For the first time, I realized this was true. Bil y was fun.
He was freedom from the smal town I grew up in. He was rebel ion, which was something I’d been honing for a decade before I met him. He was also energy and adventure.
What he wasn’t was a life force.
Not like Hank.
I put my forehead to Bil y’s.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered
And I was.
“You’re the only good thing I have, the only good thing I ever had,” Bil y whispered back.
I didn’t get a chance to reply.
Hank was through.
I felt his strong arm wrap around my waist and, with a tug, he pul ed me out of Bil y’s arms. We walked back several steps, clearing Bil y, and then he swung me to the side. I col ided with Lee and Lee pul ed me back as I watched Bil y try to lift his gun to Hank but Marcus was at Bil y’s side, his gun pressed to Bil y’s temple.
“Drop it,” Marcus said.
Bil y kept raising the gun, almost like he wanted Marcus to shoot him.
I held my breath. Lee kept moving us back.
Hank stil had his weapon trained on Bil y, as did Marcus, but Bil y kept raising his gun.
“Drop it!” Marcus bit out.
Bil y’s hand twisted and I realized what he was going to do.
He was going to shoot himself.
Terror seized me and I screamed. “Hank, stop him!” Then, a gunshot blasted through the room.
Everyone went stil as we watched Bil y’s hand explode in a mist of red. He shrieked a hideous cry of pain as the gun fel free.
There was a nanosecond of silence.
Then Hank ordered, “Cal the paramedics.”
Hank moved toward Bil y and in my line of sight so I couldn’t see.
I looked to Luke, thinking he shot Bil y. Luke was shrugging off his jacket, blood was running down his arm.
The sight of it overwhelmed me. I sagged against Lee and he took my weight into his body at the same time he shoved his gun in a shoulder holster.
“Back off. Police,” Eddie was there, gun raised, badge out, danger was back in the room.
The two men who had to be from Chicago were approaching Hank, Marcus and Bil y. They moved back when they caught sight of Eddie.
“Drop your weapons and against the wal ,” Eddie continued. Without hesitation their weapons fel to the ground, their hands went up.
The other two men in suits had disappeared, vanished, as if they’d never been there.
Bil y was sitting on the floor, Hank hunched beside him, blocking my view.
“Get her out of here, Lee,” Hank ordered, not turning to us as what appeared to be an army of uniformed officers, led by Carl, came into the room.
“Let’s go, Roxie,” Lee said into my ear and my body went stiff.
“Luke –” I started.
“He’l get taken care of, honey, let’s go,” Lee’s voice was soft as he was pul ing me back.
I started to struggle and Lee’s arm went from gentle to no-nonsense. I gave up and al owed him to pul me out of the room.
*
I was sitting on a barstool in Daisy’s kitchen, being mother henned by eight women and two gay men. Kitty Sue and Malcolm had arrived late (thank God).
Malcolm was somewhere with the men, Kitty Sue was with us.
There was so much food on the counter at my side, it could have fed the Chicago Bears, Bul s and Cubs for a week. There were four uniformed officers helping themselves to the food.
When Lee guided me into the kitchen, I noticed Dad experiencing a fleeting relief, then he detonated, cursing and blinding. Lee went to him and careful y guided him out but we heard him yel ing al the way down the hal .
Jason fol owed them; his usual good-natured expression had again disappeared.
Detective Jimmy Marker had come and gone, taking my statement while he was there. The whole time I talked to him, Mom stood beside me holding my hand. Annette stood close behind me, taking the weight of my shoulders into her torso. At that time, it was too fresh, I couldn’t have held myself up without Annette and, like any best girlfriend would, she knew it.
Detective Marker told me Luke had a flesh wound in his arm. It was superficial and he’d be fine. He went on to tel me Bil y was going to the hospital, under armed guard, but his hand looked bad. Final y, he told me that it was Vance who shot Bil y.
“Boy’s a good shot. So’s Lee and so’s Stark. Even though he used you as a shield, you were covered. If they’d fired, none of those boys would have hit you,” Detective Marker said calmly, as if, the whole time, I had nothing to worry about.
“Stark?” I asked, confused.
“Luke. Last name’s Stark. Known by that on the street though Lee’s boys cal him Luke,” Detective Marker explained.
“How do you know they’re good shots?”