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By the time I finished my look-see, Black was wearing a faint smile.
“We’re going to give Mr.Elwood a ride to the police station.He’d like to confess a few things.”
“I need to change my clothes first,” he whined.“You said I could change my clothes.”
Black waved in the direction of the bedroom.“Be my guest.”
We followed him along the hallway and waited outside the door while he got dressed.I had no desire to see his frank and beans.A moment later, Ana spoke through my earpiece.
“You called it.He tried to go through the window, but he’s back inside now.Heading for the closet.”
The door opened, and Mike stood before us, mouth set in a hard line as he aimed his semi-automatic at Black’s chest.Oh, he tried to look tough, but his shaking hands gave the game away.
“Get out of my house.”
Black merely sighed.“We’ve just established that this isn’t your house.”
“You broke in!”
“We didn’t break a thing.”
Both Black and I were proficient at picking locks.He’d done the honours this time.
“Ever heard of the castle doctrine?”
“Of course.”
“So you know that I can use deadly force to defend my home.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“Then you’ll understand this.”
Mike pulled the trigger, and the gun clicked.Click-click-click.Yup, called it again.Sweat popped out on his brow as he stared at the useless weapon, unable to fathom why it wasn’t working.Hadn’t he noticed the change in weight when he picked it up?Clearly not.Dumbass.
Black picked him up and threw him back into the bedroom.
“You have five minutes.”
Five minutes later, Black and I stared down at the mess in the bathroom.Blood leaked from Mike’s wrists into the tub and trickled down the plughole.He was alive, but barely.
“Oh dear.”By my estimation, he had a minute or two to live.“What a terrible shame.”
Think I was upset?Think again.Why else would I have left the straight razor on the vanity?
Black was similarly distraught.“Overall, it’s a good outcome for taxpayers.Ready to go?”
“Do you want Italian or Chinese for dinner?”
“Is that even a question?”
Italian.Black always picked Italian.With gloved hands, I reloaded the weapons in the bedroom, and we faded into the night.
Our plan had gone swimmingly up until that point, so we were about due for a hiccup.And the hiccup came the next morning when the subject of an investigation got spooked and ran, so Black headed down to LA with Vance to assist in locating him.Ana and I were preparing to travel back to Virginia on our own when Hallie called.Was anyone available to help with a teensy issue in Oregon?
Originally, Dan—Hallie’s boss and a close friend of mine—had planned to go with her, but Dan’s son had just been sent home from school with suspected tonsillitis.Since the Oregon case involved a kid, and kids puzzled Hallie and scared the crap out of me, Ana—who was a mom and therefore qualified to advise on parental issues—agreed to provide support.And we’d wrapped up the case in a pretty little bow.The end.
Or so I’d hoped.
Now we were in the tiny little town of Baldwin’s Shore, although not for much longer.Hallie’s case was closed, and we were finally ready to fly home.Or at least, we’d be ready as soon as we removed Bradley from the fucking craft store.My life was full of challenges, and this promised to be one of the toughest yet.