“We haven’t had that talk yet.”
“You’re sure you’ll be happy?”
“Extremely. I’ll have the best of both worlds.”
Ali, Nana, and Jannie went into Chung’s convenience store to pick up milk and ice cream. Bree and I kept walking.
Night had fallen when we reached our steps. The house and porch were dark. We climbed onto the porch together, hand in hand, and but for a few unresolved issues, I felt as solid as I had in—
“Hands up, or I’ll shoot you both right now.”
We startled and looked to our right, saw the silhouette of someone crouched by the railing and aiming a revolver at us. We raised our hands.
“Hello, Dr. Cross,” he said, straightening. “Chief Stone.”
Dylan Winslow, Gary Soneji’s son, swung the gun back and forth between us, and even in the low light I could see a demented smile on his face. It was a smile I’d seen before, months ago, when I’d caught him torturing pigeons in his mother’s barn in rural Delaware.
“What do you think you’re doing, Dylan?” I said.
“Giving you what you deserve for killing my mom.”
“He was framed,” Bree said. “Drugged. The jury agreed.”
“I saw him do it with my own two eyes,” he snarled.
“So you were in the factory that night,” I said. “I’ve thought about that possibility quite a bit since the trial.”
“Who cares? Winning and seeing you gone is what’s important.”
“You took the holographic film off everyone’s hands, didn’t you?”
He snorted. “That’s bullshit. That whole excuse was cooked up by your brat of a kid and his gay buddy. Where is he, anyway? Your brat of a kid?”
“Far away,” I said, my eyes flickering to the street and the sidewalk.
“I’ll find him later, after I’m done here.”
“No, you won’t.”
Dylan shook the pistol at me. “Don’t tell me what I will or won’t do, Cross! Who the hell do you think you are?”
“I’m the guy who notices things, Dylan. Even after seeing the film of me shooting your mother over and over in court, I couldn’t figure out what about it was driving me crazy.”
“Shut up. Get on your knees. Both of you.”
I stood my ground. So did Bree.
I said, “Your mother stumbled when she came into view. Did you push your mother, Dylan? Did she know what you meant to have happen?”
“Lying again.” He sneered. “Making shit up. It’s what you do, Cross. But not this time. This time, you’re gonna die. Like you should have before.”
I heard the click of the revolver’s hammer cocking.
“Don’t do it,” Bree said. “Killing cops never ends well.”
“I don’t care,” Dylan said. “This is where I end too. Once I see you both—”
I caught a flicker of movement behind and to his right a split second before Soneji’s son screamed and spun around, firing. The shot hit the porch ceiling.