Chapter 11 - SONS AND SINS
Pike spun and dropped behind a headstone.
Carmine tackled Calder before he could shoot again.
The gun slid through wet grass.
Benny ran outside.
“Everybody down!”
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Calder looked stunned.
“You called them?”
Carmine pinned him against the ground.
“Not every problem needs to disappear.”
“You think they can protect you from this?”
“No.”
Carmine leaned closer.
“But they can put cameras on you.”
Benny kicked the gun away.
Nell ran to Odette.
Blood soaked the side of her coat.
“Stay with me.”
Odette looked at Nell.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t talk.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I said don’t talk!”
Pike crawled toward them, one hand pressed to his shoulder.
“Mom.”
Odette turned her head.
For a second, all the years between them disappeared.
“I tried to find you,” she whispered.
Pike began crying.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I was a coward.”
“No.”
“I was.”
Nell pressed both hands against Odette’s wound.
“Save the family therapy for the ambulance.”
Odette almost laughed.
Police flooded the cemetery.
Varrick was alive.
Barely.
An officer kicked his gun away while paramedics rushed in.
Calder started shouting.
“You don’t know who I am!”
Carmine stood.
“That line sounds less impressive face-down in mud.”
Calder looked at Nell.
“This isn’t over.”
She walked toward him.
For three years, she had imagined this moment.
In some versions she screamed.
In others she hit him.
Sometimes she watched him beg.
Now she felt strangely calm.
“You’re right.”
Calder smiled.
Then Nell added:
“Now comes court.”
His smile vanished.
Carmine looked at her.
That answer surprised him.
She noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You expected revenge?”
“I expected anger.”
“I am angry.”
She looked at Calder.
“But I’m done letting angry men decide what happens to my life.”
Paramedics loaded Odette into an ambulance.
Pike was placed in another under police guard.
Varrick went into a third.
Calder was handcuffed.
Benny walked over.
“The recording got most of it.”
“Most?”
“Varrick admitting he covered up Calder’s mess. Enough to make several people very nervous.”
Carmine nodded.
“What about Doyle?”
“Still missing.”
Nell heard him.
“We need him.”
Benny looked at her.
“For what?”
“If he’s alive, he proves the original report was changed.”
Carmine looked toward Calder being pushed into a police car.
Calder suddenly started laughing.
Everyone turned.
“What’s funny?” Benny asked.
Calder leaned toward the window.
“You’re all celebrating.”
Carmine stared.
“You should check on the old man.”
Nell’s heart stopped.
“What did you do?”
Calder smiled.
“Ask your hospital.”
She grabbed her phone.
Three missed calls.
All from the hospital.
Her hands started shaking.
She called back.
A nurse answered.
“Ms. Fontaine?”
“Yes.”
“Your father had a medical emergency.”
Nell couldn’t breathe.
“What kind?”
“He’s being taken into surgery.”
“Why?”
May you like
The nurse hesitated.
“Someone tampered with his IV line.”
