Ginny didn’t know what had happened.
A man climbed into the room from the window, and she lifted her gun toward him. But he wore a uniform. He was a cop.
Another rushed through the front door’s opening.
“Lay the weapon down real slow,” the first officer said. His gun was aimed at Kade.
A few feet away, Kade rested the gun he’d just snatched on the concrete.
The officer focused on her. “You, too, ma’am.”
But she couldn’t seem to do it.
She couldn’t process what had happened.
She’d shot Petrovich’s hand. Petrovich was on his butt, holding his bloody palm in his other hand. He was white as a sheet.
Somebody should help him.
But everybody in the room was looking at her.
More officers had stepped inside. A few guns were aimed her way.
“Ma’am, put the gun down.”
She looked at the man at her feet. How had he gotten so close? She’d stepped away from him, hadn’t she? She remembered… She’d run to get the gun from Sokolov’s body. Sokolov was there, too. Pavlo was on top of him.
She was confused. She hadn’t planned to shoot Pavlo. Had she shot him? He was staring at her, unseeing. Blood poured from his head.
She’d shot him? She’d killed him?
“Ginny.”
She looked up at the name. Kade was walking toward her. His eyes were fixed on her.
“Can I have the gun please?” he asked.
The gun. She was still holding the gun?
She looked at her hands. And there it was.
She lowered the weapon, and Kade approached. He took it from her, set it on the concrete, and pulled her into his arms.
“It’s over,” he said. “It’s all over.”
She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Kade and held him and shivered. She had no idea what had happened, but Kade was here. Kade was safe.
Police officers and EMTs poured into the space. They ushered Ginny and Kade outside to a waiting ambulance. How had all these people gotten here?
One paramedic made her sit on a gurney while another wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. Kade was by her side, also wrapped in a blanket as if it were January and not June.
The rain had stopped, and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. She and Kade watched as three gurneys were carried over the mud to the ambulances. Two were completely covered, the men beneath them dead. Petrovich was alive. His bloody hand was lying on his chest. His other hand was handcuffed to the gurney.
Brady spoke to a uniformed officer in the building before approaching them. “Quite a mess you made here.” He smiled to soften the words, then focused on Ginny. “What happened?”
She couldn’t get it all straight in her head. She babbled about how they’d been at her house, at the trailer. How they’d been looking for her necklace.
Brady pattered her shoulder. “It’s okay. Just relax right now. You can tell me the story later.” He focused on Kade.
His mouth was pressed in a tight line. “The young one… He had her pinned to the floor when I got here. He was working on getting her pants off.”
Brady’s grim expression turned grimmer still as he turned back to her. He said nothing, just waited.
She swallowed. “Kade got here in time. Another few minutes… He planned to kill me afterward. He told me that.”
Brady nodded slowly. “Glad we shot him.”
“What?”
“We were nearly here when we heard the gunshot—I assume that’s when you shot Petrovich. My officer got there first. He saw that guy barreling toward you. He fired just in time, took him out before he could hurt you.”
“Oh.” That explained it. Tears filled her eyes.
Kade pulled her close. “What is it?”
“I thought I did it. I thought I shot him.”
“It would have been good if you had,” Kade said. “He had it coming.”
“They killed my mother.”
Brady’s eyes narrowed. “You know about that?”
What? “You know? How do you know?”
“After our conversation Tuesday, I’ve been looking into things.”
“Wait,” Kade said. “What conversation?”
She shook her head. There was so much information to share, so much to learn. There was plenty of time for that, though.
It was really and truly over.