Page 119 of Five for Silver

Peter flicked his hand at Chad tocontinue.

“She wasn’t in the house. She was waitingoutside for me. She fired, I managed to move out of the way, thenshe went to fire again, but nothing happened.”

“She’d already fired the other shot,remember?” Peter asked. “You said she shot in the window of yourfront door.”

“The window of Chad’s front door had beenbroken,” the DI said, tapping away on his laptop.

“So at this point, Lucy was not a threat.Both shots had been fired.”

Chad gaped. “She had a gun—”

“An unloaded gun.”

“I was on my side in the dirt. She’d justtried to kill me. I saw her grab a cartridge from her jeans. Shewas loading the gun. She was going to shoot again. I had to dosomething, so I got to my feet, and I…”

It had been so easy retelling what happenedminus Romeo, up until this part. This part choked him. The liesstuck into his throat, cutting deep as he tried to force themout.

“Do you need a minute, Chad?” the DIasked.

“No.” He swallowed. “I want to get it allout while it’s fresh in my mind. I grabbed the gun. It was muddy,we slipped. We struggled. The gun was between us, and it wentoff.”

The DI looked away from his laptop. “KillingLucy.”

“Yes.”

“And what happened next?”

“I … I could hear the sirens in thedistance. I shut Merc in the house.”

“Merc?” Peter asked.

“My dog.”

“You never mentioned anything about adog.”

Chad bit the inside of his cheek. “He wasthere with me, and I shut him in the house when I heard the carscoming. I didn’t want him to get knocked down.”

“Interesting name.”

“What?” Chad asked.

Peter cocked his head. “The dog’s name.Merc. What’s it short for?”

“It’s not short for anything.”

“Are you sure it’s not Mercutio?”

“What the hell does the dog’s name have todo with anything?” the DI hissed.

Peter shrugged. “Curious, that’s all.”

“The police arrived. Josh was there, he ledme around the other side of the house.”

“Out of sight of any other officer…” Petersaid.

“What are you implying?” the DI asked.

“I’m not implying anything, only statingfact.”

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