“Sabrina, there is no need for violence,” Vanessa proclaimed. Sabrina crept down the hallway towards Vanessa.
Sabrina cocked her revolver and grinned like a wolf. “You and that detective friend of yours ruined a perfectly planned murder. No one would have ever have figured out I killed Jerry if it hadn't been for you. ”
“It wasn’t a perfect murder. Pete was already investigating who might have killed Jerry the moment he arrived on the scene. Even my cats knew when the group showed up to the picnic something was afoot,” Vanessa ventured.
Sabrina didn't hear her. “If Frank hadn't come up with the idea of having the picnic here, you wouldn't have gotten involved in the investigation. I would have gotten away with it.”
“Murder is never that easy. You wanted to save your boyfriend but that was the wrong way to go about it.”
Sabrina laughed out loud. “How naïve you are? If you don’t have money, you end up sitting on the list until you die. That’s how our foundation functioned.”
“That can’t be true. You were worried about your boyfriend. You wanted to save his life, but I don’t think Jerry intended for your boyfriend to die waiting for a transplant. Jerry was a good person, he has always helped people in need.”
Sabrina waved her gun to one side, but she brought it right back to pointing at Vanessa's chest. “Jerry’s dead now and you can’t justify his actions to me. Stop trying to rationalize the foundation.”
Henry poked his head around the living room’s archway. Vanessa glanced over at him and then returned her view to Sabrina.
Vanessa stared at her. “Just turn yourself into the police. If your boyfriend lives, and you kill me, you will end up behind bars the rest of your life.”
“I know he only has a few months to live without a transplant,” Sabrina went on. “I have seen his charts. I have been through it many times before as a nurse in intensive care. I know when a patient has hope and when they don’t. I don’t care what happens to me now. At least, I will have the satisfaction of killing you.”
“Freeze, Sabrina, don’t make another move,” A male voice thundered through the house, and Vanessa and Sabrina spun around to find Pete Wheeler standing in the doorway with his .45-caliber semi-automatic in his hand. “You're under arrest, Sabrina. Put down the weapon and get down on the ground with your hands behind your head.”
Sabrina bared her gritted teeth and sprang into a crouch. Gunshots exploded through the house. The first shot sunk through the doorframe next to Vanessa's head and she dropped to the ground. Sabrina swung around and fired at Pete. He ducked behind the front door just as Sabrina's second bullet splintered the wood. Sabrina fired twice more, and the bullets shattered the wooden door panels.
Vanessa covered her head with her arms. Blue gun smoke filled the room and burned her throat and eyes. How could she help Pete without a weapon? In the background, the frightened yowls of cats reached her ears. She had to save her precious cats from this mayhem.
She looked up to see Henry race across her field of view. Was he running away from danger or into it? She had to catch him and carry him away before anything happened to him. What would she ever do without Henry? Then she remembered Pete facing a hail of bullets on the other side of that door. She had to find a way to save Pete—but how? Should she help him or Henry first?
Before she could decide what to do, Henry darted into the room and skidded on the hall carpet. It bunched into an accordion under his feet. At the same moment, AngelPie slithered out of the kitchen. She pushed her way behind the potted azalea in the hall and knocked it over. It hit the floor, and the pot shattered into a million ceramic shards. Soil and dead leaves scattered across the floor and distracted Sabrina.