AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hot tears stung the back of my eyes. I could barely even breathe, but he didn’t give two flying cents if I passed out in his hands.
I slapped his arms.
He wouldn’t budge.
God….
“I swear.” A tear spilled on my cheek, and I sucked in what felt like a thread of oxygen. “I swear, there’s no…there is…no…no evidence. Please, I….Let me go!”
If looks could burn, my ashes would have turned to powdered dust already.
“One last chance,Detective.”
I heard my daddy’s voice resonate from memory, encouraging me to not give up, stand my ground, and fight back. He’d whispered into my ears, reassured me that nothing was over untilIsaid it was.Iwas in charge.Igot to say whether I was ready to incinerate or not.
I coughed and matched his glare with gritted teeth. “There is…no evidence, I swear it.” And there was really none. I’d intended to record the entire thing but forgotten to tap on the red button in the heat of the ongoing crime.
“Someone was at the house at the time when…when your uncle was murdered. It was…an eyewitness…who witnessed you killing your uncle.
He snarled, his grip loosening just a bit, “Who?”
I gasped like a fish extracted from the ocean, managing to wheeze out, “It was raining that night. You wore a pale blue shirt. The torrent was so heavy, I thought the power would go out.”
His brows wrinkled, and when realization set in, the corner of his eyes widened slightly.
“And…and your hair.” I took a long drag of air. “It was longer. Looked a lot like Jack’s…from theTitanic.”
His grip loosened entirely, and I dropped to the balls of my feet, choking and wheezing with stinging tears in my eyes. Heaven knew how much I wanted to give this man a good whack on the head.
My eyes burned, and I wanted to scream, “How dare you!”but held my tongue.
After I was sure I’d gained balance and had more oxygen and carbon dioxide going through my lungs, I glared at him hard enough to possibly cause internal damage.
If he thought I was done providing details, I was more than pleased to add the icing to the cake.
I massaged my neck and held his gaze. “You shot him twice. In the head.”
His eyes flashed like a wildfire, radiating a threatening heat.
He’d erased all harboring doubts and stared at me like he saw me peeking through the gap between the door two years ago. Like all the pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place.
“It was you.”
It wasn’t a question but a finality.
I nodded, like the mere thought should have scared him. “Yes.Me. I was there in your uncle’s house two years ago.”
“I’m sure you didn’t have a spare key. So, breaking and entering, it was. Wasn’t that illegal, Detective?”
I ignored his subtle attempt to wade off what was more important—the murderhecommitted.
“It was supposed to be a simple in and out,” I said. “Boris Yezhov, the ex-Pahkanof the feared Russian mafia, was not just a rumored name on the lips of many but secretly recognized as one of the most dangerous men in the United States. Since every other person turned out to be a wuss whenever his name was mentioned, I took the task upon myself to go there and find enough evidence to finally get him behind bars because, just like you, he had his way of sweeping his crimes under the carpet, and I wasn’t having it. I just didn’t expect to run into his nephew, aiming a gun at his head.”
That ticked him off again, and he stepped forward, his hand reaching for my throat again. This time around, he didn’t bother with the gentle caress on my cheek. He grabbed and squeezed, wringing all the air out of my lungs at once with one grip.
“Who else knows about this?”
I was on my toes again, fighting to stay conscious. My brain needed oxygen, and tiny stars hovered as my vision began to blur. The words wouldn’t even form properly. “I....”
