Almost Dead

CHAPTER 43

 

Lizzy was on the highway headed for the Perdues, where Hayley and Kitally had found two dead bodies, when the phone rang. The console showed that the caller was her niece.

 

She pushed Talk and tried to sound cheerful. “Brittany, what’s going on?”

 

“Lizzy, you need to come, quick. Mom and Dad are fighting again. This time it’s really bad.”

 

“Are you safe?”

 

“I’m in my room. I locked the door. Can you come?”

 

“I’m less than ten minutes away. You stay where you are—you hear me?”

 

“I promise. Just hurry.”

 

Lizzy got off the phone and cursed. She knew Cathy would be pissed, but she didn’t care: she called the police and pretended to be a neighbor reporting a domestic violence case. Then she hung up and made it to the house in ten minutes, just as she’d said.

 

The moment she stepped out of the car, she could hear screaming. First she shuffled around inside the glove box looking for something sharp. She found a pushpin and stuck it in her pocket. She then went to the back of her car, opened the trunk, and put her gun and holster inside, then locked the car.

 

Richard knew how to push her buttons. She refused to lose her license because of him.

 

Her brother-in-law wasn’t the only one who knew how to piss people off, which was exactly what she planned to do.

 

She looked up, saw Brittany peering out the window. Lizzy waved and her niece waved back. She looked so young, reminding Lizzy of the good old days when she and Brittany spent time in the park, talking and hanging out.

 

When she got to the door, she didn’t bother knocking. She just walked right in and made sure to leave the door ajar. Chairs had been overturned. A picture had fallen from the living room wall. Her sister was standing in the dining room, holding a kitchen towel to her nose. Richard stood beyond her, glaring wildly at them.

 

“What the fuck is she doing here!”

 

“Your daughter is upstairs, scared out of her wits,” Lizzy told him. “She could hear her father beating on her mother.”

 

“Get out of here, Lizzy,” Richard said, pointing his finger at the door. “This isn’t any of your business. Your sister is a whore. I caught her texting a man at work.”

 

“Well, it’s about time.”

 

“You know this man?”

 

Lizzy looked outside. No sign of the police yet. “You bet I do,” she lied. “He’s good-looking and charming and everything you’re not.”

 

He stomped past Cathy to get at Lizzy, chest puffed out, fingers rolled into fists at his sides—doing everything but thumping his chest like the idiotic ape he was. “Get out of my house,” he snarled, “or I swear I’ll plant you on your ass.”

 

Lizzy held her ground, didn’t budge.

 

He pushed her.

 

She stumbled back.

 

“Leave her alone,” her sister shouted.

 

“I’m fine, Cathy. Go see Brittany. She’s scared.”

 

Cathy hesitated before she finally rushed up the stairs.

 

“Why don’t you pull out your gun?” Richard asked. “Makes you feel like a man, doesn’t it? You want to kill me, don’t you? Hack off my head like you did that other guy. That worked out real well for you, didn’t it? You piss off enough people, they come back to get you. And if they can’t get you, they go for the people you care about most. I bet Jared never saw it coming, did he? Looking all dapper in his—”

 

Lizzy heard a car pull up outside. No sirens. Perfect. She pulled the pushpin from her pocket, stepped forward, and stabbed him in the leg, then screamed as loudly as she could.

 

He did what most rage-infested, out-of-control men would do—he punched her in the face right as the door opened.

 

The cop wrestled him to the ground.

 

Richard cried out, trying to let the officer know that she’d purposely set out to make him mad, but he made a crucial mistake. His frustration got the best of him and he sort of bitch-slapped the cop in an attempt to get free.

 

Another he’s-so-dumb joke ran through her head as she watched the officer’s partner step inside and help him pull Richard to his feet and then hold Richard’s arms behind his back so he could cuff him. Figuring they might be more inclined to teach Richard a lesson if she weren’t watching, she went to the kitchen to get some ice and a towel.