Read Online REMEMBER US by Glenna Sinclair - Free Book Online Page B

to hurry.”
    “He’ll hear the shot.”
    “It’ll take him a few seconds to get down here. By then I’ll be out the kitchen door.”
    “What if you don’t kill me with your first shot? I can tell him who did it.”
    “Then I guess I’ll have to get it right with the first shot.”
    She was serious. And I could see that she’d worked it all out ahead of time. Her eyes were…why had I never seen it before? She was like a lost puppy, a child who’d seen too much of the realities of the world. She was broken. I felt sorry for her.
    “Can I look out at the backyard one last time,” I asked. “It’s my favorite spot in this entire city.”
    “It’s dark.”
    “I could flip on the lights.”
    “And alert Xander? I don’t think so.”
    Not enough time had gone by. I had to find another way to distract her. But I couldn’t think of anything else.
    “Please, Margaret. This isn’t going to get you what you want.”
    As I waited for common sense, or just a piece of reality, to sink its way into Margaret’s mind, I was beginning to think that it was already too late. That this was really going to happen. I wasn’t ready to die.
    And then I heard footsteps on the stairs, and a new fear blossomed in my chest.
    “Hey, babe,” Xander called. “What’s taking so long?”
    Margaret raised the muzzle of her gun. I leapt at her, pushing off from my healing leg in a move that was probably not very smart. The gun went off, but I managed to hit the muzzle before it did, and the bullet smashed into the ceiling. I fell to the floor, but Margaret came with me, our bodies tangled in a mess of limbs. And then Xander was there, and Margaret was screaming as she fought me for control of the gun. It went off again and the room seemed to go dark, and I was lying there, my ears ringing. And another shot and another and all I could think about was Xander.

Chapter 12
     
    Xander
    Harley was taking so long getting the ice cream that I finally went to find her. As I was coming down the stairs, I thought I heard voices. And then I turned the corner into the sitting room just as a gun fired.
    All I could thing was, Fuck!
    Margaret was on the floor with Harley tangled up next to her, and they were struggling over this damn big gun. I reached in, tried to untangle them and get one or both up on their feet. And then Margaret pressed the barrel of the gun against Harley’s side and wrapped her finger around the trigger. I did the only thing I could think of and that was to grab her wrist and yank. I felt something give and then the gun went off.
    The next thing I know, Margaret’s on her feet, the gun pointed at my chest. There’s blood, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. And Harley is still on the floor.
    “Why, Xander?” Margaret asked, her wrist limp where I broke it trying to pull her away from Harley. She calmly changed hands, holding the gun with her other hand now. She pointed it at me, tears running down her face and her hand shaking so bad the gun won’t aim straight. “Why did you turn on Daddy? Why did you have to choose her over me?”
    “Don’t do something you’ll regret, Margaret.”
    “I already regret it all,” she said softly.
    She held the gun up not far from the center of my face and steadied it the best she could. I saw movement behind her and felt relief because I thought it was Harley. But then the gun went off, and I closed my eyes, thinking I was dead. But when the body hit the ground, it wasn’t mine.
    It was Margaret.
    And Jonnie was standing behind her, a pistol in her hands.
    I dropped to my knees, my hands moving over Harley’s body. There was blood, but I couldn’t find a place on her that was injured. And then I realized the blood was dripping from my body, from the perfectly round hole in my shoulder.
    And Margaret. She was coughing and blood was flowing from between her lips. Jonnie was with her, pressing her hands against a bloody wound on her side.
    “Harley?”
    Her eyes