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Jimmy’s face fell and I saw his gun drop just a little. I knew Cain had a gun in his ankle holster, but I doubted he’d manage to reach it in time if Jimmy chose to fire.
“I know you didn’t mean to do it,” Moira quickly said and then she was striding up to Jimmy. She put her hands on his forearms as she looked at him imploringly. “I know you loved them, but you were under so much pressure with your work and me not being home as much.”
Jimmy nodded. “I just wanted to be with you.”
The despair in his voice sounded off and there was something about his words that weren’t quite right.
“I know,” Moira said softly. “It’s my fault,” she whispered. “I should have taken better care of you.”
I wanted to vomit as the woman twisted things so she could take the blame for the man’s cold-blooded actions that had stolen four lives and destroyed a fifth.
“I just wanted us to be together forever…like you promised.”
“Mom,” I heard Cain say even as his mother wrapped her arms around her husband and leaned her head against his chest.
“I’ll convince the judge, Jimmy. I’ll make him see and they’ll put you in the hospital for a little while. And I’ll come see you every day and then when you’re better, I’ll be waiting. Just like I’ve been waiting all these years.”
“I love you, Moira. Only you,” Jimmy whispered as he brought his arms in to wrap around his wife.
But I knew even before Cain shouted a strangled, “No!” that he wasn’t going to hug her.
The gunshot reverberated throughout the room and I watched in stunned silence as both Jimmy and Moira fell to the floor in a heap.
“No!” Cain cried out and then he was on his knees next to his mother. I reached his side just as he rolled her onto her back. The bullet had gone clean through her back and chest and I glanced up long enough to see it had pierced Jimmy’s chest as well.
But whereas Cain’s mother’s lifeless eyes were staring back at us, Jimmy’s were full of determination as he lifted the gun that was still in his hand to his head. I looked away as he pulled the trigger. I saw Cain stare in disbelief at the blood and brain matter splattered against the clean, white walls of his parents’ bedroom.
“Mom,” Cain called out as he cradled his mother’s body in his arms. I put my finger against her pulse, though I didn’t really need to.
“Ethan, please, you have to help her,” Cain whispered as his haunted eyes met mine.
“I’m sorry, Cain,” I said softly as I removed my finger from the woman’s neck. “It’s too late.”
“No,” he said with a shake of his head.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated as I put my arm around his shoulder. He rocked her back and forth in his arms as he whispered something I couldn’t understand and then he was gingerly putting her body back on the floor.
“I’ll call 911,” I said as I reached into his pocket for his phone.
“No,” he said, closing his hand over mine. His voice sounded like he’d swallowed broken glass.
“We need to call the police,” I reasoned.
“No,” he repeated. “We can’t risk them finding out who you are. We need to go.”
“Cain, no,” I said.
He ignored me and pulled me to my feet as he stood. He wiped at his face with his arm. His hand was covered in blood from where he’d been holding onto his mother, but that was it since most of her blood had and still was seeping into the carpet.
Cain held onto my hand as he wiped the bloody one on his jeans. He tugged his shirt off and led me around Jimmy’s body after grabbing his gun from the dead man’s waistband. “Don’t step in the blood,” he said. I did as he said and followed him from the room. He used his shirt to wipe at the doorknob. “Did you touch anything on your way in here?”
“No, nothing,” I said.
As we made our way back downstairs, he wiped the bannister down. At the front door, he used the shirt to open it, peered outside and then quickly wiped the knob behind us as he locked the door and pulled it shut.
He was too calm for my liking, but I knew he was focused on getting us out of there. “Get in,” he ordered as we reached the car. He went to the trunk where he dumped his shirt and grabbed another one from his bag. By the time he got in the driver’s seat, he was wearing it.
“Cain, we need to call someone,” I said as he got the car started.
“Someone probably heard the shots,” he said roughly. “I’ll have Daisy monitor the police scanners and if they don’t get a call, I’ll have her place an anonymous one.”
