Eyes Wide Open

“Officer, officer! ” I yelled as I ran up. My heart was ricocheting off my ribs. “I need some help.”

I got to the car, put my hands on the window. “Officer, my brother’s inside that house and-”

My stomach almost came up my throat at what I saw.

The cop inside, his cap off, head slumped to the side, blood all over the top of his neck.

And a bright red circle dotting the center of his forehead.

Chapter Seventy-Five

“S o many things to go over, Charlie. So many years…”

Dev had let in Susan Pollack, the woman Charlie knew as Maggie, and they had their guns out, grinning. “And the little woman. So nice to finally meet you. So where to start?” He picked up the splintered neck of Charlie’s guitar that sat on the mantel. He whistled sympathetically. “Man, that must’ve put a dent in the ol’ music career

…”

“What do you want with us, Dev?”

“What do I want? What could we possibly want, Charlie? When it comes to you. Hey! ” He placed the guitar neck back on the hearth. “How’d you like the pictures? I made ’em up just for you.”

His eyes grew wide, flashes of relish and enjoyment in them. “I’m thinking definitely some of my best work, don’t you agree? As I remember, you two were kinda cozy back then. Man, it was sure a bitch to find her. She’d really lived quite the regular life since she left you…”

“You didn’t have to kill her, Dev. She was just a kid back then. She wouldn’t have hurt a fly.”

“Of course we had to kill her, Charlie. I mean, you see that, don’t you? That it wasn’t even about her, anyway. Not about her at all.” He sat across from him, spreading his knees. His gun bobbed against his thigh. “That was about you, mate. We had to kill her because we wanted to make the point to you. You get it now?”

“Yeah, I get it, Dev.”

“I mean, you knew what the score was, Charlie. Chase. Buckaroo. You knew even back then. When you brought those pigs into the garden, the rest of us had to do what? Clean up the mess. Right? It’s like with the Bible, Charlie. Ain’t no statute of limitations on betrayal.”

“That was all more than thirty years ago, Dev. We’ve lived out our lives.”

“Thirty years…” The words had a certain importance to them. Dev looked over to Susan. “He wants to know what thirty years is, Maggie.”

“Thirty years is what I gave up,” she said to him. “Over ten thousand days, Charlie. Each one spent counting the hours. Marking them off in my head. Until I could do what I was spared to do. What Russell wanted me to do. He knew part of his flock was weak. That they would betray him. That was why some got to go with him and others had to wait behind. So they would be here one day…”

“Russell was crazy, Maggie! He murdered all those people. Now you’re as guilty as him. What you’ve done is evil.”

“Evil? ” Susan Pollack chuckled and dangled her gun. Her smile was mirthless. “Don’t you remember nothing is evil if it’s done from love, Charlie? And your son… That was done from the greatest love I knew.”

“Evan?”

The woman he knew as Mags’s eyes bore in on him. “I gave up my life for him. For Russell. What did you give up? You gave up nothing, Charlie. So you had to pay.”

“What did you do to my son?” Gabby said, glaring at her.

“What did I do to your son?” Susan laughed and looked as if she was talking about a dying insect. “Your son was a confused little child who didn’t know whether he was alive or dead.”

“No, he was innocent,” Gabby said, standing up. “He was sick.”

“He was crazy, you stupid bitch. I learned more of what was in his heart in an hour than the two of you knew about him your whole lives. He wanted to kill himself out of spite just for the pain it would cause you. He hated the two of you- you both! But he was afraid, just like you were always afraid, Charlie. The little coward didn’t have the guts to do what had to be done.”

“What did you do to him? ” Gabby’s face became twisted with horror and rage. She took a step toward her, and Maggie raised the gun to her face, aiming it at her with two hands.

“Gabby, please…” Charlie tried to stand and go to her, but Dev lifted his foot and kicked him back onto the couch.

“You’ll have your own turn, Charlie boy.”

Gabby stared into Susan Pollack’s impassive face. Tears suddenly glistened in her eyes, the moistness slowly trickling down her cheeks. “ What did you do to him? ” she pressed.

Susan Pollack merely smiled.

“Please. You were there with him. Tell me. I need to know. Do what you want to me, I don’t care. But I need to know. It’s all that matters to me now.” She took another step toward Susan, not menacingly, more like imploring her. “Somewhere in your heart you are a woman too. Can’t you see? Our lives are over. They were over the day he died. So tell me, I beg you, please. It’s all that matters now. What happened to my son?”

Susan Pollack raised the gun and aimed it at Gabby’s face.

Charlie’s chest flooded with fear. “ Gabby, no! ”