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“Oh god!” Kernicke’s voice, feminine and panicked, echoes from the front entrance. Squeaking out a cry that would, at any other time, make me laugh, his voice quivers and brings my gaze up with dangerous precision.
I look to Minka, then across to a silent Fletch.
“Please don’t hurt me!” Kernicke cries. “Plea—”
“Shit.” Hissing under my breath, I tear the gun from my thigh and twist to shield Minka when she attempts to step around me.
Always the hero, always the bravest, she tries to hurry forward to protect her staff, but when her bad knee makes her unsteady, she’s forced to stop and grab onto my arm for balance.
“I came to see my mom!” Ethan shouts through the house, so his voice echoes off the almost empty ground floor. “I didn’t invite you in here!”
“The house is surrounded, Ethan.” Gently prying Minka’s hand off my arm, I place it on the side of the bed and stare into her eyes for a moment.Stay the fuck here. Stay safe.
Swallowing and starting forward, I slowly approach the doorway, while across the room, Fletch backs up, circling and heading around to come through the living room on the front entrance’s other side.
When I reach the threshold, I groan at the sight in front of me: Ethan, standing on his toes, since he’s shorter than his captive, with an ugly red shade to his angry skin, and a long needle pressed to Kernicke’s neck.
Would it be terrible if I just let it happen?
“Put your weapon down.” I point my gun and block the doorway to keep him from passing me and reaching the girls. “Ethan O’Dey, put the needle down and let’s talk about this.”
“You weren’t supposed to be here.” His voice shakes with energy. Maybe nerves. Adrenaline. “You’re supposed to leave us alone.”
“You’re supposed to follow the law and not kill people. But here we are anyway.”
Kernicke is most of a foot taller than Ethan. Twice as wide. Which means Ethan has a damn good human shield and no way of dying unless I place a bullet between his eyes.
“Put it down,” I repeat, quieter, controlled. “We can discuss an insanity plea or some shit.”
“I’m not insane!” Pissed, he presses the needle into Kernicke’s neck so the steel pierces his skin, but he doesn’t inject the poison. “I’m not crazy! I know what I’m doing.”
“And what is that?” I ask. “What is it you’re doing?”
Over their shoulders, Fletch approaches in silence.
“Well?” To keep their attention on me, I ask again, “What is it you think you’re doing, Ethan? Because all I see is a guy poisoning women. For what? Because they wouldn’t go out with you?”
“They didn’thaveto go out with me! I didn’t say theyhadto.”
“So… what? They hurt your feelings when they said no? Your mommy hurt your feelings when she told you she didn’t love you anymore?”
“Don’t say that!” Tears spring free and torrent onto his cheeks. “Why would you say that?”
“Why would you kill innocent women just for the fucking sake of it?”
“I didn’t kill them for the sake of it! She told me to do it.”
“Shetold y—” Scowling, I look past a quivering Kernicke and study Ethan’s puffy, red stare. “Who? Who the hell told you to kill people?”
“My mom,” he chokes out. “She said… she said—”
“Ethan?”
Minka’s sweet voice makes me jump. Then her gentle hand on my arm makes me turn and sneer. But her presence makes Ethan slowly retract the needle.
“Hey,” she murmurs in a soft, honied tone. “Are you okay?”
“Doctor Mayet?” Ethan looks her up and down as she comes to a stop beside me. Her crutches creak when they hold her weight, then they squeak when she stands on her own. “Are you harmed?” His gaze drops to her knee. “Did someone hurt you?”
