tried desperately to undo the tape, but Juliet hauled her away by the collar of her shirt.
'Stop that.' My sister plunked Sarah down against the dishwasher. 'Now sit there and stop being so stupid. We just saved your sorry-ass life. You move and I'll tape you up, too.' She looked at me and rolled her eyes.
Sarah curled into a ball and sobbed quietly.
I picked up the kitchen phone and dialed 9-1-1. As the operator answered, the exterior kitchen door swung open and Frederick Parsons strode in, impeccably dressed, gun drawn. We all stared, gap-mouthed, at him.
He looked down at Greg and shook his head. 'Is he dead?'
Delores found her voice first. 'No, he's not, Frederick. Put the gun away.'
He didn't. Instead, he turned to me. The look in his eyes caused my insides to recoil.
'Are you calling 9-1-1?'
'Yes.' The word was barely more than a squeak.
'Tell them you've made a mistake and hang up.'
Delores and I exchanged a glance. She nodded once. I cleared my throat. Even still, my voice shook. 'Sorry, operator, I've made a mistake. Sorry to bother you.' I pushed a button on the handset.
Frederick Parsons waved his gun at me. 'Over there, with your sister. Leave the phone.'
I set it on the counter, and moved quickly to Juliet. Parsons scanned the room, shook his head slightly when he saw Lee's body and again as he took in Sarah weeping. He raised his gun and aimed at Greg. I sucked in a gasp. Juliet grabbed my arm.
'Frederick, no!' Delores shouted. 'Let the police deal with him!'
'No!' Sarah screamed at the same time and threw herself across Greg's unconscious body. 'He didn't kill her! He didn't kill your daughter!'
Parsons's shoulders sagged slightly and his eyes narrowed to slits. 'Move.'
'No. I won't let you kill him. He's innocent. You have to believe me! You'll have to shoot me too.'
'I will,' he said matter-of-factly. 'But not with this gun.' He moved toward Greg's gun, resting against Lee's leg, but the sound of footsteps on the porch drew our attention, including Parsons's.
Joey stepped through the doorway. Juliet's fingers dug into my arm and she whimpered. The gun he carried was bigger. Lots bigger.
'Ah, good,' Parsons said. 'Pick up that piece over there and dispatch these four, would you please?'
I clutched at Juliet and stopped breathing.
Joey raised his big pistol. The scream in my throat never formed. He wasn't aiming at us.
Parsons scowled and pointed at Greg's gun. 'No. I said tha -'
There was a loud pop, like a beer being opened, but without the hiss. Parsons's eyes grew wide. He looked down at the red spreading rapidly on his crisp white shirt, then crumpled like so much dirty laundry.
Joey's expression never changed. He turned the gun around and laid it on the kitchen island. Then he raised both arms and put his hands behind his head, fingers laced together.
'Go ahead and call,' he said, with a nod at the phone. 'Don't touch the gun. Only my fingerprints should be on it.'
Stunned and confused by the sudden turn of events, I obediently released Juliet and managed the few shaky steps to where the phone lay. 'Are you still there?'
'Yes,' the 9-1-1 operator said. 'Are you safe?'
'Yes, thank you. We are now. But we still need the ambulance and sheriff.' My words came out so slowly I thought I'd never finish the sentence.
'They should be arriving any moment. Stay on the line.'
'Okay.' I looked at Joey. 'They're almost here.'
He nodded. 'We should go outside.'
Delores, Juliet, Sarah (held firmly by the arm by my sister), and I followed Joey out the kitchen door. Once outside he knelt on the ground at attention, with his back to us, and his hands still at the back of his head. Even as my thinking began to clear, the entire scene remained more bizarre than I could have imagined. Not that I minded Joey's help – which we obviously needed – but I didn't understand what the hell was going on.
'Why did you kill him?' I asked.
The big man took a deep breath and exhaled before he answered. 'I didn't have a choice. I'm the only one who knew he killed his daughter. He never would have been convicted, and I would have ended up as bear food on the side of some logging road before the trial ever started.'
'But Greg -'
'Marshall never knew. We passed him when we left on Saturday, then turned around and followed him back here. Mr. Parsons's plan was to accuse him of killing Valerie, and have me hold a gun to the back of his head like I was going to kill him. It worked. Marshall was scared shitless. He cried, begged us to let him help find who killed Valerie when Mr. Parsons said the police would suspect him right away and we couldn't lie about finding him with her body.'
'Why did he try to make it look like an accident? That was what he intended, right?'
'It was Marshall's idea, to give us more time. I think Mr. Parsons would have been okay with the accident idea, if it had stuck. But when it didn't, well, he had to put the blame on someone. He didn't much care if it was Marshall or you. He'd have ruined Marshall either way.'
'Do you mean to tell me,' Delores said, her voice cracking with fury, 'Frederick intended to let Greg kill us all?'
Joey swallowed. 'Yes, ma'am – but I don't think he knew there'd be so many of you. He was going to shoot Greg after he killed Miss Campbell.' He nodded toward me and my legs shook. Delores put her good arm protectively around my shoulders. 'He planned to tell the sheriff it was self defense – that Greg killed Miss Campbell and planned to kill him, too.'
The first Snohomish County Sheriff's car rolled silently around the house and came to a stop. We all watched as the deputy, calm and business-like, exited the car with his gun drawn.
Joey continued. 'I came into the house when I didn't hear a gunshot.' His gaze held mine. 'I'm glad you're all alive.' Then he turned away, still on his knees.
'Glad' couldn't begin to describe my feelings. 'Why did he kill his daughter?' I asked.
Joey took a shuddering breath then looked over his shoulder at me. Light reflected off the tears tracing paths down his face. 'It was an accident. They argued about Greg and the investment scheme he dragged her into. Mr. Parsons lost his temper and hit her.' He swallowed. More tears washed down his face. Another sheriff's cruiser pulled up. 'He broke her neck.' Joes faced front as two more sheriff's cars arrived and an ambulance.
'Everyone all right here?' Detective Thurman called, getting out of an unmarked car. His gun was drawn, too.
I cleared my throat. 'They've arrived,' I said into the phone. 'Were you able to hear all that?'
'Yes, and thank you,' the 9-1-1 operator said.
This time I actually did press the disconnect button. Then I addressed Thurman. 'Yes. Mostly. I think Delores's arm is broken, though.'
He nodded and motioned to the paramedics. Delores scowled.
'No backtalk, Delores,' he said, then gave Joey a long look. 'What am I arresting you for?'
'Murder.'
'Whose?'
'Frederick Parsons.'
Thurman's eyebrows shot up. He motioned to a deputy. 'Cuff him and read him his rights.' He turned his attention to me. 'What am I going to find inside?'
'Two bodies. Frederick Parsons and Lee – sorry, I don't know his last name. And Greg Marshall.' Sarah sniffled loudly. I took a deep breath. 'He's injured, maybe still unconscious, but we, um, secured him.'
Thurman raised one eyebrow, then nodded at my hand. 'You hurt?'
'No. It's Greg's blood.'
His gaze shifted to my shirt. 'Did he -'
'No.' I yanked my shirt back together. 'No. He was just trying to intimidate me.'
'You want to talk to a woman officer?'
'No, thanks. I'm okay.'
