My mouth is hanging open when I see the surprise on Dad’s face, then the barrel of a gun extended just past the door, inches away from his forehead.
“I got lucky, seeing you pass me on the road,” comes a man’s voice. “You and that bitch daughter of yours aren’t going to touch a penny of my inheritance.”
“Matt? What are you doing? What are you talking about?” One of Dad’s raised hands wave, I’m sure signaling me to move but it’s all I can do not to scream.
“He lived for years on the money and properties he got when my mother died. None of it was his, but he insisted all of his children would be treated the same. Leo and Mike sponging off of him was bad enough, but making Jason beg for his debts to be paid?”
The man steps further into the room but the door is still blocking his body from my view.
“No. No,” I whisper, shaking my head until I hear Stryker click his tongue against the roof of his mouth and see him faintly shake his head.
“Then to hear that he’s going to leavehisestate to you and your daughter? I won’t let…”
I scream, my vision swimming when a gunshot rings out, echoing in this room.
“Margo! Margo!”
I’m shaking my head, not understanding what’s just happened as Dad races to catch me in his arms, Stryker standing where he was, except he’s looking at his own father, before crossing to him and yanking the gun from his hand.
It’s when he fires a second round at my dad’s half-brother, that I pass out.
Chapter 14
Bull
Margo is coming to around the time that the majority of the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department has pulled into my driveway.
I cradle her in my arms, quickly telling her not to mention Edward being here and letting her know that I took the gun and shot her uncle the second time so I would have gunshot residue on my hand.
By now, Edward should be tucked in at Glenn’s place. And hopefully, no one else will know that he’s here.
Matt had grasped the door when my dad had initially shot him, dropping his own gun. He was in the midst of a slow descent to his knees when the bullet I fired pushed him backwards. As Clark mounts the steps to my porch for the second time in as many hours, he squats near the body, studying it.
“My money was on Jason,” Clark says, sounding disappointed after I move to stand a foot or two from the part of Matt’s body that’s blocking the door open. “I appreciate you leaving the body alone. Want to talk me through what happened?”
I’ve tucked a blanket around Margo and left her on the corner of the couch, positioned so I can see her out of the corner of my eye and it’s then that she leans forward, tilting her head so she can hear what I’m going to say.
“After Eli arrived, we had been talking, but I left the room, allowing them to have some time alone,” I tell him. “When I heard someone pounding on the door, I figured it was you, so I was coming from the hallway, but Eli beat me to the door and Matt was standing there, with his gun trained on his brother.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Plenty. Eli can explain that. I was focused on getting my gun from this shelf,” I say, indicating a shelf on the side of the island. “I shot him, but he was still holding his gun, pointed between Eli and me, so I shot him a second time.”
“Lehmann said he bagged your gun but hasn’t done the GSR test on your hands yet. We’ll need a list of people and things you’ve touched since you fired your weapon,” Clark informs me as he stands back up. “Well, like the other night, we’ll split y’all up for your interviews. We’ll run his print against the unknown ones we found at George’s home. You’ll get your gun back after your story has cleared the ballistics tests, but I don’t see any reason to ask you to stay elsewhere, as long as you feel safe here.”
“I do,” I confirm, knowing that I have five other guns on the premises just in case Eli has any other family who might come looking for us.
After the body’s been removed and all but one of the cops have left with the exception of Deming, who apparently drew the short straw and was assigned to stay parked in my driveway until relieved. While I’ve informed Frost what’s going on, I’ve asked them to stay away until the police presence has died down.
This time when the three of us are sitting in the living room, we’ve switched to coffee.
Eli sits beside Margo, holding her hand but otherwise staring into space, while I’m more interested in watching the emotions crossing my Ol’ Lady’s face, wondering what the hell she’s thinking.
Finally, she unwraps the blanket from her shoulders and looks at her father. “I’m not sharing a dime with any of them,” she announces crossing her arms so her breasts push up.
“Margo,” her father lets out on a sigh.
“No. I don’t care. You worked your ass off to raise me. I started working when I was fourteen because I wanted flight lessons and you said I’d have to pay for them myself.” She turns to look at him straight on.
