The room was absolutely silent, all of them staring at Valerie.
“And I knew”—her voice was close to a whisper—“I knew that if I didn’t act fast, Whitney would not only lose her sister, but also her mother. So I put the leash around her neck. I tied it to a branch, but it broke. And then I heard someone coming, so I left.”
While she was listening, Allison had been slowly edging away from Valerie, so that the gun was now pointing somewhere between her and Nicole. At least she hoped it was.
Cassidy had watched her captor’s confession with darting eyes. Allison could tell her attention was torn between thinking what a great scoop this would make and wondering whether she would die before she ever got to serve it up to viewers.
In that moment, when they were all digesting the news, Nicole made her move. Her gun was in her hand so fast it seemed like a magic trick. And after that, everything happened so fast. Jalape?o jumping, Nicole’s gun firing, Valerie’s going off at the same time, Cassidy screaming, Wayne shouting, “No!”
And then Nicole was on the floor with bright red blood quickly drenching her white blouse. With the dog lying next to her, whining and biting its flank.
And Valerie still standing, unscathed. If she hesitated, it was only because she couldn’t decide which of them to shoot next.
The only time Allison had fired a gun was when Nicole had invited her to spend a few hours at the FBI range in rural Washington State. The weight of Nicole’s Glock had surprised her, as had the way it kicked up with every shot. She had flinched and blinked each time she pulled the trigger. And she hadn’t been very good.
But now without hesitation she grabbed Nicole’s gun from her slack hand. She remembered her friend’s advice. You aim at the largest part of the body and pull the trigger until the subject goes down.
The shot threw Valerie back against the wall. Red bloomed on her chest. Her eyes widened in surprise. The gun fell from her hand to the floor. She raised her hands to the wound, her fingers dabbling the blood. Her body turned boneless and she slid down the wall, leaving a long smear of blood. Raising her shocked eyes to their faces, she said, “I had to think of Whitney.” She wheezed, gasped, tried to breathe, but blood bubbled from her lips. And then she slumped over sideways.
Cassidy grabbed a dishcloth from the kitchen and pressed it to Nic’s shoulder as she yanked her cell phone from her belt and dialed 911.
Allison fell to her knees. She moved her fingers around Valerie’s wrist, but even as she found it, the pulse eased and then vanished altogether. She had no clue how to get it back.
FONG CHONG RESTAURANT
January 29
Allison was the first person to arrive at Fong Chong in Portland’s Chinatown. While she waited for her friends, she thought about all the changes the last six weeks had brought. A new life had begun within her and she had killed a woman. And in different ways, she had saved both of her closest friends.
Wayne and Whitney were in seclusion, getting used to Valerie’s absence and the reality of what she had done.
Lily Rangel was safely back at home, after having gotten drunk at a party and then deciding to lie low rather than face her parents.
Senator Fairview was facing the Senate Ethics Committee, but there was talk that he might escape with a censure.
His wife, however, had been charged with hiring a transient to attack the first young woman he could find hiking alone in Forest Park. Nancy hadn’t really known whether her husband was guilty, and had been trying to cloud the case as much as possible.
Allison’s stalker was in a mental hospital.
Nicole came in the door. Uncharacteristically for her, she immediately gave Allison a hug that was only a little awkward because her right arm was in a sling. The bullet had gone through her arm, somehow managing to miss anything important.
“Thank you again for saving my life,” Nicole whispered in her ear.
“Just returning the favor after you saved mine,” Allison said, giving her good shoulder a squeeze.
As they released each other, Cassidy walked in the door of the restaurant, blinking rapidly. She said, “There’s something really strange in the sky.”
“What?” Allison asked, looking past her.
“It’s a big bright disk of light.”
“Very funny,” Nicole said, but she smiled nonetheless.
“For three?” the waiter asked.
They nodded, and he led them to one of the brown and orange vinyl booths. He poured them each a cup of tea.
“The floor looks kind of dirty,” Nicole whispered as soon as he was out of earshot.
“You don’t come here for the floor,” Cassidy said. “You come here for the food. I still can’t believe you haven’t eaten here before.”
Nicole looked offended. “I’ve had Chinese food.”