Matt is still blocking the door, his arms locked straight out in front of him and his aim trained on her. The exact second I swing around to look over his shoulder, he shouts, “No, Margot! Put the gun down!”
Her long, feral scream is her only answer before she pulls the trigger on herself and crumples to the floor behind my desk. Only her feet are visible, but she’s not moving at all. There’s no sound. There’s just nothing. I stagger backward until my back hits the opposite wall behind me. I’m only vaguely aware of Matt yelling into his radio. He could very well be speaking in a foreign language because it all sounds like gibberish to me.
I don’t know which is sadder. The fact that she’s dead. Or the fact the first thought I had was that it’s finally over. All the trouble, heartache, and pure hell I’ve experienced over the past few years at her hands is really over. My heart only breaks for my daughter because she will never know her biological mother. But then again, the one she calls “Mommy” has shown her more love over the course of a season than the one who gave birth to her has over her lifetime.
At some point, Matt walks me back out to the reception area, which is now the hub of operations for the officers and detectives of our town. Honestly, I never realized our county had so many cops before now, and all I can do is watch stoically as they come and go. When I hear my name called, the urgency in the tone pulls me back to reality.
“Sharp!” Justin yells at me. When I turn my head toward him, he visibly relaxes. “Damn it, Ace. You scared the shit out of me for a minute there. I’ve called your name like five times.”
“Sorry, Justin. I’m trying to process how I should feel about this versus how I actually feel about it. On top of that, I don’t know how to explain this to my little girl without traumatizing her for life when she’s old enough to understand. Hell, I’m a grown man and I don’t even understand it all.”
“First of all, your feelings are your own, and you’re allowed to have them without guilt. There’s no ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ in this, so get that out of your head. Secondly, I just talked to Matt and there’s something else you should know. Something that should help you sort out your feelings.”
“What?” Now he really has my attention.
“Matt found a note she left in your office. She’d planned a murder-suicide, Ace. Margot was going to shoot you first and then turn the gun on herself, so the two of you could die together in her demented happily-ever-after ending. She knew she didn’t have any other way out this time with the police looking for her. If you’d walked in there first, your wife would be having a very different conversation with your little girl right now.”
Anger fills me to the point of rage—and it’s all directed at Margot and her selfishness.
“Go home to your family, Ace. Your wife is worried sick about you, and your daughter wants to know where her daddy is. Your mom and your sister are over there with them. You have a house full of love waiting for you, buddy.”
I clasp his shoulder in my hand and squeeze, a silent, manly way of saying, “Thank you for making me pull my head out of my ass.”
He replies with a single nod of his head, and I run as fast as I can back to my truck. Justin’s words echo in my head the entire way home, and my foot turns to lead as I push harder on the gas pedal.
My family. My family is waiting for me at home.
Then something else he said hits me with the momentum of a runaway locomotive. “Your wife is worried sick…”
“Layne.”
Taking the turn into my drive on two wheels, my tires squeal loudly in protest from the pressure I put on them. But I don’t care. It pales in comparison to the pressure in my chest right now. I burst through the front door and the first face I see is hers. She’s leaning against the arm of the couch, her legs tucked underneath her, and she’s so pale. It takes a couple of seconds for her brain to register that her eyes really do see me.
“Ace.” The tears start to roll down her cheeks, one by one.
I rush to her before she moves and drop to my knees in front of her. My arms wrap around her waist, I carefully place my face against her stomach, and I just hold her close to me. She runs her fingers through my hair in deliberate affirmations of love and comfort.
“Are you okay, Layne?” I mumble into her body, unwilling to break our contact.
“I am now that I know you’re okay.”
“I’m sorry, baby. News obviously traveled faster than I anticipated. I was never in any danger. As soon as Justin got to the center, I rushed back home. What have you already heard?”
“All of it. Now. Justin just called Lily,” she replies. “At first, we only heard there was a lot of police commotion at the center. You weren’t answering your cell phone.”