“We don’t want anything,”
Laura laughed. “We’re going to kill you.”
She dragged Sarah over to
the back of the sofa and pushed her down to the floor. She bent down and shook
her gun at her.
“Leave her alone,” I
screamed. “She’s just a little old lady. Can’t you see that? She can’t hurt
you. She’s powerless.”
Laura gave Sarah a kick,
and then walked over to me. “You had better shut up while you still have a
chance,” she said, “unless you want the same thing.”
Sarah was balled up on the
floor, holding the leg that had been kicked. She was in pain. The look on her
face was one of terror.
Laura produced a roll of
duct tape and began to bind Sarah’s wrists. She tore off a final strip and
pressed it across her mouth.
I was horrified. All I
could think about was how to get to my gun. If I could get my gun, I could stop
them. I’ll kill them both. One shot to the head each. I could do it.
The last time I’d gone to
the back door with a gun in my hand, I hadn’t taken the time to put it away.
Instead, I’d stuck it in my purse which was now sitting on the floor by the
sofa. That was a true twist of fate. I prayed that it would play in our favor.
Brad shoved me down next to
Sarah and taped my hands. His gun lay next to him on the floor. It was my gun!
It had my initials on the barrel.
“You scum!” I yelled at
him. “You better pray I don’t get free.”
He picked up the gun and
hit me in the head. I blacked out.
When I came to, Claire was
lying beside me, moaning. She had an ugly gash above her right eye that
continued to ooze blood. Her hands were bound with the duct tape.
Sarah sat motionless on the
other side of me, her eyes wide with fear.
Poor Thor had crawled his
way over and lay at my feet. He wasn’t dead after all. A small patch of skin on
his head was missing and blood matted along his right ear. I could tell from
his labored breathing that he needed medical attention if he was to live.
Athena was M.I.A.
Laura and Brad were no
longer in the room with us. I was worried that they had gone upstairs where the
children were sleeping, but that fear subsided when I heard them talking in my
bedroom. It became clear from the tone of their voices that they were arguing.
This was my chance to do
something. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements or sounds. I looked at
Sarah and said in a low voice, “My gun is in my purse on the floor beside the
sofa. Grab it for me.”
“You left your gun lying
around with my kids in the house? Are you crazy?” Claire managed to gasp out.
She was in pain, but her thoughts were with her children. “I can’t believe you
would do something so stupid, Jesse. Do you have any idea how many kids die
each year from guns? You should know better. Where was your mind?”
Claire had laid a major
guilt trip on me, and she was right. This was one mistake I would never forget
or make again, but for now I would not browbeat myself to death. If we survived
this night there would be plenty of time for that later. Hopefully, this error
would save our lives. If not, well, I guess it wouldn’t matter.
“I’m sorry, Claire. I never
thought about the danger. I promise it will never happen again.”
“If you want my kids to
visit you, it better never happen again. I don’t allow them around guns. I
shouldn’t have to tell you how unsafe they are... you should already know. I
know that you carry a gun, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
I let her go on and on
until she had her say. She had the right. As far as she was concerned, I had
made an egregious error in judgment. I might have, but in this case, I think it
might prove to be our salvation. My mistake could work for us, if I could just
get to my gun.
I looked at Sarah as she
scooted her way over to the end of the sofa. Within seconds, she returned to
her position and handed me the gun.
That’s when I realized what
a bunch of idiots Laura and Brad were. They weren’t even smart enough to tie
our hands behind our backs. That brought a smile to my face. I held the gun
with both hands, placing my finger on the trigger. I thought about getting
Sarah to unwrap the tape on my wrists, but was afraid the noise would attract
attention. I hid my hands between my legs and waited for them to come back into
the room.
I would shoot Brad first.
Laura had seemed a little edgy right from the start, and I figured that was all
it would take to bring her down. I was counting on her falling apart once Brad
was taken out of the picture.
I pretended to still be
unconscious when Brad and Laura returned. Their arguing grew more intense, and
I could tell that they were becoming distracted by an agenda unknown to the
rest of us.
“We have to find that
picture,” Brad yelled at her. “If it gets into the hands of the cops, we’re
dead. We can’t go back without it. You heard what he said. He’ll kill us.”
“Don’t yell at me! I’m not
the one who insisted on having the picture taken, remember? If you hadn’t been
so hot to get next to that hussy, none of this would have happened.”
“Are you going to start
that again? I told you there was nothing between us. Let it rest, will you?”
“Stop lying! I’m sick of
it, and I’m sick of you! Let’s just finish the job and get out of here. What
you do with your life after that is up to you.”
“Watch your mouth, dear. It
could get you killed.”
Pieces of the puzzle were
starting to come together, but it still didn’t make any sense. It all seemed so
trivial.
“Why would someone have two
people killed just because he got his face caught on film?” I asked, pretending
to have just regained consciousness. “That’s ridiculous!”
Brad and Laura stopped
arguing and spun around, glaring in my direction. Their faces were filled with
rage.
“I want that picture or
you’re going to be dead meat!” Brad yelled.
Laura grabbed him by the
arm and led him to the side. “If you kill her now we’ll never get the picture.
Think about it for a minute. Why do you always have to go off half-cocked?”
“She’s right, you know,” I
butted into their conversation, stalling for time. I wasn’t going to go down
without a fight, and if I was going to die, I wanted to know why. Once I pulled
the trigger and the volley of bullets began, who knows what the outcome would
be? We could all die. “If you want the picture, I want to know why you killed
Mary and Roy. It surely wasn’t over a stupid picture of some guy.”
“I didn’t kill anybody,”
Laura cried. “He did.”
“Shut up!” Brad yelled,
then drew his hand back and slapped her across the face. “Why do you have to be
such a big mouth?”
Laura’s tears turned to
laughter as her anger rose. “You might as well tell her everything since you’re
going to kill her anyway. He said to kill all four of them. What could it
possibly hurt?”
“What do you mean, all four
of us?” I cried.
“That’s right,” Laura
announced. “You, your mother, your sister, and that boyfriend of yours are
going to die. Make it five. We don’t want to forget her.” She pointed to Sarah.
“We can’t leave any witnesses behind.”
“But why kill us if all you
want is the picture?” I asked. “I’ll give it to you and then you can go. We
won’t tell a soul.”
“Right,” Brad hissed. “How
many times has that line been used? I don’t think so, lady. You’re all going to
die.”
“How did you know I had the
picture?” I asked, hoping to distract him further. I needed more time to get up
the nerve to shoot them. I have never even pulled a gun on anybody, let alone
actually shot someone. This was going to take a lot of courage.
“We have our ways,” Brad
said. “You don’t have a clue as to what’s going on, do you? You’re really in
the dark, aren’t you, babe?”
“Billy says the same thing
to me all the time,” I recounted. “It turns out that every time he says that,
his ways are usually less than legal. Most of the time, I try to ignore some of
the things he does. By the way, who’s Chicky? Is he one of your killing pals?
Do you work together as a team or is he just one of your flunkies?”
I must have caught Laura
and Brad off guard by my question, because they both sucked in their breath as
their eyebrows creased into a malicious leer. They turned their backs to me and
whispered to each other.
“Here’s the deal,” Brad
said, turning around. “I’m going to give you the condensed version, and then
you’re going to give me the picture.”
“Then you’re going to kill
us,” I added. “Why should I give you the picture if you’re still going to kill
us in the end?”
“If you don’t give me the
picture, I won’t give you the pleasure of going first. I’ll make you watch me
kill everyone else. And I’ll make it ugly. I’ll make the first one so ugly,
you’ll beg me to kill you next.”
Boy, have I got a surprise
for you, pal, I thought to myself. I wasn’t going to give Brad or Laura the
opportunity to get off the first shot. I swallowed and sunk back against the
sofa as if in defeat. I shook my head in agreement to his terms and waited for
him to tell all. Under the circumstances, I didn’t have any say in the matter.
“A couple of years ago,
Roy
got
involved with some men who worked for a guy named Clayton Tyler. It turns out
Tyler
owns a
huge distribution center that secretly supplied the money to hire terrorists,
assassins, thieves, you name it. He got this money through the sale of large
quantities of drugs and arms, using his center as a warehouse. With the lure of
all that money and all we had to do was steal drugs out of the evidence room,
or miscount on a bust, it’s no wonder I let
Roy
talk me into doing it.
Tyler
took real good care of
his employees until they became a liability.
Roy
got busted. He then became
a liability. That’s about the same time
Tyler
found out about the picture from the Christmas party.
He was furious. He said he couldn’t be seen in a room full of cops, since the
cops are the ones that have been after him for years. It would compromise his
whole operation. He wanted the picture, and he was willing to kill Roy and Mary
to get it.
Tyler
is a vengeful man. He had Mary kidnapped and used her
as leverage to get the picture from
Roy
.”
“What about the ransom
money?” I cut in.
“There was never any demand
for money.
Roy
made that up,” Brad continued. “The sad part was that
Roy
didn’t know anything about the picture. He was so drunk at the party, he could
hardly stand. Anyway, he couldn’t produce the picture so
Tyler
had Mary
killed. When that didn’t get results, he had
Roy
killed.”
“And he made you do the
killing,” I added.
“Roy and I were partners,”
he retorted. “With him out of the way, I’d get to take his place. I’d move up
the ladder of success. How ironic, isn’t it? I didn’t want to get involved with
these people to start with and now I’m taking his place. It’s funny how money
and power can change a person. Look at us. We have it all.”
“Except the picture,” I
lashed back at him.
“It’s a minor problem that
will soon be rectified.”
“Suppose you can’t produce
the picture, then what? Will
Tyler
send someone to kill you?”
“You’re starting to
understand. But that’s not going to happen, because in a few minutes, you’ll be
more than glad to give me what I want.”
“I can’t believe all of
this was over a stupid picture. That’s insane.”
“Not exactly,” Laura spoke.
“Your boyfriend’s relentless desire to nail Doug Tyler for the murder of that
woman played a key part. Doug Tyler is Clayton’s brother.”
“I suppose that means that
Doug killed that woman, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Brad answered.
“Why did you choose my
mother’s property to dump Mary’s body? Was that connected to Doug Tyler?”
“Yes,” Brad said. “He
wanted to throw suspicion on you and your boyfriend to get you off Doug’s back.
I thought it was a great plan.”
“I thought the watch was a
nice touch,” Laura added.
“
Tyler
figured
you’d be too busy trying to cover your butts and stay out of jail, to go after
his brother. Once you were in jail, the party would be over. He never counted
on you two getting your hands on the one thing he wanted most. Now he just
wants you all dead.”
“Don’t you think it’s going
to look strange to the police if you kill us?” I asked. “They already suspect...”
“It’s going to look like a
murder-suicide when I’m done,” he bragged, taking a step toward me, with my own
gun pointed in my direction. “I want that picture!”
“Just shoot her, and get it
over with, Brad. If we can’t find the picture, we’ll burn the house down. Then
we won’t have a thing to worry about.”