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“Nah, don’t bother. I’m gonna fuck you up, bitch. I’m gonna fuck you up good.”
I was pressed up against the wall of Lydia’s office. I could see her back, but I couldn’t see Karen or Stu. From what was being said, I was pretty sure he had a knife to Karen’s throat.
“Ladies, this is what we’re going to do. Lawyer lady is going to take her clothes off or I’m going to slit the Black bitch’s throat.”
It was now or never. I stepped around the corner into a spot next to Lydia. Stu and Karen were seven or eight feet from us.
“No, Stu, that’s not what’s going to happen. You’re going to drop the knife or I’m going to blow your fucking head off.”
“You wouldn’t take the chance. You could blow her head off instead.”
That caused Karen to whimper a little.
“Don’t worry, Karen, I used to be a police officer. I know what I’m doing.”
“Bullshit,” Stu said.
“I’m going to count to five,” I said. “One, two, three—”
I could see the muscles in his forearm tense. He was about to slit her throat. I fired. A small hole appeared under his right eye. The knife fell out of his hand.
“Karen step away.”
She backed into the door jamb, saying, “He was going to kill me. I could feel it. He was going to kill me.”
Stu dropped to the floor. He looked pretty dead.
I felt Lydia reach out and take the gun away from me. Softly, she said, “Dom you need to leave. The police can’t look closely at you.”
“But—”
“No buts. Get of here.” Then she fired the gun at the wall. Karen squeaked.
“What did you do that for?”
“I took two shots at Stu, the second killed him, okay?”
“But—”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
Lydia looked at me again, and said, “Get out of here. Now.”
I did what she wanted.
****
Ten minutes later, I was at home climbing into the shower. There were tiny specs of gun powder residue on my forearm. That’s why Lydia had to fire the gun. For the gunshot residue. I scrubbed my arms raw. After the shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and went down to the basement. I threw my clothes into the washing machine. As I started the washer, I realized I probably transferred residue from my clothes to my body. I went upstairs and took another shower.
I was nearly finished when I realized I was shaking. For the third time in my life, I’d killed a man. Each time had been in self-defense or in defense of others. I wish that made it easier. It didn’t.
It was also the third time I’d killed a man and not stuck around to talk to the police. Honestly, I didn’t trust them much. Actually, I didn’t trust them at all.
I got dressed and then sat on the edge of my bed for a bit taking deep breaths. I had to do this. I had to go back down to The Freedom Agenda and act like I was arriving late for work. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to help Lydia sell her story.
When I got down there, the street in front was full of emergency vehicles and squad cars. I parked a block away on a much quieter street behind The Freedom Agenda. I walked around the block. A young police officer stood on the sidewalk blocking the entrance to the storefront. In another time and place he’d have been a good candidate for Hitler Youth.
