Page 23 of Devious Gambit

“Once.”

“One shot did that? Wow, I’m impressed. You must’ve struck his heart on the first try.” She kicked his shoe with her slipper, just to check that he wasn’t faking. “That’s self-defense, sweetie, since he broke in. Damn, that man deserves to get shot, if you ask me.”

“Should I call the police?”

“Not if you want to spend time going through prolonged court proceedings and perhaps end up in prison.”

“But you said it was self-defense.”

“It is self-defense, but ain’t that kid in the Hawks?”

“Yes.”

“There lies a problem and the other problem is you used my pistol which isn’t licensed. So, you got two choices here…call the police and get interrogated for months or…”

“Or?”

“Dispose of the body yourself.”

“But he smashed my door down…”

“Like I said it’s your choice. You got a trustworthy friend you can call?”

I nodded and reached for my phone. It was 2.34am. My hands were so clammy and shaky I struggled to swipe the screen. Tris will be sound asleep, but I rang him anyway. When he didn’t answer, I rang Lise. When she didn’t answer I rang Tris again. When he didn’t answer I rang Lise. Finally, she answered.

“Rhys?”

I was so relieved to hear a familiar voice that high-pitched uncontrollable wailing was all that came out of my mouth.

“Rhys, what happened? I can’t understand what you’re saying,” she stressed. I heard Tris’ lovely voice in the background and Lise said to him, “It’s Rhys, she’s really upset.”

“Rhys?” Tris spoke down the line.

“I’ve done something bad,” I managed to say to him.

“Where are you?”

“Home.”

“Okay. Stay where you are. I’m coming over now.”

“That’s Adam Sweeney,” Lise stated the obvious. “You killed Adam Sweeney.” She was grinning when she said this, not distressed or upset at all. They had history, horrible history.

“What the hell was Adam Sweeney doing here in the middle of the fucking night?” Tris raged.

“He’s been tormenting the poor girl for a while,” Marjorie answered.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Rhys,” Tris asked, angrily.

“I don’t know,” I shook. “You’ve got enough on your plate.”

“He could’ve fucking killed you,” he hissed, pacing back and forth in my tiny living space.

Lise rubbed her severely short hair with her hand. “Come on, Tris, he’s a damn Sweeney. The only way to make them stop is to kill them.”

Tris glanced at her sharply, something was on the tip of his tongue. I wondered if it crossed his mind that Lise shot Geoff Sweeney, not her father.

“Why the fuck has he been tormenting you?” Tris asked.

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