I'll Kill Her for You
Page 19
John’s finger constricted against the trigger, pulling it back.
“Nooo!”
At that moment, Lawson felt a rush of air behind him, like wind. He was wondering where that could be coming from but the answer came within less than a second.
“NYPD! Hands in the air!”
It was Detective Munson. She was standing in the doorframe, weapon drawn. John was startled and instinctively raised his gun to shoot the intruder.
“Don’t!” the detective shouted.
But the instant John’s pistol was aimed at her, she had no choice. She fired three times.
John’s body was propelled against the bulkhead, two bullets exploding in his chest while the third round entered his head. He slid down the wall and it wouldn’t take a coroner to determined that he was dead.
Before John was even on the ground, Lawson found himself leaping forward to grab Penny and take her out of harm’s way. He threw himself over her and kept her pinned to the ground in case the shootout wasn’t over.
The strangest thing was that she was holding him tightly as if she wasn’t scared by him in the least, like she appreciated the gesture and recognized that he only wanted what was best for her.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded and he hugged her even more, which she didn’t resist. The relief he felt was unimaginable. He was close to sobbing from elation.
There were footsteps behind him as more officers entered the mess. There were multiple shouts of “Clear!”
“Check these bodies,” Detective Munson said to a couple of uniforms before heading to Lawson. “Mr. Winslow? Are you okay?”
At last, Lawson turned onto his back and saw the woman standing over him.
“This is my daughter. Thank you for saving her.”
“Your daughter?”
“It’s complicated, I know. I was hoping you would sic your people on me after I broke the bail conditions, after you saw I was leaving Manhattan. Thank God you were fast.”
“Couldn’t you just have called us?”
The voice belonged to Kwon. He was looking down smugly at Lawson, holstering his gun.
“Would you have believed me?”
“Goddamn cowboy…”
Lawson was about to give him a piece of his mind when there was a light cough and a gurgling sound coming from just inside the door. Bailey was moving.
“We need a medic in here!” Munson shouted as she hurried to Bailey.
She was alive, her eyes half open!
Lawson himself came closer but he didn’t let go of Penny, as much to keep her comfort as for his own.
“Hold on, okay? It’ll be all right.”
Shit, that had to be the dumbest thing to say to somebody who was hanging on by a thread, two breaths away from being dead. But he wanted her to live. Bailey had been the only person to believe he was innocent.
Munson applied pressure to the wounds as she did her best to open her shirt. Moments later, paramedics appeared with a spinal board and medical kit. Almost in silence, they began working on her, preparing her for transport to the ambulance.
“Wait,” Bailey whispered.
“It’s okay,” the detective said. “They’re gonna take you to the hospital.”
“H-Here.”
Just before the paramedics lifted Bailey, the former federal agent was able to give something to Munson. It was her phone. Even from where he stood, Lawson saw that the audio recording app was running.
Sure enough, the detective played it back and John’s confession was loud and clear.
“Will you look at that!”
Lawson wiped his eyes and started laughing. “Do you believe me now?”
“Will you look at that,” she repeated, softer this time, completely in disbelief.
Lawson watched as Bailey was finally maneuvered out of the officer’s mess, which was a sharp turn given the narrow passageway. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be long until she got to a hospital.
“You think this is going to be enough to clear the charges against me.”
“I would say so, yes.”
Kwon snorted. “There’s still the matter of you breaking your bail agreement, crossing state lines and–”
Munson put a hand on his shoulder, shutting him up. “It’s okay. I can’t say I condone people taking the law into their own hands but I must admit that…”
“What?”
“I have to respect you for how hard you fought to clear your name. You were right.”
“Thanks, Detective. And thank you for showing up when you did, for saving Penny. And you, Kwon?”
“Yes?”
“You’re still a dick.”
Kwon almost gasped audibly at that and Lawson smiled.
“You want to get out of here?” he asked his daughter. She nodded. “Good, me too.”
They walked out of the room and nobody stopped them.
Chapter 42
The Dave & Buster’s was busy but thankfully not too loud. Lawson was sitting at a table, his burger mostly untouched. Instead, his attention was focused on Penny who was playing arcade games a little farther down.
“Is it just me or has she grown a foot?”
“It’s how it works at that age,” Bailey said with an ill-advised shrug that made her wince in pain.
“It still hurts?”
“I was shot in the chest. What do you think?”
Lawson laughed anyway. In the past month and a half, Bailey had made a speedy recovery. She had gotten to the hospital in time and the bullet fragments hadn’t caused any permanent damage. She had her left arm in a sling but it was mostly as a precaution, just so that her stitches didn’t open.
“Thanks for coming to see me. I haven’t seen many friendly faces lately.”
Right after he had been exonerated, Lawson had essentially moved to Syracuse where Penny lived in a group home. Now that he knew about her, he didn’t want her to disappear from his life. He had a feeling it was the same for her.
A great aunt had taken care of her after Kelsey had died during childbirth but the woman had been in her seventies and she herself had passed away when Penny was eight. After that, the girl was claimed by a series of distant relatives until they dilapidated the million-dollar payoff Elizabeth had given Kelsey.
For the past year, Penny had been in a group home where they were trying to figure out the best course of action for her. Adoption was on the table but it was a difficult prospect since she was almost a teenager.
However, now it was clear to Lawson that he wanted custody of her. He supposed he could have petitioned for it right away as her biological father – he had already submitted to a paternity test – but he wanted to give her time to get used to him. This was new for both of them.
“You think you can do this?” Bailey asked, reading his mind.
“I don’t know. It scares me like you wouldn’t believe. And I haven’t had the best role models, you know?”
He hadn’t talked to his parents since he’d returned the Ferrari. He still hadn’t gotten over any of it. His mother had ruined his happiness by sending Kelsey away. His father getting the maid pregnant – John’s mother – had led to a lot of people being murdered. He could never forgive them.
At least they were paying the price. The press had learned about everything and they were having a blast. Not a day went by without the Winslow family being front-page news. The company was doing okay but the family reputation had taken a hit.
David had resigned as chairman of the board. Noel had replaced him and as a consequence had become much nicer to Lawson ever since, inescapably having to go for the sympathy vote. The parents had become pariahs in New York society and it was the best punishment they could ever receive.
Morgan had her baby, a healthy girl, and her husband got his job back with the park design project after it was revealed in the New York Times that John Tilley had orchestrated the entire smear campaign.
So yes, for the most part Laws
on was done with his family. Morris Jernigan had even called him to say that there was no shame in it. He reminded the young man that one had to blaze his own trail sometimes and that he would always be there for him if he needed to start fresh.
That’s what Lawson intended to do. He had a chance to start a brand-new family with Penny. She was cautious at first, which was only natural since he was a stranger, but she was warming up to him.
Every weekend, and when they let him on school days, Lawson took her out to do an activity. They went skiing at Toggenburg, they went tubing, and once she had wanted him to take her to a basketball game since she was apparently a big fan of the Syracuse Orange. Still, her favorite was coming to Dave & Buster’s.
“What happens now?” Bailey asks. “You’re broke like regular people now, aren’t you? You’re no longer a billionaire.”
“I’m selling my house in Malibu. I’m seriously going to need to gear down my lifestyle – no more private jets and such – but I suppose I should be able to afford a decent life for her.”
A month ago, the sheer thought of this would have sent him on a drinking binge. Not anymore. In fact, he hadn’t had a drop since Christmas and he wasn’t even missing it.
His phone rang and he almost didn’t pick up. These days, it was mostly reporters harassing him and he needed that like he needed stage IV pancreatic cancer. But he glanced at the screen and realized it was Midori calling.
“Hey,” he said without much enthusiasm.
He felt bad for her. Not only was his movie dead but for some reason he was considered toxic in Hollywood. It didn’t seem to matter that he’d been innocent all along, no one wanted to talk business with him.
As a result, he was in the process of closing down shop which meant Midori would be out of work before long.
“Hi boss!”
“What’s wrong? You sound chipper? Were you selected for Celebrity Big Brother or something?”
“Even better. I was talking to my friend at Paramount. They’re interested in making a movie about you.”
“About me?”
“Yeah, your life, this whole ordeal. They want to buy the rights from you and get this: they would let me produce! If you want, I mean. If you don’t think it would be too weird, because I could turn it down.”
Lawson smiled at her passion. “Let me think about it, okay? Seems like you have a great future ahead of you.”
“So you’ll do it?” she asked excitedly.
“I’ll think about it.”
They said goodbye and he hung up.
“What’s going on?” Bailey asked.
“Nothing, I’ll explain later.”
Lawson was genuinely happy for Midori. She had worked hard to get there whereas he’d only ever been a rich kid who’d bought his way into the industry. If this could help her out, he decided he would do it. In addition, the money involved could be Penny’s college fund.
“What’s next for you,” he asked Bailey.
“Remember my friend Jasmine Needham? She got me a position at Homeland Security, in Washington.”
“Well that sucks.”
She choked on her soda. “Excuse me?”
“I was hoping you’d be self-employed a little longer. You know, so you could visit us often up here in Syracuse. I had this whole speech prepared to ask you out on a date.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Everything is negotiable, Lawson. You have an MBA, you should know that.”
“Forget it, you ruined everything. The moment’s gone.”
“We had a moment?”
“We did, past tense. Now I don’t even know if I want to date you anymore. Gotta have standards, you know?”
At that, Bailey grabbed a handful of french fries and threw it at him across the table. He did a token attempt to block the fries and their hands touched. Neither of them moved until they were actually holding hands.
“Okay, the moment has returned.”
Bailey grinned, her eyes narrowing. Lawson decided he liked her a lot.
He swiveled his head and looked at Penny. She had her hands in the air, having just won a game. She turned toward him and waved happily.
So much had changed in the past month. Lawson normally would have rebelled against all of this. But in hindsight it was exactly the kind of future he had once wanted with Kelsey.
Life was about to be completely different, he thought. And it wasn’t such a bad thing.
THE END
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed this novel. This was my most small-scale book yet with no drone strikes, special ops raids, or international assassins. I wanted to write a suspense thriller that was much more personal and intimate.
Are there glaring mistakes in this book? I’m sure there are. In fact, some of them were intentional. For instance, I’m well aware that you can’t liquidate $1 billion worth of assets in an hour. But I make no apologies. It’s much more exciting when there is a time element and so I ramped up the tension by playing fast and loose with banking rules. Same goes for the police procedures. I shamelessly invoke my creative license excuse.
I’d like to thank my wonderful proofreader Laura Keysor as well as my secret ninja team which provided valuable input about my cover and description. And most of all, thank you, readers, for continuing to support me and constantly making me want to write more books. You guys are awesome.
About the Author
Steve Richer is the bestselling author of the action thriller The President Killed His Wife. He went to law school and film school before considering becoming a sherpa, though he abandoned the idea upon discovering what a sherpa really was. Now he spends his days writing books.
He specializes in fun, over the top thrillers that read like action movies. He splits his time between Montreal and Miami.
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Also by Steve Richer
The President Killed His Wife (Rogan Bricks 1)
Counterblow (Rogan Bricks 2)
Terror Bounty
The Kennedy Secret
The Gilded Treachery
Never Bloodless
The Atomic Eagle
Sigma Division
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Author’s Note
About the Author
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