan’s teeth clang together loudly.

“That’s enough. Stop!” Startled that Allie would say anything after his little demonstration with the knife, Mike turned toward the doorway to see his daughter standing there shouting at him.

Sally was certain that her daddy was going to hurt her mommy again and it was time that he knew that it was against the rules.

Mike started to move toward Sally to hug her after weeks without having seen her.

Sally reached out and picked up the gun that was lying on the floor where Allie had left it. “I said, ‘stop, that daddy.’ You are not going to hurt my mommy again.”

“Sally, just put down the gun honey before someone gets hurt.” Mike started to edge slowly towards Sally to take the gun from her.

Sally just backed closer to the doorway so that Mike couldn’t reach her. “If you come any closer I will shoot your knees out. I am going to make sure that you don’t ever hurt my mommy again, you bad, bad daddy.”

Mike stopped to reconsider when Sally readjusted to make sure that both hands were holding the gun steady. “Sweetie, mommy and I have just had a misunderstanding that’s all.”

“Don’t lie to me daddy, I’m not stupid. I know that you hurt my mommy and put her in the hospital. Then you went back to punish her for telling the good police that you were a bully. Bullies get in trouble at school, daddy. We are supposed to stand up to bullies. You didn’t listen to the good police; you hurt Aunt Julie and Aunt Allie. So you are not my daddy anymore. You are the bad police and you can’t hurt my mommy again.”

Mike didn’t try to argue with her he just lunged toward Sally hoping to distract her.

Sally was smarter that he was and jumped back through the doorway. Aiming at his right knee, she shot the pistol, but she jerked it when it went off hitting his foot instead.

Megan rushed over toward Sally, engulfing her in a huge hug. Knowing Mike would immediately take out his anger on Sally, Megan shielded her leaving her back facing Mike.

Mike was hopping up and down on one foot muttering, “She shot me. My own kid shot me.” Disbelief edged thru his voice. If he hadn’t seen the evidence of blood pouring from his foot, he wouldn’t have believed it. Taking the gun from the back of his pants he aimed it at both Megan and Sally.

Knowing that they had both betrayed him, he flicked the safety off.

“Die, you Bitches.” He shouted and pulled the trigger.

Hearing the shot and knowing that they must be hit, Megan looked at Sally, but didn’t see any blood. Hesitating to turn around, she looked up and saw that G.G. had a gun pointed past them straight at Mike. Sally followed Megan’s gaze and saw that G.G. had blood coming from her chest.

“No, G.G. Don’t be dead.” Sally raced to her side as she slid to the floor.

Megan turned to see why Mike had gone silent, only to find him holding his chest. She raced over to him, kneeling beside him. She could make out his raspy voice trying to say something.

“The old lady shot me. First my kid and then an old lady got the better of me.” Mike last words were of total disbelief.

Megan bent closer so that she could whisper in his ear. “I’m so glad that she did, since I couldn’t kill you. I did love you. I just wish that I hadn’t ever met you. I know that you will get your just rewards where you are going.”

Megan got up leaving Mike gasping at her words and walked over to make sure that G.G. would be okay.

Allie had managed to scoot over and pick up the knife that Mike had dropped when he was shot. Cutting the zip ties from her feet first, she looked at her hands. “Megan, could you please cut these off me so that I can call an ambulance for G.G.?”

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The next few hours were confusing. Between all of the police officer, paramedics, and firefighters there was no chance to really think about the fact that Mike was dead. Megan had gone with G.G. to the hospital while Allie stayed to help with Sally.

Justin and the ranch hands had raced back when they got a message from G.G. about what was happening with the fire.

The fire was finally put out and was in no danger of hitting the fields with the crops that the Greeley’s grew. It had taken over and burned a pasture that they collected hay from, but the fire department was able to contain it from spreading to the nearby fields with actual crops.

In all of the chaos no one had informed Justin or his dad that G.G. was in the hospital so when they arrived ready to help with the fire they were in for a surprise.