“Damon did,” he said, voice just floating along. “Then I tied Damon up. Then I shot him and came here. I saw you two jump in to get him. I can see Rose is trying to save him now too. Because that’s what heroes do.”
James was taken aback at the honesty.
“You know, I don’t much care for the whole hero thing or games, but I get now why Damon was so angry.” A small, watery smile swirled over Lloyd’s lips. “His brother used to call him a hero too, and then, the day he died was the day he stopped. I never really got how much that must have hurt until now.”
He let out a breath. It was short and didn’t drag him down. Instead, it seemed to be just another motion he was going through. Then he smiled again. James couldn’t tell what emotion it was coming from, but it didn’t feel fake.
“I don’t think he ever really blamed Rose, though,” he continued. “I know I don’t. It wasn’t her fault. It was…it was that storm. That damned generator.” He let out a small laugh. “It’s funny how one single point of failure can wreck so many things.”
James took a tentative step forward. Why this man was waxing poetic, he didn’t know, but that gun needed to be gone.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it sounds like you shot a man who was aiming to hurt you and Rose. We can be calm and talk about the rest of it.”
Lloyd didn’t seem to mind him creeping closer.
James got the impression that Lloyd had stopped minding anything at all.
He let out one last little sigh.
“If you want this to end here, I suggest you don’t repeat what I’m about to say, but, well, I think it should be said.” He glanced out of the window. James was about to spring at him, but he raised the gun and placed it against his temple.
When Lloyd looked back at him, his smile was the only thing left that seemed alive.
“Damon is really good at tying knots, but Rose sure got out of it easy, didn’t she? I could have pushed her in the water too, tied to that thing, but I didn’t. I guess we’re not all that bad, in the end.” Lloyd turned back to the window. His last words haunted the empty room.
“Close your eyes now, Mr. Keller. This won’t be pretty.”
James ran forward, yelling.
He didn’t make it.
The window treatments kept on hanging but Lloyd Harrison was gone.
Chapter Sixteen
Rose was screaming but she didn’t move from her spot on that patch of grass.
“Shots fired!” she yelled down at the phone. “James? James!”
No one responded. The house was too far back, and she couldn’t see which room the sound had come from.
She also couldn’t stop.
She continued heart compressions on Damon Tillman while her own heart shattered around them both.
James had gone into the groundskeeper’s house after Lloyd and now Lloyd had shot him, and Rose felt as helpless as a person could.
She could go see. She could leave Damon on the wet ground, covered in blood and not breathing, and no one would fault her for it. The man who had masterminded the attacks meant to kill her over the last week… The man who had told all his hired helpers that he was out for revenge. That for him to be happy, Rose had to die.
She could leave him right there.
And no one,no one, could say she did wrong.
Except…her.
Tears hot and heavy blurred her vision and streamed down her face. Her head hurt. Her heart hurt. The world hurt.
But she kept on with her compressions.
