“Honestly, Benni, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “I admit, I don’t remember him leaving but ...”
“Don’t give me that.”
“I swear on my mother’s grave, I didn’t know about Jack’s death until the next day.”
“Who was driving? Is that why you killed Marla and Eric? Were they blackmailing you because they knew you were driving?”
He looked at me in confusion. “You mean the Chenier and Griffin murders? What have they got to do with all this?”
“What’s going on here?” J.D. slammed the door open and stood, a big silver bull, in the middle of the room. “Young lady, I didn’t believe it when Julio told me. You’d better give me that gun right now.”
“Tell him,” I said to Carl. “Tell your dad what a fine, upstanding citizen you are. What a good friend you are.”
“What’s she talking about?” J.D. asked.
Carl glanced at his dad and held out his hands, a dumbfounded look on his face.
“Girl, what would your daddy think?” J.D. said.
“He’d probably tell me to pull the trigger,” I said. “He taught me that friendship meant something. You don’t walk out on a friend. You don’t leave friends to die alone.”
“Give me the gun, Benni,” J.D. said. “You’re upset. You don’t know what you’re saying. Give me the gun and we’ll just pretend like this never happened. Come on now.”
“You just don’t get it, do you? He’s a murderer, J.D.,” I said. “He left Jack to die and then killed Marla and Eric because they were blackmailing him. You raised yourself a fine boy here. You ought to be proud.” Tears flowed freely down my cheeks again. The gun trembled in my hand. I wasn’t sure what to do now.
I turned back to Carl. “I ought to shoot you. Let you lie there and feel your life drain out of you, inch by inch, like the way you did Jack.”
“I don’t remember,” Carl said, his voice almost a whisper. “Benni, I never wanted you to know this but I don’t remember a lot of what happened the night Jack died. Dad told me about Jack’s accident the next day when I woke up.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I’ve had about all I’m going to take from you, young lady,” J.D. said. He pulled a small pearl-handled pistol from his pocket and pointed it at me. “Now, give me that gun right now.”
“Dad!” Carl exclaimed. “Put that away. It’s bad enough Benni’s gone nuts. This is getting ridiculous.”
“I mean it, girl.” J.D. gestured with his gun. “Give it to me now.”
“How can you protect him, J.D.?” I said. “He killed two people. He left Jack to die. Don’t you think he should have to pay for what he did?”
“I didn‘t—” Carl started.
“He didn’t know about Jack until the next day,” J.D. interrupted. “It was a dumbass thing, but he didn’t do it on purpose. Jack was his best friend. Jack wouldn’t have wanted him to have his life ruined over a stupid mistake.”
“What are you saying?” I looked at him, confused.
“You heard me. You heard him. He didn’t know what he was doing.”
A thick, hoarse groan, like that of an injured dog, came from Carl. J.D. and I turned to look at him. His mouth worked but no sound came out. The look on his face was like someone who’d seen a ghost, or reality for the first time.
“You mean, oh shit, I didn’t ... I’m sorry....” The words spilled out in a torrent, his face contorted in a horrible mask of realization and remorse.
“It wasn’t your fault, son,” J.D. said in a soft voice that sounded strange coming from him. He walked toward his son. “No one blames you.” His face was full of some emotion, though I couldn’t tell what—love, pity, regret.
“Wait,” I said, the gun still trembling in my hand. “If he didn’t even know about any of this, then he couldn’t have killed Marla and Eric. Who else ...” Then it dawned on me. But by that time, J.D. had already pointed the gun back at me.
“You never did know when to give up, Benni Harper,” J.D. said. “You just couldn’t let well enough alone.”
“J.D.” All I could whisper was his name. It had taken me hours to get used to the idea that Carl was a killer. That it was really J.D. seemed too shocking to even contemplate.
“Dad?” Carl looked unbelieving at J.D. His face was wet with tears. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel disgust. He might not have killed Marla and Eric, but he’d still left Jack alone to die. Drunk or not, I didn’t know if I could ever forgive him for that.
“I’ll take care of it, Carl. You just go on to my office and wait for me.” J.D. gestured with his gun for Carl to leave.
Carl looked at me, at the gun I had pointed at him, and gave a small, bitter laugh. “You’d be better off shooting me now, Benni. Dad’s obviously not going to let you out of here, so you might as well perform one last community service before you die. Then we’ll all be where we want. You’ll be with Jack, and I’ll be in hell where I belong.”
“Carl,” J.D. said. “Quit talking foolish.”
He turned to his dad, a look close to amusement on his face. “Give it up, old man. You never did know when to quit helping, did you? You can’t buy or manipulate your way out of this one. Why did you have to kill those people? Why?”
“Because we made a deal, a little every month. But that wasn’t good enough for her. She wanted more, a lot more. Then that little wimp thought he’d take over when I got rid of her.” J.D. shook his head. “Fixed his wagon. Kid was sitting there counting his money when I
