Instinct

19. The Hand that Fate Dealt You

What could be worse than having an indirect hand in murder?

Kim’s chatter finally ceased and she replaced the handset in the receiver and took the remote from him, muting the screen and the speculation.

“I wondered if you were going to show up tonight,” she said.

He grinned. “I missed you too much to miss our meeting.”

Kim pushed stray strands of curly hair out of her face and quirked an eyebrow, glancing down at her wrist. “And yet, you did.”

“I got a little held up,” he said, scratching the back of his neck as he shrugged sheepishly.

“Yeah, I saw that,” she quipped. “You want to tell me about that, by any chance?”

He really didn’t. To be honest, Liam didn’t know what he could explain beyond the name of his best childhood friend. Nothing was clear inside his head, and honestly he didn’t want to think about it at the moment. It was best dealt with later, to his mind.

“Not really,” he said. “What was the original point of this meeting?”

It was a poor redirection, and he didn’t kid himself for a second that Kim would miss it. By the look of that raised eyebrow, she knew exactly what he was doing. Not that he expected anything less. Nevertheless, she blew out a breath that tousled her straight-pressed fringe and pointed toward the TV as she switched the channel.

“Before your mystery girl’s stunt over the barrier,” she said. “There was a newscast on a couple of incidents down in Texas.”

The image was one that Liam was, unfortunately, used to. Blood and gore didn’t bother him much anymore. Even so, he closed his eyes and sighed. “What happened this time?”

“Three teenagers were shot on the full moon twenty days ago, reason being, apparently, that some kids got a hold of their parents fire-arms and got a little overzealous,” Kim replied grimly. “Local police ruled it self-defense; it never even went to trial.”

Liam looked up, mouth dry. “What?” he asked. “How?”

“Small town. They hoped to keep it under wraps,” she explained. “You know the kind. Everyone knows everyone. They could have sold it as necessary force anyway. Anyone would buy it if they mentioned aggression on the full moon,” she shrugged. “Myths really do scare people, you know?”

“That’s… awful.”

Unimaginable, really. Horrific. A damn shame.

“Awful as it is, that wasn’t enough to get it broadcasted.” Kim shifted in her seat, settling back with her legs crossed. “What did it was the backlash. The mother of one of the victims snapped when she found out it was being swept under the carpet.”

“As she should have,” Liam muttered.

Kim pursed her lips but didn’t comment on the matter. “She was furious and gave a piece of her mind to the Chief of Police of their town – his son was one of the shooters. But he reacted in ‘self defense’, and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t get off of his property. She refused and he shot, but she wasn’t killed, just injured.”

Suddenly, it clicked, what would happen, and Liam felt his stomach bottom out.

“She killed him and threatened to kill his son for what he did to her son. She was detained and they’re pushing for capital punishment.”

There were no words to speak to that. What she had done had been wrong, but what had been done to her had spurred her to step over the edge. It had been a damned situation for her from the start. “But they’re not telling it that way, are they?” Liam asked.