Page 60 of What Happened Last Night

I felt a strange mixture of relief and fear. I had done it. I had saved Carlotta again. But I had also put myself right in the line of fire, and I had no idea now how to get out of it. I knew what I had done. I had pushed Morrie way past the point where Detective Del Rey would be able to talk him down. But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe this was the way this had always been going to end.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Jamie

Ihad no idea how this had gotten so out of control so quickly. In fewer than five minutes, Morrie had almost shot Carlotta, and now I was almost certain he was going to shoot William. I knew I couldn’t risk shooting first, though. There was every chance Morrie would react fast and get a shot off before mine landed. The sheer shock of hearing my gun go off could be enough to get him to pull the trigger, even if that wasn’t his intention.

All I could do was what I had been doing up until this point. Keep the gun on Morrie, stay alert, and wait for an opening. Any opening. Morrie’s moving his gun from Carlotta to William could have been it, but they were standing so close together that there just wasn’t time to do anything about it.

I was pretty sure that I had finally gotten the truth about who had killed Candy, though. I didn’t believe for a second that William relived the moment and jacked off to it. That had been said to rile Morrie and get him to move the gun from Carlotta to William, but I was certain now that I had been right. William had killed Candy.

If only he had told the truth from the beginning, all of this could have been avoided. And while he would have likely served a few years in prison if any at all, it wouldn’t have been first-degree murder, not if he had only done it to save Carlotta. It was like Carlotta had said. Essentially, it was an accidental death brought about by Candy’s own actions which would leave him facing manslaughter maybe, but most likely it would be ruled self-defense.

“Morrie,” I said, knowing he wouldn’t take his eyes off William to look me. “Morrie, look at me.”

I waited, and Morrie stole a quick glance in my direction. William shuffled forward a step and Morrie spun back to face him.

“Come any closer and I swear I’ll blow your fucking head off,” Morrie snapped.

“William, don’t move,” I said. “Morrie, listen to me. You were right, okay? Throughout this whole investigation, you have repeatedly told me that William Alden killed your daughter. I should have listened to you and I’m sorry I didn’t. But I’m listening now, and if you can just give me the gun, I can arrest William and get Candy the justice she deserves.”

“It’s too late for that, Detective,” Morrie said.

“No, it’s not. Listen, Morrie, if William here starts talking about you holding a gun on him, who’s going to believe him after what he’s admitted to? And Carlotta isn’t going to press charges. She understands this is grief making you act out like this, don’t you, Carlotta?”

I risked a glance at Carlotta, praying she would go along with this. I was relieved when I saw her nodding her head frantically, and I turned my focus back to Morrie.

“Yes, yes, of course I understand, and as far as I’m concerned, this never happened. Morrie, you’ve lost your daughter, and I don’t want you to lose anything else. Please listen to the detective,” Carlotta said.

“I don’t think you understand, Detective. You know, for a detective, you’re not so hot with the detecting stuff,” Morrie said.

I ignored the insult and waited for him to go on. When he saw I wasn’t going to bite, he did just that.

“I don’t care what happens to me. The worst has already happened. Because of him.”

He gestured toward William with the gun, and I felt every muscle in my body tighten as the whole room froze. Morrie held the gun steady again, and I heard Carlotta and William let out long breaths and I felt my own body relax again. Well, not relax, exactly. I was still honed for action, but I wasn’t so tight that I would cramp up anymore.

“And now, Detective, I want him to feel the pain I felt. I want him to know what it’s like to have the worst thing happen to you,” Morrie said.

“Mr. Xavier, please,” Carlotta begged. “Listen to Detective Del Rey. You don’t want to do this.”

“You have no idea what I want, lady,” Morrie snapped.

“Then please just listen to me. Please don’t bring even more violence into my home. It ... it doesn’t have to end this way.”

“So tell me then, how does it end? I’ll tell you how it ends. This prick brings in a fancy lawyer and he makes everyone think my Candy was crazy, that she was the villain in all of this. And he gets off with it all, some sort of self-defense crap. Not only does he get away with what he did, he looks like a fucking hero, saving his wife from the loony. And don’t think I’m stupid enough to think this confession of his is going to hold any weight in court. It’s not on the record, and the lawyer will block Detective Del Rey from testifying about it. He’ll say it was spoken under duress.”

He paused for a moment, and then he smiled a cold smile that made me shiver a little inside even as I admitted to myself that he was absolutely right about how this would play out in a court of law.

“Yeah, I watch courtroom dramas the same as everyone else. I’m not quite the stupid redneck you thought I was, living up here in your fancy castle, looking down on people like me. Thinking my daughter was dispensable,” Morrie added.

With each word, he sounded a little more unhinged, and I knew time was quickly running out if I was going to end this without someone getting hurt or worse.

“It’s not like that, Mr. Xavier. If Candy was a little unhinged in the end, it’s only because she was hurting. I get that, and William gets it too. No one is going to paint her as the bad guy in court,” Carlotta said. “Please, Mr. Xavier. Candy wouldn’t want you to end up in prison over this. She would want you to live your life.”

Morrie went quiet for a moment, and I dared to believe he might actually be considering her words. He still held the gun firmly on William, though. I really needed him to lower that gun, but if Carlotta’s pleas didn’t work, then I couldn’t see what I could add that would. Morrie would know I was only trying to end this because it was my job to do so. Carlotta’s pleas were different. They were heartfelt.

“You see, Morrie? There’s a way out of this for you. Take it,” William said.

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