“Don’t be so sure,” Booker said. “Same man who taught you taught me.”
Tom Simpson. Bryce’s father.
Bryce was holding a gun as well. He nodded to me. “You okay, honey?”
“Yeah. I don’t think they’re here to hurt anyone.”
“We’re not,” Colin said. “We’re here to say goodbye.”
“Right,” Joe scoffed.
“Hear us out,” Colin urged.
“I fucking trusted you, you son of a bitch. I vouched for you with my closest friend. I asked you for help finding a place for my mentally ill mother. You’re not even a real lawyer!”
“I’m as competent as any lawyer.” He looked at Bryce. “Your father saw to that.”
“Shut up,” Joe continued. “I don’t trust easily, and I rarely make a mistake. You slipped right by me, and that pisses me off.” His cheeks were red with rage, his free hand curled into a fist. “You attacked us.”
“You barged into my office and disarmed me,” Booker retorted.
“You’ve been watching us for years.” Bryce this time.
“I won’t deny it.” Booker stared straight at Jo
e, who still held a gun on him.
He wasn’t frightened. Not at all. Could he really draw before Joe shot him? No. No way. He wasn’t frightened because he’d already been through hell. Death couldn’t be any worse.
“You’re going to have to answer for what you’ve done,” Bryce said.
“For pepper spraying you? I don’t think I’ll get prison time for that.”
“Not that,” Bryce said. “For killing your parents.”
“I didn’t kill my parents,” he said. “Though they both deserved it.”
“Pretty convenient, their deaths,” Joe said. “A drive-by shooting in a nice neighborhood and a holdup at a convenience store. What are the chances they both would die by getting shot? Right around the same time you showed up at your mother’s?”
“Chances were good,” Booker said, turning to Bryce. “Your father was behind it.”
Bryce gulped and turned white.
I went to him and hugged him. “Not your fault,” I whispered.
“We’re supposed to believe that?” Joe said.
“Why the hell not? You know what that psycho was capable of. Killing two people with a gunshot, instant death, was probably one of the nicer things he did.”
Bryce tensed beside me, and his countenance became rigid. He dropped his gun and held it at his side.
“I’m willing to hear you out, Justin,” Bryce said. “Let’s end this. Once and for all.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Bryce
My father was involved in killing Justin’s parents?