So much for reverse psychology. Make a move. Any move. Now or never. Now!
“Max, they’re coming!” Annette shouted.
Max clambered to his feet. “Huh?”
Elizabeth jerked her attention in his direction.
Annette rammed her. They hit the floor in a tangle.
A bullet discharged, the sound exploding in the air.
Annette bit the other woman’s cheek. Elizabeth screamed.
Using all her strength, Annette wrenched the weapon out of Elizabeth’s hand. It spun across the floor.
“Whore!” Elizabeth grabbed Annette by the hair with both hands. “You have to die!”
“Stop!” Max screamed.
Annette fought like a wildcat to pin Elizabeth down.
“Stop!”
In her peripheral vision Annette got a look at Max. He had the gun. Shit.
“He’s got the gun,” she warned.
Elizabeth released Annette’s hair. They pulled apart, scrambled to get up, both very much aware that anything could happen with the weapon in the hands of a mentally unstable man currently off his meds.
“Give me the gun, Max,” Elizabeth ordered.
“Don’t listen to her, Max,” Annette urged. “Theycame with her.”
Max blinked, focused the weapon on Elizabeth. “It’s you.” He nodded. “You’re the one who hurt them.”
Oh hell. “Max,” Annette pleaded, “let me have the gun.” If he killed Elizabeth ...
“Drop the weapon, Mr. West.”
Annette’s attention veered toward the intrusion.
Lieutenant Lynch loomed in the open doorway, a lethal bead on Max. “I said,” he repeated, “drop the weapon.”
Max hesitated only a second, then he let go of the weapon as if it had burned his hands. It plopped to the floor.
“Thank God you’re here,” Elizabeth said, her posture sagging with relief. “She killed Mother!” Then the sobs began.
Damn. Just Annette’s luck that a dirty cop would come to the rescue. Had Schaffer called in backup? If this was Annette’s backup, she might as well kiss her ass goodbye.
She wondered if Carson would ever know the whole story. The idea that he might end up with this twisted bitch made Annette’s chest ache. “Detective, you don’t—”
“Don’t say a word, Ms. Baxter,” Lynch ordered. “Anything you say can and will be held against you.”
Fucking perfect.
Elizabeth sidled away from Annette, moving toward the door and the man who was her ally. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t gotten here when you did, Lieutenant. She would have killed me, too.”
“Turn around,” Lynch said to Elizabeth. “Put your hands behind your back.”
