“I’ll find out,” Uncle Woody said grimly. “He didn’t mess with your system because the panic button worked just fine.”
I was frozen. Blood was pooling on the floor by my feet. The man’s limbs were twisted this way and that, and I could see a large hole where the bullet had exited his skull.
“Harpy,” Uncle Woody called, stepping around the body to get to me. “Hey, girl. You okay?”
“She’s not hurt,” Gram said, her voice shaking. “Thank God.”
“He was going to shoot me,” I said, confusion clouding my head.
“Well, he isn’t now,” Uncle Woody replied. “Come on.”
He put his arms around me gently and walked me over to Gram on the other side of the island.
“I’m fine,” Gram said into her phone. “Harper’s fine, too, but you need to come home right now.”
She paused.
I could still see the man’s feet sticking out from the other side of the island. I couldn’t look away.
“Some asshole broke in and was pointing a gun at Harper.” Pause. “No, I don’t fucking know who he is. Come home.”
I’d never seen a dead person before. Not like that. Not freshly dead.
I swallowed as my stomach heaved, threatening to empty what was left in there.
“What did he say to you, Harp?” Uncle Woody asked, leaning down to look in my eyes. “Did he tell you why he was here?”
“He said I pissed someone off?”
“You know who he’s talking about?”
“No idea,” I replied faintly. “Will you call my dad?”
“Casper’s gonna call your dad,” he replied kindly. “I bet he’s already on his way here.”
“I think he was just crazy,” I said, glancing at the shoes again. He was wearing sneakers. That seemed weird for some reason. If you were going somewhere to shoot someone, it seemed like you would wear boots.
“What?” Uncle Woody asked.
“You hear about that stuff, you know?” I said. “Some guy passes a woman on the street and gets it into his head that she’s wronged him or something. Maybe that was why.”
“Could be,” he consoled.
“Come here, doll,” Gram said, pulling me into her arms. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“I tried to give you time to leave,” I mumbled into her shoulder. “But he made me keep walking.”
“You did exactly what you should’ve,” she replied, smoothing my hair down the back of my head. “You called out.”
“I didn’t scream.”
“Sometimes, you’re so startled, you don’t.”
“I screamed when I saw Uncle Woody outside.”
“Well, by then you were already prepared,” she said logically. “Woody, get her a stool to sit on before she falls down.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted as they sat me down.
