Cooper slowly drawls, “whaaaat ish hippining tos mee?.”
King says nothing, but steps back to watch the final minutes as Cooper struggles to keep his eyes open. He tries to ask for help, but his speech is too impaired. His tongue feels like it has swollen to three times its size. Cooper puts up a good fight, resisting the urge to completely pass out. He slumps over in his chair twice and pulls himself back up into a slouched position. He no longer has a sense of anything around him. The room starts to fade in and out of his vision until finally, his eyes roll back, and everything is black. He slumps to his left and collapses. He lies unconscious with his left arm hanging over the left arm rest, his side against the chair, and his head hanging cocked to the left resting on his left shoulder.
King is pleased with his work, but knows there is much more to do to make this plan a success. King goes into the kitchen and pours more of the rum into the sink. He then takes a small amount of rum and sprinkles it onto the front of Cooper’s shirt so he will still carry a strong odor of rum when the police arrive. King then removes the latex gloves from his back pants pocket and puts them on. He then wipes down the bottle of rum and takes it into the living area. He grabs Cooper’s left hand and presses it multiple times against the bottle, then pours some rum into Cooper’s glass sitting on the round table. He then places the rum bottle next to the glass. Next, he takes the glass he was using for his rum and coke, washes it, dries it, and puts it back in the cupboard.
King then takes a rag and begins to wipe down anything in the kitchen or living room he may have touched. After being satisfied he has gotten everything in the two rooms, he pulls out the small revolver and completely wipes down the outside of the gun, then puts it back in his jacket pocket. He then enters Cooper’s office, sits down at his computer, and types out a letter. He then crumples the letter a bit and leaves it on Cooper’s desk. That should seal the deal, he muses.
King goes back into the living area, keeping his latex gloves on to not leave fingerprints anywhere. He sits on a couch facing Cooper, who hasn’t moved since losing consciousness. King takes in a deep breath and begins to imagine himself owning the entire business and the money he will make. As he is pondering his future, he notices the glass of water on the coffee table in front of the two recliners. Oh my god, I forgot about that glass! He quickly rises, grabs the glass, and takes it to the kitchen where he washes it and returns it to the cupboard. That could have been a fatal error. This causes King to look around more closely for anything else he may have forgotten. Satisfied he has covered his tracks, he sits back down to relax. The only thing to do now is wait for Naomi to return home.
At 8:40 pm, King receives a phone call from Naomi.
“Is it alright for me to come home now?”
“Yes Naomi, I’m waiting for you.”
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”
At 8:52 pm, King hears the garage door opening. Naomi is home. She enters from the garage into the laundry room and then the kitchen. King is now standing in the living area.
“It’s done Naomi,” announces King, “come look.”
Shaking with nerves and some regret, Naomi slowly walks through the kitchen until she sees Ryan slumped over in his recliner.
“Ahh!” she screams as she puts her left hand to her mouth.
“Calm down Naomi, it’s going to be okay.”
“Is he dead?” she whimpers.
“If not, he’s awfully close. Remember, we need to make this look like a suicide. Now, I need you to stand right here for a minute,” as King points to a spot on the living area floor, about ten feet from Cooper.
“Why?”
“You’ll see, just stand there for a moment.”
Naomi takes a few steps to the spot King pointed to and looks at him. “Now what?”
King reaches into his right jacket pocket and removes the loaded revolver.
“No!, shouts Naomi, “you said you wouldn’t do that in front of me.”
“I promise Naomi, I’m not going to shoot Ryan,” says King as he stares at Naomi with a steely look in his eyes.
Naomi is taken aback, as the tone of King’s voice and look in his eyes scares her. She then sees King raise his right arm and point the revolver right at her chest.
“Justin, what are…”
BAM! BAM!
King fires two quick shots into the middle of Naomi’s chest. Naomi gasps, steps back, then immediately falls to the floor. Naomi twitches for only a couple seconds before her body lies still. King’s shots were dead on; the hollow point bullets blowing up the heart inside of Naomi’s chest. Her death comes quickly.
King stands there looking at Naomi as gun smoke and the smell of burnt gun powder fills the room. His plan has worked perfectly. King feels a calmness come over him, as the tension has been relieved. The hard part is over, now all he has to do is play it out.
After several minutes of just taking in the scene, King takes his glove-covered hand and rubs it on the outside of Cooper's limp right hand, hoping to transfer gunshot residue from his glove onto Cooper’s hand. He then takes the gun and presses it into Cooper's right hand and fingers several times. He then wraps Cooper's fingers around the gun and rests his right hand on the right arm rest, with the gun still in the hand.
King takes one more look around to be sure he has covered all his bases. He doesn’t want to leave any trace of him
