Page 109 of Three, Two, One [321]

A knock on the door interrupts Jerry’s rant. We all turn at the same time to look at the man who opens the door.

“What?” Jerry snaps. “We’re in the middle of—”

“Sorry.” The new guy looks at me and shakes his head. “Someone called from DC and said they’re shutting this down.”

“Shutting what down?” Matheson asks. “We’re in the middle of a case here—”

“Agent Matheson,” the new guy says. “I realize that. But we just got orders. From DC. For me to come in here and shut you up. So get out.”

There’s a long moment of silence while the two assholes in front of me have a staring contest, and then Jerry starts gathering the photos, but when he tries to take the one of Blue, I hold onto it. “Fuck you!” I snap at him, taking him by surprise and making him recoil back. “I’m keeping this.”

He starts to snatch it away, but the new guy interferes again. “Let him keep it, Jerry. He’s gonna need it.”

And then they exit the room and leave me to wonder what the fuck that means.

I stare at that picture for what seems like hours. It’s one of mine. One they lifted off my computer at home.

Not my home. I need to come to terms with that. It’s not my home.

I close my eyes and picture the scene when I took that photo.

Blue and JD were relaxing on the couch while I worked in my office. And they started playing around. He was making her giggle like a girl. And Blue was making JD laugh.

He started smiling again a while ago. I don’t know how long it took exactly. But the past two years have been good.

No, I correct myself. Great. They were great. For him and for me.

But the laughter that day… it did something to me. It made me feel like no matter what happened, I made the right choice when I decided to help JD recover.

I look at the picture again. Blue is alone, but JD was just off to the right of her. She didn’t realize I was taking pictures, so her eyes are full of two things.

Happiness. Because JD made her so fucking happy.

And surprise at the camera shutter. Because that was what I gave her.

Instead of love, I gave her lies.

The gunshots…

I want the memory to go away. But it won’t. I’ve been here for hours. And it’s still replaying in my mind like some fucked-up movie on repeat.

“You sold your baby, didn’t you?”

Blue saw it in the end. She saw through my lies. And even though she was the one with the gun pointed at her head, I knew she was not the one who would end up dead.

“Quiet, Blue!” I scream at her. Please, God, just make her stop talking. “JD, just put the gun down.”

“I’ll kill her, Ark. Take one more step, and I’ll kill her.”

I zoom in on his trigger finger and his shaky hand. Please God, no. “You won’t kill her. You love her, JD. You love her like you loved Marie.”

And in that moment I have a glimmer of hope. Because he pulls the gun back from her head. He looks at it, like he can’t believe he’s holding it in his hand.

“That’s it,” I tell him. “Just put the gun—”

“Hands in the air!”

The FBI is everywhere. A SWAT team crashes through the terrace windows. Red laser dots are dancing on Blue, JD, me…