Thread of Truth, стр. 41
“And it worked,” she said. “Or, at least, it was working.” She glared at me. “Until you stuck your nose in our business.” She shook her head and centered the gun on my chest. “I am taking care of my daughter. And no one is stopping me. No one.”
THIRTY FIVE
“I hate you,” Olivia growled.
For the first time, Sharon Cousins seemed rattled. “No. No, you don't. You'll realize this is for the best.”
Olivia stood from the couch. “I hate you and I'll never stop hating you. How could you?”
I was trying to get Bill to look at me. I wanted him to know this was escalating in a bad way and we needed to disarm his wife. But he was fixated on his daughter, unable to move.
“It's not your fault that you don't know what's in your own best interest,” Sharon said. “You're young. You have your entire life ahead of you and now you're free of the biggest mistake you ever made.”
“I wish it had been you,” Olivia said. “I wish you died on that road.”
Sharon's hands were shaking just a bit now, her arms most likely tired from holding the gun on me for so long. “You don't mean that.”
“I do mean that,” Olivia said. “And I'm going to kill you myself.”
Olivia darted across the room at her mother. Sharon pivoted in her direction and I leapt at her. It took me two steps to get to her and I tackled her, my right arm cutting down hard across her arms to knock the gun down. Olivia hit the both of us, letting out a feral scream. The sound of the gunshot exploded in my ears, replaced quickly by a heavy ringing as we tumbled to the ground.
I scrambled to find Sharon's wrists and locked my own hands onto them. The gun was already on the ground, though, and I grabbed it and flung it behind me. Sharon wasn't fighting back, but Olivia was screaming at her mother, her words incomprehensible, her hands swinging wildly. I grabbed one of her arms, worked myself to my knees, and pulled Olivia off of her mother.
Olivia screamed and tumbled backward, and that's when I saw the blood seeping out of a wound on her thigh.
Sharon had shot her daughter by mistake.
Olivia's hands clutched at her leg, her hands going red as the blood soaked her fingers.
“Call 9-1-1!” I yelled at Bill.
He hesitated, then yanked his phone from his pocket.
“Olivia?” Sharon said, sitting up, her eyes wild. “Olivia? Are you alright?”
Olivia moaned, holding onto her thigh.
“Oh my god,” Sharon said. “Oh my god. No. Olivia!”
I heard Bill talking quickly on the phone, his words tumbling out as he gave the address.
“No,” Sharon shrieked. “No. I'm so sorry. So sorry.”
The wound was to the outside of Olivia's leg, and it didn't look like the bullet had hit anything significant. Olivia's eyes were glassy, but she was breathing okay.
“They're coming,” Bill Cousins said. “They're on their way.”
“Get a towel,” I said to him. “She'll be okay.”
“No,” Sharon whispered. “No. No. How did this happen?”
I assumed the police would be asking that same question very soon.
THIRTY SIX
“I wish I had a different story for you,” I said. “I'm so sorry.”
I was sitting in Tom and Alice Locker's living room the next day. I'd called them the evening before, after I'd gotten home and finished two beers, giving them the rough outline of what I'd learned about Sharon Cousins. They'd invited me over to explain the details and, while I wasn't sure that was the best idea, I agreed to meet with them.
“I think we do, too,” Alice said quietly, her eyes rimmed with tears.
“She really did it?” Tom asked.
I nodded. “Yes. She admitted to the details. And I was there when she gave her statement to the police at the house. She told them everything.”
The paramedics and the police had arrived within minutes of Bill Cousins's phone call. I gave the police the basics as the paramedics tended to Olivia. She was okay, but in shock. The police took Sharon Cousins into custody shortly after Olivia, Bill, and the baby rode away in the ambulance.
Tom Locker shook his head. “I just can't believe it. It seems unfathomable.”
“There's another piece that you're going to hear about,” I said. “And it's going to be hard to hear.”
They both looked at me.
I'd held back on the details of their son's affair with Christine Gonzowski because it was going to be hard enough to hear that Sharon Cousins had killed their son. But I also didn't want them to be unprepared for what was inevitably going to happen. It would get played up in the media and there would be no hiding from it. The Lockers didn't deserve that, but it was coming their way and I didn't want them to be blindsided once again.
I explained to them what I'd learned from Gonzowksi and from Olivia. I told them about my conversations with Desmond's teacher and what she claimed were the details of their relationship. I told them about the argument between Olivia and their son. Ever stoic, they sat close together, listening closely, digesting every word I gave them.
Tom Locker exhaled when I finished. “I...I don't know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything to me,” I told him. “You don't have to say anything to anyone. But my guess is that this story will eventually reach the media and you'll get some phone calls. But you don't have to speak to anyone. My advice would be not to. Don't answer your phones, and if someone shows up at your door, tell them you aren't interested in talking to them.”
Tom nodded slowly. “Yes. I...yes. Alright.”
“We still didn't know him,” Alice said quietly.
I looked