Truth or Consequences

List of characters:

Kate - protagonist from chp 1, had date with Carl, who stiffed her for the meal and left; friend of Marilyn, 

Marilyn - Kate's good friend, reluctantly in on drug deal because of husband, Jim,

Mildred - lawyer in on drug deal, then left with some drug money, murdered by killer contracted by Carl

Carl, drug dealer, who didn't like Mildred leaving, knowing ao much leaving. He had Mildred murdered.

Junior - Mildred's nephew,  

Jim - Marilyn's husband was in the drug deal, then decided to get out.

Chapter 4

Truth or Consequences

 

Marilyn saw her husband bleeding, on the floor. She started to rush to him, but she noticed Kate, stooping to pick up a gun off the floor. Marilyn moved toward Kate. “That’s Jim’s gun! What happened, here, Kate?”

Jim tried to interrupt. “Just wait a minute, Jim!” Marilyn said, shakily, stepping back away from him.

Kate looked at Jim, with contempt. “You were after me! You shot the door open and then shot straight at the light, thinking I was holding it. You are a scumbag, Jim. You also got your wife involved in your drug mess against her wishes.”

“No, I didn’t!” Jim yelled back at her. “She was for it, but I told them I wanted out.”

Marilyn couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re blaming this whole thing on me? Well, you’ll be glad to know the police are on their way, any ....”

As if on cue, two policemen cautiously looked in, saw Kate with two guns and pointed theirs at her. “Which one of you called us?” the larger cop asked, looking at Kate.

“I did.” Marilyn said, looking at Jim, hoping to see some remorse. “I was hiding in the bathroom since I wasn’t armed. We, Kate and I, thought it was going to be the …someone else. We weren’t expecting my husband to come blasting in, trying to kill Kate!” She nodded at her friend.

Large cop hadn’t taken his eyes off Kate. “Looks to me like pistol-packin’ mama, here, might be the one doing all the shooting, since she’s the only one with not one gun but two.”

“That’s right,” Jim snarled.

“Officer, this man shot his way into the room, breaking the lock on the door, and with the light shining on him, he shot in the direction of the light, thinking I was holding it.” Kate said. “When I saw he meant to kill me, I shot him in the arm and shoulder, because he’s the husband of my friend, here, and I didn’t want to kill him.”

 The smaller policeman looked at Marilyn. “And you, ma’am, did you see anything that happened?”

“When the shooting stopped, I opened the bathroom door and saw Kate out the corner of my eye, picking up a gun, and I saw my …husband, bleeding, on the floor.”

“And that’s all you saw?” said large cop.

"Yes."

“Officer,” Kate said, “if you check the outside of my office door, you should see that the shots were fired into the door from the outside.”

Both policemen checked the door, looked at each other, and nodded.

“Anybody care that I’m bleeding to death?” Jim growled.

Marilyn was torn between wanting to take care of him, and being really angry with him and being scared at how quickly he tried to kill Kate. She looked at her friend.

 Kate said, “Tell you what, Jim. If you can get up, we’ll take you to the hospital. Both policemen moved to help him. “Please! Kate said. “Let’s see if Mr. “would-be-killer” can do it on his own.”

Jim sucked in his breath, groaning, and got to his knees, holding his right arm to his side. Then, he grabbed hold of the corner of a bookcase with his left hand and slowly got to his feet. He stood there, swaying.

Large cop said, "Okay now, hold on, everybody. I’ve got something to say. Jim, why don’t you sit right here in this chair by me. Good. Now. In the first place, Jim, here, is going with us. Looking at Jim, he said, “You shot your way into this lady’s office, her personal space, and then shot at her, nodding at Kate, with intent to kill.”

“I shot at the light because it was blinding me!” Jim said, his voice rising in anger.

 “Oh, then what was your intent, Jim, when you shot up this lady’s office door? You knew whose office it was, and you came here why?”

“Because she’s always sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Oh, so of course, you had to blast holes in her door and burst in shooting like a wild west nut job. You were going kill her for being nosey, or rather, inquisitive?” She had to die for that offense?”

“Well, she didn’t,” Jim mumbled, angrily.

“No, sir, she didn’t. Lucky you. Never-the-less I’m taking you in. You ladies are free to go, but don’t leave town because I feel sure we’ll need to talk to you again. One more thing. I’ll be needing his gun, please ma’am.”

The officers left with their prisoner.

Marilyn collapsed in a chair. “My mind’s in a turmoil,” she said. “I know, when they start questioning Jim, it’s going to come out that I went along with the drug business even though I didn't want to. I’ll be going to jail, too.

“Well, I’ll take you home so you can get some rest. You know I’ll help you if I can; but first, I gotta figure out a way to lock that door before I can leave.”

Marilyn took off her belt, looped it through the holes in the door; pushed a chair with rungs over near the door, and put the belt around two rungs and buckled it.

Kate burst out laughing. “That is a terrific idea, Marilyn, if you’re planning on staying the night. Thank you for making me laugh. That felt good.”

Marilyn was too tired to laugh. “Oh. Right. However, if somebody wants to come in, they could probably kick it in, anyway.”

Kate turned on the burglar alarm and took Marilyn to her house. Then she went home and grabbed her overnight bag which she kept packed with essentials and returned to the office to keep watch.

 The door was cracked and she could see the light from a flashlight moving around, inside. The alarm was not on.