Going Down (Sequel to Going Up)

Chapter Twenty Nine

I woke a little while later, my head still resting on Nick's chest, He'd fallen asleep too.

Josh called while Nick was still sleeping. I took the call without waking him because he'd looked so peaceful, and after the night we'd had, peace was a good thing.

“Where are you?” I whispered, hoping that by now the lawyer had been.

“I'm still at the police station. Nick's lawyer is here. Tell him I said thank you, but I don't think he'll be able to do anything”

My stomach dropped. What did he mean by that.

“What happened Josh?”

Josh took a deep breath. I could hear him pacing around a room.

“I can't talk long. The lawyer has managed to buy me some time but I think they're going to charge me with murder” Josh's voice was tight and croaky, on the brink of disintegrating

“Murder? What?” the words caught in my throat, and I almost vomited saying them.

“The lawyer said its just a formality, they had to charge me with it. I killed him” Josh stopped, I heard him sniff “I killed my father”

“What happened Josh”

Josh didn't speak for a full minute, I could hear his sobs on the other end of the phone. He didn't deserve this anguish. Even beyond the grave his father was making his life miserable.

“I saw him in the VIP balcony. I ran as fast as I could through the crowd. I passed Nick as he was on his way to you. When I got to the balcony my father was focusing on you. He had an arsenal of guns in a bag to his left. I slipped in and silently managed to take a pistol without him noticing me. When I cocked the gun he turned at looked at me. I told him not to shoot, that it was over.”

Josh stopped talking and took a deep breath.

“But he shot anyway?” I mumbled, Josh had done an amazing thing going up there. It very easily could have been him Arnold shot.

“Yes. He turned and took a shot. It wasn't perfect though, he had to be quick. I shouted, I'd failed. I saw the curtains fall and I knew I'd failed. I didn't know who he'd shot. I thought you were... I thought he'd killed you”

“Oh Josh” If he'd shot Arnold because he had assumed I was already dead, then he was going to have a hard time convincing the court he wasn't guilty.

“I was shocked for a moment, unable to breathe or think. It was long enough for him to turn and face me. He pulled a pistol from the holster on his hip and pointed it at me. He called me a traitor and that I was a pathetic excuse for a human being. He cocked the gun, but before he could get his shot off, I shot him. Twice. In the chest. He died right in front of me”

So it had been self defense. Josh hadn't shot him in cold blood. His life had been on the line too.

I wanted to jump through the phone and hug him. He had ended it. He had ended Arnolds reign of terror.

“Josh, you had to do it. The lawyer's right. Any jury in the country will agree”

“The facts go in my way, yes” Josh whispered “But my brother Aaron is still alive, as is Nick's mother... and now Arnold is dead, I'm afraid they won't let it go that easy”

So it wasn't over after all? Josh's twin and Nick's Mom would be out for revenge. It was a given. After all they would both be under the manipulation of a man who was now dead. They'd believed his sick ideals and had enforced them. Suddenly I had the urge to flee somewhere safe with Nick and Toni. We couldn't do this anymore, the stress was just too much. The reality was though, that Josh had saved both Nick and I, without him, Arnolds shot would have been more precise and lethal. We owed it to him to stay by his side. Even though I knew he wouldn't see it that way.