“Did they tell you why?” Pfeiffer told her they’d not. “You killed your own children, Pfeiffer. They had to tell you something. How did you even figure it out?”
Getting up, she went to the trash can and pulled out several sheets of paper. It didn’t look like anything until she looked at the ads Pfeiffer pointed to. As she read them, Pfeiffer explained how she’d figured it out.
“They put that in the paper looking for someone to come and kill you. Me too, Sally told me. There wasn’t any point in having me around if I was just going to be nagging at them about your death. I was looking over the lonely hearts ads. Remember how we used to think how lonely you’d have to be to put an ad in the paper? At first, it only piqued my curiosity a little. But something in me made me keep going back to it. I’m ashamed to tell you that at first, I didn’t get what they were asking. Then when I did, it was like being hit with a load of rocks.” CJ was sure she might not have gotten it either at first. “Then I began looking at the wording of it. After that, the phone number. It’s Sally’s number. They used their own phone number to have someone call them who would kill off a relative for cash.”
Honey, are you all right? She told Don she wasn’t. And asked if he could bring not just the men with him but the women as well. Have you killed her yet? I’m assuming you’ve found out your sister is the one that has been calling the hits on you.
My sister? She glanced at Pfeiffer, then frowned. She is telling me it was her daughters that hired the hitmen.
It was her. Pfeiffer. I’m on my way. Don’t let her hurt you. She stood up then, asking Pfeiffer if she wanted more to drink. There is a pack of wolves outside the door to the kitchen. They’ve been watching over you since you arrived. Honey, Melisandre has been keeping an eye on her, and it’s Pfeiffer, not the girls. Where are they? They need to be gotten out of the house as well.
She said she killed them for me. And for the moment, I don’t want to think about what she might have done to them. All right? Nervous and afraid for the first time in a long time, she took her time in filling their glasses with ice. Not that she had any plans of drinking anything from hers, but she did refill their glasses with the tea in the fridge. I’m sitting at the kitchen table. When I got here, she was calling for Cody to help her get rid of the bodies. Oh, Don, I know she can’t kill me, but please hurry.
Sitting down, she smiled at Pfeiffer. It was all she could do not to get up and tear her throat out. She asked her about the bodies and what she had planned on telling the police. Pfeiffer, if she’d not been looking right at her, might well have gotten away with showing her madness. Even if it had only been a quick look for her.
“That was the reason I was trying to find Cody. He seemed to know a great deal about bodies and such.” CJ frowned and asked her what she meant. “You know. Being magical like you are, I figured the two of you must have a great many bodies all over the place. For anyone that would try and take advantage of you.”
Laughing a little, she told her she didn’t know anyone that had taken advantage of her. “Certainly no one I’ve killed for it. I’m pretty easy about things. You know that.” The anger again, also a little insanity. “What about you? Do you think I’ve taken advantage of you during our life together?”
The gun was pointed at her when Pfeiffer pulled it from someplace under the table. It didn’t scare her as much as she thought it should have. CJ kept telling herself she was immortal. That no bullets or anything else would kill her. Painful, yes, she knew it would be that, but there would be no killing her. She was glad now she’d prepared herself for something like this by putting magic all around her unborn child.
“What are your plans with that, Pfeiffer? Do you think you can kill me? You can’t, just so you know.” The bullet entered her arm and threw her back, tipping over the chair. Standing up, fixing her chair, she sat back down and put her hand over the wound. “See, nothing will kill me.”
“So you say.” The next bullet hit her in the cheek. She might have been aiming for her head, but the natural reflex of moving out of the way had it entering her there. Don said they were there.
Wait. I have to see this through. He asked her if she was all right. I am, actually. I think this is something she’s been feeling for some time. But you will need to get the police here. She has killed her daughters.
I know, honey. We’ll take care of arrangements as soon as we get this part of it cleared up. She could agree with him on that note but watched Pfeiffer. The police are here now. I guess the wolf pack could smell the blood and called them. They are parked around back, so be wary
