“Don’t…don’t,” she screamed out in agony as Dane kneeled into her wounded ankle and swiped the axe away from her.
“Why the hell you’d do that?” and then added without an answer first, “Do not move!”
Then she ignored her completely and asked Matthew if he was all right.
“Yeah,” he said, “but I think we should get out of here and deal with her later, before we attract too much attention.”
Kim felt the truck clunk down over the edge of the curb again. Once they were back on the road and picking up speed Dane looked at her again as she lay in the seat. As Dane knelt over her, Kim could tell the woman was pissed by the flaring of her nostrils. It was the first time she’d ever been near the woman and yet she knew of her through Paul since they were children. This was the Dane Talbot?
“Explain,” Dane seethed.
Kim started to cry. “I just…I just wanted to make it right. It was Paul. You know him, right? Paul Torrio, because you’re Dane Talbot, am I right?”
She looked a little pale. “How do you know my name?”
“He told me all about you. See, I was with him that night. That night he killed your father. He forced me into helping him because I owed him money; he’d loaned it to me. Said I wouldn’t have to pay it back if I helped him get something that was his out of the old man’s house.”
“Wait. What? You can confirm that Paul was in the house that night?”
She nodded. It was working. If she couldn’t get what she wanted from Paul, she was going to take the one thing he loved the most in the world away from him.
“He did this to me…he tried to kill me because I couldn’t take the guilt anymore over what I saw him do. I told him I was going to the police. Turning myself in as a witness to his crimes,” she bawled.
“Wait a minute,” Matthew said. “Does Paul wear glasses? Skinny guy? Did he run out of the front of the building shortly before I got there?”
“Yes, that was him.”
“Dammit!” Matthew said and slammed his fist against the steering wheel.
“I still don’t understand why you tried to slam an axe into my skull.”
“Because honey, he said if you ever came back, you’d take what was yours and turn him in. I thought if I took care of you, he’d leave me alone finally.”
Something flashed in Dane’s eyes. “You’re Kim, aren’t you? Why’d you lie about your name? Start explaining to me exactly what happened that night. How he killed my father. And what he was after.”
The woman wasn’t dumb. She didn’t think she needed to confirm her identity at this point. “I told you. He was blackmailing me and said he needed your father’s formula. Said he didn’t know he was sitting on a goldmine. He didn’t know your daddy was going to be home that night. He wasn’t supposed to die but he was there and found him. I was just the lookout, outside, you see? I never entered the house but when I heard voices, I looked through the doorway and saw Paul hit your daddy in the back of the head with some kind of metal stick. He whacked him good. I screamed. I screamed, ‘What’d you do that for?” He told me to shut up. Said I was next. Then he disappeared back into the lab room and next thing I know, I smelled smoke and he’s running out the door. There was some kind of explosion in there too. Place went up quick. We ran away but before he left me that night, he beat me up good. Said if I told anyone, he’d kill me and my babies.”
“But you still work for him?” Matthew asked. “Why didn’t you go to the police anyway?”
She shook her head. “I don’t work for Paul. He scares me. I have children. I left Chicago and went as far away as Canton, Ohio to hide out. I only came back because my momma, she’s dyin’. I need to watch over her. I couldn’t let her die alone. She hadn’t seen my babies in a few years but soon as he heard I was in town he sent for me. That’s why I was here. And he was…he was going to kill me until you came in.” she sobbed.
“That still doesn’t explain why you tried to knock Dane’s lights out. I’m not buying it,” Matthew said as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. “Look, we’re here. Dane, get away from her. I don’t trust her at all.”
She didn’t like that guy too much. Some of ‘em, they see right through you.
“Wait,” Dane said. “Where can we find him?”
“Who, Paul? You don’t wanna go looking for him, Dane. He’s dangerous. Didn’t he do enough to you already? You should get out of here. Go back where you came from.” Reaching into her pants pocket, she pulled out a packet of smokes and then patted around for her lighter. “I’m hurtin’ so bad. I just need to have a quick smoke before I go in there.”
Dane sat back on her heels and stared at her funny.
Kim tilted the cigarette away from her mouth and blew the smoke out the side of her lip as she said, “What?”
“Paul doesn’t smoke, does he?”
She shook her head. “No, he never touched ‘em.”
“It’s funny how you know that about him. Where can I find him?”
“He’s probably long gone, sweetie.”
“Where?”
“If you have to find him, you can try his condo over on Massilon. He probably ran there and packed a bag. He’s probably catching the first flight outta here. Runnin’…that’s what he’s doing.”
“Why?” Matthew asked.
“‘Cause you caught him trying to kill me, too.”