FiFty Fifty

Chapter Fifty - Three

'That wasn't her only mistake.'
'Really?'
'Yeah, but you don't need to worry about it. Honestly. It's over now, Sofia.
You're not in danger anymore. I just wanted to come by, make sure you're okay and then I'll leave the rest to the police.'
'Are you sure you don't want to go and get something to eat? Or we could stay here and have a bite?'
'I'm sure,' I said, approaching her. 'I'm glad it's over. I was so worried that if you got convicted you wouldn't make it inside. You can move on from this. I know it will take time, but you can do it. You're a millionaire now. You have everything.'
She held out her arms as she approached me. I walked toward her and embraced her. I'd left the front door open, and now I took a moment to listen, hard. I could hear sirens in the distance.
'Thank you,' she said.
I patted her arm, and we released one another.
'I'd better get going,' I said, backing away.
The coffee machine started to gurgle a fanfare, to announce it was ready. 'What was the other mistake? You said you found two? Just out of curiosity?' I heard a faint screech of brakes from a car pulling up outside. 'The 911 call,'
I said.
'What about it?'
'Well, when somebody takes a life, there's a lot of emotions flying all over the
place. Adrenaline spikes, blood coursing through your veins, that kind of thing. It's easy to make a mistake right in that moment. See, when she called 911, she said she could tell her sister was in the bathroom. Said she could see shadows of feet beneath the door. I got a text from a friend about twenty minutes ago. Turns out, from your father's bedroom, you can't see any shadows of feet or legs at the bottom of the closed bathroom door. Not even when someone is standing on the other side of the door, turning the handle. So how did she know her sister was in there?'
Sofia's face changed. What had been a warm, contented expression, morphed into something else. Her eyes narrowed, her lips drew tight across her teeth.
'It wasn't Alexandra who said that in the 911 call,' she said, stepping toward me.
'I know. You knew Alexandra was in the bathroom because you watched her go in there. Then you called 911. Harper took a photo of the bathroom with the door closed and light on inside. If we had examined that picture we would've seen there's no light cast beneath the door. That's why you killed Harper before

she looked at those pictures more closely. And Little Tony P didn't pick out your sister, either. He identified you.'
I stepped back, said, 'You can take her now.'
Detective Tyler came around the corner into the kitchen, followed by Soames. 'Sofia Avellino, NYPD. Turn around right now and put your hands on the
counter,' said Tyler.
I stepped back, waited.
Sofia shook her head, and said, calmly, 'This is bullshit. Utter bullshit. I've
already been acquitted of my father's murder. You cannot put me on trial again – that's double jeopardy.'
'Ma'am, turn around and put your hands on the counter, right now,' said Tyler, reaching to his side arm.
Sofia put her hands in the air, slowly turned around, and placed them on the counter.
Tyler let go of his gun, approached Sofia and said, 'I have to search you – do you have any weapons on your person?'
'No, I don't.'
Tyler put his arms out and placed both on top of Sofia's shoulders. He began feeling through the fabric of her coat, then moving his hands down her back, searching for any hidden knives. While he searched, he read Sofia her rights.
'I'm arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Afzal Jatt, Penny Letterman, Hal Cohen, and Elizabeth Harper. You do not have to say anything—'
'That's a crock of shit. There's nothing to link me to any of these murders. Nothing. The word of some coked-up short order cook isn't enough. You've got nothing.'
'We've got this,' said Tyler as he pulled something shiny from Sofia's coat pocket.
A gold crucifix on a cheap gold chain. There were bloodstains still on the cross. Harper's blood. At least, they had still been there when I planted the chain in Sofia's pocket thirty seconds ago.
'No,' she said, when she saw the chain in Tyler's hand.
Soames kept his distance. He was happy for his younger partner to do most of the physical parts of the job. He turned to me and said, 'Thank you.'
'No need,' I said. 'Just do as you promised, and everything will be fine. Also, the van outside. There's some packing boxes in the back, but there's something else too. A black motorcycle.'
Tyler took a step back, and put his other hand into his coat pocket, searching for an evidence bag into which he would place the chain.
Soames turned to me to say something, his mouth opened, but before he could

speak there was a terrible crack.
It didn't sound like any kind of gunshot, or even a gas tank going up. It
sounded wet and hollow.
Tyler had turned toward us, his back now to Sofia. And his face had almost
gone. Something splashed on my cheek. Something hot, that burned.
Sofia dropped the handle of the bun flask. It was all that remained of the coffee pot. The rest of the glass was in Tyler's face. While she dropped the handle, she fell to her knees, pulled at Tyler's jacket and then crawled, fast,
around the other side of the dining table.
I turned to Soames who was wiping frantically at his face. He must've caught
more of the splash of hot liquid than I did.
Another sound, and this time it was a gunshot.
Soames fell back. I ducked, put my head down. The first thing I saw was a
gun hitting the floor, followed by Soames. He'd taken one in the stomach and he was bleeding badly. He'd tried to draw his gun but had dropped it. Too far away for me to reach.
Footsteps.
I looked up and saw Sofia holding Tyler's gun. It was pointed at me.
'Alexa, play my song,' she said.
A sibilant voice erupted from somewhere in the kitchen, electronic, and cold.
'Playing "She" by Elvis Costello.'
The music started up, and Sofia smiled.