AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes.” Theodosia lowered the gun. “I’m sorry. I know you’re against... but I couldn’t just...” Words seemed to elude her.
“Shush,” Drayton said, his voice filling with gentleness and compassion. His mind was starting to function again, his body responding to sensory cues. Finally, he said, “Theodosia, you saved my life!”
They both looked down at Philip, who was now swearing a blue streak as he continued to writhe in the dirt. The front of his shirt was soaked with bright red blood.
“You hit him in the shoulder,” Drayton said.
I was aiming for center mass,” Theodosia said. “You know, kind of like the police do on TV.”
“Doesn’t matter where you hit him, you got him. You stopped him.”
Philip looked up at Theodosia and blinked in astonishment. “You! You tried to kill me!” he bellowed. Then his eyes went round as he suddenly noticed flecks of blood all over his shirt and hands. “You did, you shot me, you crazy witch. I’m going to come after you—gonna sue you for everything you’ve got. When I’m done you’ll be lucky to get a job scraping plates in a greasy diner!”
There was a sudden pounding of feet, and when Theodosia glanced over her shoulder, she saw Lamar Lucket standing there, mouth open, breathless from his run, but staring at her in amazement. Then he turned his gaze on Philip and saw his bloody shirt.
“You shot him?” Lucket sounded horrified.
“He was trying to kill Drayton,” Theodosia said tiredly. “First with the bull in the pen, then with his pistol.”
Lucket lifted a single eyebrow and turned to Drayton. “That so?” he asked. Then he took in Drayton’s torn jacket, his dust-covered face, and said, “Jeez, I guess she’s right.”
“Of course, I’m right,” Theodosia said. “Philip Boldt is the one who shot Osgood Claxton and murdered Booker as well. And I can prove it.”
“You lie!” Philip shouted.
“You’re a cowardly, murdering thug,” Theodosia said slowly and deliberately. “The police are going to run a ballistics test on your gun and then you’ll be convicted of two murders and sent to prison for a very long time.”
“Don’t threaten me, girly,” Philip screamed back. His eyes were shiny and dark, like a pit viper.
“That wasn’t an idle threat, Philip,” Theodosia said, her voice shaking with anger. “That was a promise.”
Then she crept a few paces away so she could call Riley.
33
Calling was easy; explaining the situation to Riley was the hard part.
“You shot a man?” Riley sounded incredulous. “Just like that?”
“Not just like that,” Theodosia said. The neurons in her brain were starting to fire and she was feeling more like her old self again. “Philip Boldt was about to shoot Drayton. Aiming to kill him.”
“You’re talking about Philip Boldt, the restaurant guy?”
“The very same. First Philip let this enormous bull loose to terrorize Drayton and gore him to death. When that didn’t work, Philip aimed his gun at Drayton, meaning to kill him. So, you see, I had to shoot. Fact of the matter is, Boldt drew first.”
“Theodosia, this isn’t the O.K. Corral and you’re not Annie Oakley.” Riley sounded a tiny bit hysterical. Then again, his girlfriend had just shot someone.
“Wyatt Earp,” she said. “Wyatt Earp was at the O.K. Corral. And Doc Holliday.”
“Whatever.”
“We need someone from law enforcement to sort this all out,” Theodosia said. “Can you come out here?”
“Where’s here?”
“Red Hat Cattle Ranch, just down from Frog Hollow Farm. It’s, um, out Highway 17, not too far past Boone Hall Plantation.”
“I... I still can’t believe this.”
