“My purse, car keys.” She gasped. “The chinchilla.”
A fur coat? Have you completely lost it?
“Stop talking. I can’t think.” She cupped her head with her hands.
Pathetic. The voice cackled. You just declared war on the police and you still think you’re going to get away with this? “Shut up. Shut up.” Michelle stopped at the foot of the banister and hit her right temple with the butt of her gun. The voice quieted while she drew several breaths and calmed down. “Andrews?” A familiar voice called out. Michelle jumped and glanced around. Someone had made it into the house.
Get out of the damn house.
“Give it up, Andrews. D’Angelo has already sold you out, and we lifted your fingerprints today at Keystone. There’s no settlement money. There’s just a nice eight-by-ten jail cell with your name on it.”
“You’re lying,” she shouted.
The high cackle returned. I knew it. You’re an idiot.
“It’s the truth, Michelle. The four lawyers you met today were police officers. Give yourself up.”
“She’s lying. She has to be.” Michelle turned in time to see a curtain of black silk hair appeared from around the corner, and she fired in its direction. She missed, and then dodged out the way when Det. Delaney returned fire.
“You’re not going to win this one, Andrews,” Delaney yelled. “Give it up.”
Michelle crawled along the marble floor toward the foyer. She could win this. She had to win this.
Didn’t you hear her? There’s no money and you just drowned your last meal ticket. “Michelle!” She turned with her gun outstretched, but Delaney wasn’t behind her. “Talk to me, Michelle.” “My name is Josephine,” she whispered, and rubbed the gun at her temples. “Where is she?”
Maybe she’s the last cop is alive. Who knows, maybe D’Angelo’s men were good for something after all?
“Where is she?”
Let me take over. If we kill her, then maybe we still have a chance of getting out of this mess.
Michelle warmed to the idea.
Ming had no idea where she was headed in the house. The place was like a fortress, and Michelle could be anywhere. However, if she could just keep the woman talking, she had a chance of zeroing in on her.
“Where’s Josephine, Michelle? What did you do with her?”
A high, eerie cackle reverberated off the walls surrounding Ming. The laughter didn’t help locate Michelle since it seemed to be coming from all directions. There was no doubt in her mind the tables had just turned and she was now the hunted.
Ming drew a deep breath and reengaged in her tactical objective. “What’s so funny, Michelle? Did you harm Josephine?”
In answer, a shot was fired, and a vase exploded near Ming’s head. She turned to her immediate left and then tumbled over a glass table. As she fell sideways, she fired her weapon blindly, but she was stunned when her head banged off the corner of another table.
“Focus, focus. Stay in focus,” she whispered, but the pain raced through her head like a locomotive and darkened the edges of her vision. Michelle’s voice floated threatening in the air above Ming, and she fired at a moving blur. “Say hi to Josie for me,” Michelle cackled from the upstairs landing. A gun fired.
Michelle slammed into the wall behind her with a shriek and dropped her weapon. Slowly, her eyes lowered to her blue chemise and stared in horror at the blossoming red rose.
“Anything you want to say, you say it to me,” Josie shouted, as she kept her gun trained above her. When Michelle fell back, she also disappeared from view, but Josie waited and strained her ears for the slightest sound.
Then suddenly she saw a gun and dived for cover. Two quick shots were fired and punctured two holes in the wall, where Josie had last stood.
“You think you can take me?” Michelle’s high cackle echoed through the house.
Josie crawled along the floor, hoping to find a spot not visible from the landing above her. What in the hell is she doing? She urged herself to remain calm, but the house had gone too quiet. Where the hell is she now? Josie glanced across the room to the fallen woman. Was she another cop? Were there more? “Peek-a-boo,” Michelle sang.
Another shot rang out, and Josie felt the sting of a bullet gaze her face, but she wasted no time in firing back in the same direction bullet came. At the sound of Michelle’s startled gasp and a hard thud, Josie guessed she had hit her mark.
She inched out of her hiding place for a better view of the landing over her. She didn’t see anything. Is Michelle dead?
Her attention flew back to the Asian woman on the floor, and she decided to first check on her. She knelt and felt for a pulse. The woman was still breathing, but one of her ears was bleeding.
A couple of minutes had passed, and Josie still heard nothing from upstairs. She needed to check. She needed to see if it was finally over.
The woman stirred.
Josie lowered her weapon to ask whether she was all right and was completely taken by surprise when the woman placed a gun at her temple. “Don’t shoot.” “Come to finish me off, Michelle?” The Asian managed awkwardly to rise from the floor. “Drop your weapon.” “You don’t understand. I’m…” “Drop it!” Josie slowly lowered her gun. “You’re making a mistake. I’m Josephine Ferrell.” “Sure you are, and I’m...” The woman’s eyes narrowed, and then roamed over Josie’s attire. “She’s telling the truth,” a man voice floated toward. Josie turned to see the same police cop from lake.
The female cop lowered her weapon, but she continued to look at Josie with surprise. “Please, place your weapon on the floor,” she instructed. She glanced at Det. Simmons again and at his encouraging nod, she did as she was told. “Where is Andrews?” “Upstairs,” Josie answered. “I shot her before she could finish you off.” The woman looked to her partner. “Check it out.” He nodded and raced across the living room. “Detective Delaney.” The woman stretched out her hand. Josie glanced at it, and then accepted the handshake. “Nice to meet you.” “Got to tell you, I thought you were dead.” “I nearly was.” “We got a problem,” Simmons yelled from the upstairs’ landing. Josie and Det. Delaney looked up. Simmons met each of their gazes. “There’s a trail of blood up here, but Andrews is gone.”
#
Michelle crawled inside the red Jaguar and placed the gun in her lap as a river of sweat tickled down the sides of her face. The pain spreading across her body was nearly unbearable, but she had to get out there.
You still could have finished them off.
She ignored the voice and struggled to put her key into the ignition.
She was right there in front of us. Right there.
“I need to get out of here,” Michelle panted, still fumbling with the keys.
What are you talking about? We can’t leave until we kill them. Go back in there.
“Please shut up.” She finally slid in the right key and punched for the door of the garage to open. “I just need to get somewhere so I can think.”
There’s nothing to think about. You have to kill them all. It’s the only way.
“N-no. I can’t,” she moaned. “I have to t-think. My chest hurts.”
Stop whining. This is what you always do when the going gets rough. You wanted this, remember? You wanted to be Josephine. Suck it up and get back in there and take care of business. “Shut up.” Michelle groaned and shifted the car into drive. However, the moment she pulled out the garage she stopped. In front of her, and to her astonishment, a long trail of flashing blue-and-white lights charged up the driveway. “The police.”