“Robie!”
It was Reel. He jerked out of his paralysis. But not in time.
The shot rang out.
There was a grunt, then a gasp, and a body dropped to the floor.
A light came on, blinding Robie.
He looked down to see Reel on the floor unconscious and bleeding.
Then the voice called out from the periphery of darkness.
“Hello, Will, it’s been a long time.”
Chapter
76
THE LIGHT WAS shifted, and Robie could see it was coming from a battery-operated camping lantern.
Now he could see the person standing in one corner of the room.
It was
not Henry Barksdale holding a gun pointed at Robie.
Victoria looked back at him, the tightest of smiles playing over her lips.
Robie stared back at her, his mind unable to process what was happening.
She took two steps forward.
“Please put your weapon on the floor and kick it toward me,” she said. “And I know you keep another one in the waistband at the small of your back. I saw that before. Do the same with that one.”
When Robie didn’t move, Victoria pointed her gun at Reel. “The next one is the kill shot.”
Robie placed his gun on the floor, then took out his backup and kicked them both toward Victoria.
“Please do the same with your partner’s.”
Robie did so, and Victoria, without ever taking her gaze off Robie, used her foot to move the four guns to the far back wall and behind her.
“Who are you?” asked Robie.
“I’m very surprised by that question, Will. I thought by now you would know.”
He looked at Reel. “She needs medical help. Now!”
“That won’t be happening.”
Robie bent down to check Reel. The shot had hit her in the oblique and gone completely through. Still, the bleeding was bad. Robie used his sling to staunch the flow.
“Get away from her, Will.”
“She’s going to die if I don’t stop the bleeding.”
“You’re both going to die, so it doesn’t really matter. Now stand up.”
He glanced at her to see that her pistol was now pointed at Tyler. The little boy looked up at his mother with an expression of horror.
“You’d…you’d shoot your own son?” said Robie slowly.
“Stand up,” she said once more, the absolute calm in her voice more unnerving than if she had been screaming at him.
Robie slowly rose.
“Who are you?” he asked again.
“How was your trip to the east coast, Will? Was it fun going solo? Did you not miss me the least little bit when you left Cantrell?”
Robie said nothing, but his breathing accelerated and he felt as if a giant hand were smashing down on his chest.
Victoria leaned against the wall but kept the gun pointed at him. “If you want explanations, here they are. Janet Chisum was a slut. She sold herself to Sherman Clancy. So did her sister. For money. I befriended both of them. And then killed them.”
“Emma Chisum said Janet was going to make money off some secrets of important people in town.”
Victoria snorted. “Janet Chisum was a liar. But she told her kid sister a little of the truth. I was the important person who was going to give Janet money. After Janet was dead I told Sara that maybe her father was the killer. That maybe all that religion had made him nuts. I told her she needed to get out of town. That I would help her. That I felt sorry for her. Wanted her to have a better life.” She added in a scoffing tone, “As if. Old horny men and stupid, greedy young women, just doesn’t work out. I didn’t like it. So I stopped it. But I have to admit, I didn’t know you two would be there when I killed Sara. That was a bit of a complication. It was lucky I saw her in town that day and told her to meet just off the road instead of in the clearing. Otherwise, we might have had this confronation earlier.”
“I put a round in the Rover. You covered the hole with a New Orleans Saints sticker. And then you fired a round into the Rover in Clancy’s garage to make it seem as though that Rover was used. Only you apparently didn’t remember that Dad is a Cowboys fan.”