“Now,” I said as I clasped my hands behind my back, “you have two choices.”
Wes’s eyes stayed connected with the gun. “If you think for one second that I’m killing myself, you better know that I’ll never make it that easy on you.”
Viper nodded. “Good, because we play hardball.”
I cleared my throat. “Just to let you know, the cops are already on their way, and when they see the scene in the foyer, it’s only a matter of time before they run that gun in front of you for prints.”
Wes blinked. “Prints?”
I nodded. “Yes, prints. And when they find your prints, they’re going to run that gun for ballistics and realize that the same gun was used to kill a very prominent prosecuting attorney earlier on today.”
Wes’s face hardened. “What the fuck kind of game are you playing?”
“It’s simple, really,” Viper said as the sirens started up in the distance, “you can either take your chances in court while they prosecute you for someone else’s murder, or you can kill yourself and save us all the trouble.”
Wes snickered. “You’ll never get away with this.”
Viper shrugged. “Either way, you’re dead. The second Bullet and his men figure out that you’re being prosecuted for something, and they fear you’re going to take the stand? Anywhere? In front of a judge? How long do you think you’ll last being locked up in gen-pop?”
Wes’s forehead started sweating. “I’ll kill you both for this. All of you!”
The sirens sounds grew as I took a step backward. “The choice is yours, but you should know that your prints are already on that gun. So, either way, you’re fucked.”
He balked. “What!? I haven’t even touched the damn thing!”
Viper chuckled. “You take naps, don’t you?”
We were bluffing with that last part, but it riled Wes up so much that he started yelling. He cursed and he screamed, and the sounds bounced off the walls so rapidly that it started ringing my ears.
“Come on,” I said as I patted Viper’s upper arm, “let’s give him some time to make his decision.”
“God fucking damn it!” Wes roared.
The two of us traipsed out of the house with our little surgical booties on over our feet as Wes’s screams and cries of anger and anguish followed us. The sound of those sirens slowly crept closer, and as I bent down to take the booties off, the most amazing sound rang out.
Wes’s screaming stopped before a lone gunshot rang out all around us.
And as the cleaning crew pulled into the driveway with their sirens ablaze, a broad, white smile crossed Viper’s face.
“It’s done,” he said.
“Body’s planted in the woods out back,” the tinny voice said as a car door opened behind me.
I turned to find a very slender woman standing behind me. “Thank you.”
She shrugged. “I live for this kind of stuff. No need to thank me. The question is, though, do you want to leave it here for someone to find? Because I think that’ll make things look more genuine with the murder-suicide angle.”
I nodded. “Let’s do it, then.”
Viper slid his hands into his pockets. “Someone will come looking eventually.”
“Good,” the woman said as she shooed us with her hands, “now, let’s get out of here. The longer we stick around, the worse it is for all of us.”
And she sure as hell didn’t have to tell us twice.
22
ROSE
