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He slowly walked up to the truck and peered inside.
He saw the blood inside the cab, so he knew he’d hit her.
He followed the trail of blood to the front door and poked his head inside.
He heard it before he could see her.
Moaning.
He made his way slowly down the grand hall, peering cautiously into each room he passed. The sounds of moaning were growing louder, but in this cavernous place they seemed to echo everywhere.
He stopped and listened intently.
“Decker?”
He took a few steps forward and peered into the gun room.
Lassiter was sitting on the floor with her back against thewall.
The arm that had been in the sling was bloody and hanging limply by her side.
Decker fixed his gaze on the pistol in her right hand.
“Yeah?” he said.
“Go to hell!”
“It’s over, Donna. So put the gun down and I can get you some medical attention.”
She laughed, grimaced, turned to the side, and threw up.
She wiped her mouthwith her gun hand and looked over at Decker standing in the doorway. “You got me good, Decker.” She touched the muzzle of the gun against the side of her bloody face. “Not so pretty anymore, am I?” She laughed and then doubled up in pain.
“Why, Donna? You’re a cop.”
She sat up straighter. “Too much money, Decker. Too damn much.”
Lassiter groaned and slumped back againstthe wall.
“You also wanted to stick it to Baron, because of your dad. And your mom.”
She pointed to the bloody sling on the floor. “The plan was to take out Marty and Alice when we were transporting them. Then they were going to shoot at me and a couple others to make it look legit. Only the damn round glanced off my body armor and knocked out my left arm. Had to down someserious painkillers just to function. Then you really messed it up with your shotgun. Feels like it’s going to fall off. And I think my lung’s filling up with blood.”
“You made a mistake in checking yourself out of the hospital. That’s what led me here.”
She waggled her head. “Had to. I couldn’t trust Ted not to screw me.”
“Right, honor among thieves. Why all thecrap with Beatty and Smith? Freezing their bodies and dumping them in that house?”
“I knew our ME was incompetent. But we knew the DEA might swoop in after they were identified, so Ross thought the freezing would help us there.” She coughed up some blood. “But if I’d known you were in the house behind it, believe me, we’d have dumped them miles away.”
“Put down the gun, Donna,and let me get you some help. You’re not going to make it otherwise.”
“Who gives a shit!” She paused and took in a long, ragged breath, no doubt drawing more blood into her damaged lung. “Baronville! This place sucks all the life out of you. Every time I saw that name on every damn street or building, it made me want to blow my frigging brains out. My dad was a good guy. This place ruinedhim. It ruined everything!”
Decker said, “You went to Philly for college. You could’ve stayed there.”
She shook her head. “Had to move back here, take care of my mom. Then she killed herself anyway. By then, I’m stuck.”
