Renee stood over the gravestone long after everyone had gone, off to their own lives while some had drastically ended. Tracing the headstone with a finger Renee played all the fond memories she had in her head, rewinding them over and over just to feel some sense of peace.
Hard droplets of rain fell from the sky pelting her, mixing with the tears escaping her eyes. 'What a day for the sky to cry' she thought, Renee imagined herself in her condo, sitting by the window with a book in hand, a forlorn look on her face as she watched the rain create an unreadable map on her window, what a day for the rain to create one on her with the forlorn look replaced by one of pure despair.
Why'd this have to happen? Every single plan had been drawn up with this not even being close to the worst outcome. Biting hard on her wobbly lower lip to halt the guttural cry bubbling up from the deepest part of her core, Renee fell to her knees wrapping her arms around herself to stop her body from shaking, not from the cold but the pain injecting its poison in her veins.
"We have to go Renee, you'll get sick." Danica pulled at the younger woman who didn't budge.
"I can't." Renee shrugged off Danica's hands. "I need to be here, I have to be here."
"The rain isn't going to be merciful to you, you're soaked to the bone as it is."
"I don't care." Renee yelled, slapping the ground. "Dig a grave beside this one and put me in it, let me waste away just like-" a sob caught in her throat, tumbling out of her lips in a broken cry.
"There's nothing you could have done, no one imagined that it'd end like this. I never imagined Maxwell was that cruel a man to kill anyone in his path including his own daughter. We're all grieving, I cannot be the only person being strong for us. At some point, I have to mourn what I have lost."
"I told them it was the perfect plan to lure him out, I convinced Heather to push for answers; answers she'd never have had interests in if I didn't open my big mouth. Maxwell was never a great person but how could he?" Renee rested her head on the ground, sobbing for the body lying six feet under. "It hurts so much, how can it hurt so much?"
"You're human." Danica gave her a watery smile. "Heather is not going to forget what you've done for her neither will Gibb, no plan ever goes as good as the well scripted one in your head. There was no way you'd have known the monster Max was, I can't believe I once loved that man. Thankfully he gave me the best gift I didn't even dream of, a gift he tried to take away."
"I haven't even atoned for all the sins I've committed, how do I fix this?"
"This wasn't your fault, he knew what he was getting into when he decided to key into your plan. Heather also knew she was going up against her father, my fighter knew he'd always play dirty only this time it involved a bullet in her chest."
"How can I make this better?" Renee squeezed her eyes shut, giving in to the voices in her head.
Danica knelt beside Renee, holding an umbrella over them both. If there was one thing she learnt early, it was that no one could ever raise anybody from the dead, on the contrary, it was quite easy to join them. Renee looked like she was a halfway into a grave herself.
°°°
The mansion lacked its usual luster, painted instead in dark colors mirroring it's occupants moods. Melissa wiped her hand on the rag draped over her shoulder, the whistle from the kettle jolted her from her thoughts, thoughts she'd found herself to be lost in these days.
Renee walked into the kitchen dragging her feet, eyes puffy and red; the rest of her didn't look so good. "Hey Melissa. Is there coffee?"
"What you need is sleep, coffee won't help the nightmares." Renee's screams weren't the only one resonating through the halls every night.
"Except you can somehow wipe my fucking memory, I'd appreciate coffee in it's stead." Renee sighed. "I'm sorry, that came out wrongly."
Placing a steaming mug of coffee topped with cream, Renee's favorite, in front of her. Melissa tapped her arm with a small smile. "I raised Heather, trust me you're far nicer than she ever was."
Renee short laugh quickly turned into sobs, "B-ut she's not here. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault silly girl, if Heather was here she'd say the same thing after making you feel like shit of course but it's the thought that counts." Melissa wiped a few stray tears of hers. "Get a hold of yourself, Maxwell is still running out there free as a bird. You're the only one pissed enough to not let him go scot free."
"My mind is shutting down on me, all I want to do is lay in bed all day and cry. I can't have my eyes open for one second without these terrible thoughts plaguing me, I can't quiet the voices in my head anymore."
"Take your time to grieve, but you make sure to catch that bastard, you make sure to make him suffer just as we're suffering right now. You look him in the face when he's behind bars and trust me when I tell you that you'll never hear those voices again."
Renee stared into her coffee, afraid to ask the question at the tip of her tongue. What if they never caught him?
°°°
"Cannot believe I'd live to see this day." Damien Wren watched the man standing by his door carefully, Maxwell looked nothing like the man he'd seen a few months ago, he looked like a feral animal stalking his prey.
"My ass got busted, my accounts are frozen and you guys left me out in the cold to die." Maxwell tsked running his hand through his tangled hair, hissing when his fingers got stuck. "I took the fall for you bastards and you can't even answer a fucking call."
"Who knows if the phone's were bugged?" Damien reached for the cigarette in his drawer, placing it between his lips. "Now that you're here, we can talk just like you want."
"Do you know I haven't had a proper meal in weeks, feeding off scraps from the dumpster. With my face splattered all over the news, I can't waltz casually into any place that has a camera always having to sneak into cheap hotels or resort to sleeping at those set up shelters. Do you have any idea how my life has been these past few months?"
Demian did not in any way understand nor did he try to sympathize with him. "If you're here for pity, you've knocked on the wrong door. What did you think would happen when you killed people in cold blood? Going as far as to empty bullets into your own daughter, now that is what I will call sick."
"She was in the way." Maxwell peeked out the window, a habit he had picked up several weeks ago, it might just be his mind playing tricks on him but he always felt watched. "The Gibb boy though, he was deeply rooted in my plan, the kids got a brain on him."
"One you sprayed over the carpet." Demian stubbed out his cigarette, he'd promised his daughter he'd stop smoking so he only took one a day. "Things have happened, circumstances have changed and unfortunately we've changed with them."
"Let me get right to the point then, I need a few thousand dollars enough to allow me disappear till this blows over."
"This" Pinning his former adversary with a look. "isn't going to blow over, you left bodies littered around an office area like an ugly painted canvas. Even the mighty Maxwell Salvatore will have to face the law at some point."
"If you're going to abandon me then I'll take you down with me as I fall."
Demain laughed shaking his head at the all too familiar joke, when had he plotted Maxwell's downfall? Among other men who hated the guts of the man who thought he was an untouchable god, a god that destroyed his immunity with his own hands. "Currently you have nothing to scare me with, not even your name seeing as that's useless anyway."
"I have a knife." Maxwell peeked through the blinds again, screening any vehicle that looked suspicious.
"And I have a gun." Demian held the .45 ACP pistol pointing it steadily at Maxwell, he knew a day would come when they'd have this face off. "Unfortunately I refuse to die today."
Maxwell hummed, playing with the combat knife he took out of his boot. "One of us is going to die today."
"Want to test out the phrase 'don't bring a knife to a gun fight'?"
"You should have checked your gun before running your mouth." Maxwell laughed then, his eyes holding a crazed look. "You have a pretty neat schedule: Get off work, have a cup of coffee at the café opposite this building, pretend to read the papers when deep down you just want to solve the cross word puzzle, drive for thirty minutes to your home where your daughter greets you at the door without fail and your wife stands in front of a pot stirring a home cooked meal she can't wait to serve. Your lock is quite easy to pick too." Max tsked. "Pity you won't be going home to that perfect life."
"You bastard!" Demian kept pulling the trigger, heart racing with every empty click. The gun was not loaded.
"I lied." Maxwell pulled out a gun tucked in his jeans, "I have a gun too."
"I'll see you in hell-"
'pew'
The silent sound of the gun going off sent a thrill through Maxwell, he'd been sloppy the last time because he got sentimental and jumped in guns blazing. This time he remembered to screw a silencer on. Demian Wren landed with a thud on the ground, his unseeing eyes staring straight ahead.
By the time this body was found, Maxwell would be far far away. Never to be seen again.