I startle and hold the phone without answering.
It stops ringing.
I scroll down through various icons on the app and when I see the option Basement, I open it. This gives me a view into the room Ray’s locked in.
My belly drops with dread as my eyes land on him sitting there, but then I see him flop down quickly and turn his back. The door opens and Tony goes inside.
Ray’s pretending to be asleep.
The apartment door opens and Killian is coming in with two shopping bags as well as a pizza box. He disarms the alarm.
“Hey, you tryin’ to call?” he asks, seeing me with his phone.
I’m about to pass him his phone when motion catches my attention.
“Oh shit!” I shriek.
33
Killian
“What?” I rush to Violet as horror registers on her face.
“Your, your… Ray and Tony, and, and… oh shit!”
When what’s happening on screen registers, I could swear I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.
Raymond has Tony on the bed, slumped over his legs. The chain on his arm is wrapped around Tony’s neck.
“What the fuck!” I holler and grab the phone to get a closer look in time to see Raymond lifting Tony’s gun out of his back holster. He unwraps the chain and Tony slumps to the floor, looking unconscious or dead. I don’t know. Fuck!
Raymond points the gun at Tony for a minute, hands shaking, looking freaked while he stares at him.
Violet speaks quickly, panicked, “I saw the alerts on the screen, so I opened them and he phoned you, but I didn’t answer. Then I looked into the basement room and Ray starts off sitting up watching TV, but then quickly pretended to be sleeping. He tripped him and then when he fell and the bucket fell over, Ray wrapped the chain around his neck and started pulling! Oh my God, Killian! He’s feeding him something, look! What is that?”
“Fuck!” I move into the bedroom, eyes on the phone as I watch Iadanza pouring his water bottle into Tony’s mouth.
And then he drops the bottle and searches Tony’s pockets. Violet watches as I reach into the bottom drawer of my two-drawer nightstand. Strapped to the bottom of the top drawer is a gun. I feel for it while my eyes are still on my screen but catch the flash of panic in her eyes as she sees what I yank out. She follows and sees me reach under my desk where I have another gun strapped. I set it on the desk, then move the framed mirror off the wall, press in the digits to unlock my wall safe and grab an ammo-loaded belly band holster. I strap it on, load the weapon, then reach into the inside pocket of my jacket.
“No. No. You’re not going there; he has Tony’s gun.” She’s wild-eyed, shaking her head vigorously.
“Baby, here.” I pass Violet her own phone from my pocket and drop a kiss on her mouth. “You’re here. The alarm is on. Here.” I try to hand her a gun. She backs away, hands high, her head shaking, horror in her eyes. I press my hand to the small of her back and walk her back to the bed, setting the weapon on the bench at the end of the bed.
“I’ll have Willie come stay with you,” I say. “I don’t think he’ll head this way but if for some reason he does and gets here before Will, use this. Safety’s off and it’s loaded. All you gotta do is point and-”
“No! Do not go there! Stay here with me.”
“And shoot. You get it?”
“No Killian. No!” She throws her arms around me. She’s trembling.
“Baby, Tony’s on the fuckin’ floor. What do you want me to do? Call the cops?”
“God!” she shrieks. “That’s who should’ve been handling Ray all this time. All this time!” She points at me with accusation and then pushes me with both hands. “I can’t believe this shit.”
“I have to go.”
“Ray’s gonna hurt you!” she cries out, hands trembling as she grabs me again. “Don’t go.”
“Calm down. It’s gonna be fine.”
“I can’t,” she cries, burying her face in my chest. “I can’t. I can’t lose you.”
I lift her chin again, so she has no choice but to look in my eyes.
“Do you think that little fuck is stronger than me?”
“No.” She shakes her head.
“Do you think he’s smarter than me?”
She shakes her head again. Her eyes are wild with fear, and I hate it. I kiss her forehead.
“You will not lose me. I promise. I’ll call you soon. As soon as I can. I’ve gotta go handle this.”
“Please don’t go,” she calls out.
“I have to, my beautiful Violet. Settle down, set the alarm. I’ll call as soon as I can. Love you. ”
34
Violet
I’ve let him go without returning his, I love you. And I’m terrified. Terrified I won’t get a chance to say it back. Terrified he’ll get hurt.