She was wasting her time. He’d never understand. “You succeeded at nothing. It’s time for your punishment. This is for all the women you hurt.”
She opened fire. The blasts within the confines of the car deafened her. The windshield deflected the first two bullets, but the hole they left in the glass made a clear path for the shots that followed. She stopped firing when his body fell still against the hood of the cruiser.
In that moment, Zo? was lost. Her life had been on hold for so long, weighed down by this monster’s invisible presence, and now he lay dead. It was over. She was free. It was astounding that the resolution was so simple in its execution. All it had taken to stop the Tally Man were a few gunshots. In her mind, he’d been more than a man, bigger and more powerful, but the bullets had proved he was human, after all. It didn’t seem possible that it was over. All she could do was stare at Marshall Beck’s dead body—all his contempt and hatred gone with him.
The cruiser’s engine fluttered, then caught itself just before stalling. She wasn’t going to die here in the blaze. She put the cruiser into reverse and it shuddered back. Marshall Beck, the Tally Man, slid from the hood and into the flames. She turned the car around and drove out of the fire.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Zo?’s dad appeared in the doorway to her bedroom, with her younger brother. “What’s next?” he asked.
Zo? finished writing Bedroom on the three cartons in front of her. “These boxes here, the mattress, and the box spring.”
They started with the box spring. She squeezed past them to help her mom wrap and pack all the crockery in the kitchen. In spite of how little she owned, it seemed to be taking forever.
“I’m so glad you’re coming home,” her mom said with a smile.
“Just until I get myself back on my feet.”
“For as long as you like, sweetie.”
It had been a long three weeks since her showdown with Marshall Beck in Burnt Ranch. With Greening and Ogawa chaperoning her, she’d spent two days with the Trinity Sherriff’s Department, giving statements and helping to pinpoint the graves of the Tally Man’s victims. They’d unearthed them, and DNA testing had confirmed that the grave Marshall Beck had identified as Holli’s was correct. Greening and Ogawa brought her back to San Francisco after the Trinity County District Attorney’s office confirmed they wouldn’t be filing charges against her for killing Marshall Beck.
If she thought she’d be returning to the quiet life, she’d been dead wrong. The media made that impossible. Jarocki put her up at his Napa home until the fervor died down, but even after it had, it was impossible to move back to her home or job. Too many people wanted to talk to the Tally Man’s only surviving victim. She quit her job at the mall and gave notice on her apartment. Jarocki offered her his place long term, but suggested that maybe it was time to reunite with her family. It had been a tough call to make, considering how she’d shunned them, but they welcomed her with open arms. It made the guilt of pushing them away sting even more. Now they were here, helping her move. She didn’t know how going home was going to be, but she didn’t know how anything was going to be from now on. It was all unwritten. “It’s all potential,” as Jarocki had put it. The specter of the Tally Man no longer bound her. She found that kind of freedom scary.
“Hello?” Greening stood in the doorway. “Is it OK if I come in?”
“Yes, of course. Come in.”
He entered the kitchen.
She looked at him in his jeans and T-shirt. “Are you here to help us load up?”
He smiled. “No, there’s only so far I’m willing to go as a public servant.”
“Should have known. This is my mom, by the way.” She introduced him to her mom, then her dad and brother as the two carried her box spring out the door.
“I know you’re busy trying to move, but could I talk to you for a minute?” he said.
Zo? turned to her mom.
“I’ve got this,” her mom said. “You talk.”
For privacy, Zo? walked Greening outside and halfway down the second floor walk. They watched her brother and dad manhandle the box spring down the stairs and over to the U-Haul.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
It had been a mixed few weeks. Her emotions had been sent on a roller coaster ride, so many lows and highs. The highs of her family’s acceptance and finally being free of the Tally Man’s grasp. The lows of accepting Holli’s death. Killing Marshall Beck should have been a guiltless task, but taking a life, no matter how justified, was hard on the soul.
“OK. Dr. Jarocki is helping me deal with the fallout from all this.”
“Good. I’m glad,” he said. “Happy to be leaving?”
“Happy to be getting away from the noise.”
He nodded. “I can understand that. Where are you going?”
“Home with my parents. San Jose.”
“Did you go to Holli’s funeral?”
She nodded. Holli’s parents had invited her. “It was on Tuesday in Sacramento. It’s where she was from.”