Lizzie
Lizzie had fired at Patricia without thinking, and she knew that Murphy had fired along with her. It was a natural reaction to a view of chaos and to a woman they knew to be a killer aiming a gun at them.
But then, she took in the two children on the floor, the young slim woman, with the chain over her shoulder, and recognized her from her photograph. She saw the heavyset woman in the flowered dress clutching a small child to her chest even she waved a revolver. And suddenly she understood.
Lizzie had gotten it wrong. All wrong. Patricia wasn’t carrying out hits on her list; she was doing Lizzie’s job, rescuing a woman who’d been kidnapped. “Hold fire.” She shouted the order at Murphy, who didn’t need the order, because she’d also recognized Isabella Ramirez.
Lizzie could only hope that neither of them had hit Patricia. But there were more immediate concerns.
The heavyset woman thought they were on her side. She called out to Lizzie, while the small girl she held around the waist kicked and struggled. “Thank God, you’re here. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold out.”
Lizzie descended the rest of the way down the stairs. Patricia was out of sight, on the floor behind the bed. “We’re here. Relax. Put the child down and let’s calm everything down.”
“Let go of my baby.” Isabella advanced towards the woman, the chain over her shoulder rattling eerily.
“As soon as you’re back on the bed where you belong.” In response, the woman tightened her grip, and the little girl squealed. Isabella froze. The woman spoke to Lizzie. “You need to find another lock. She broke this one.”
“Hmmmm. Don’t happen to have one on me.” Lizzie took a step forward; Murphy was one step behind. If she could get close enough before the woman realized who they were, maybe she could get the little girl away safely. “Maybe you could run to the hardware store. We’ll handle things here.”
“There’s three of you. Can’t one of you…” Then her face began to show doubt. “Who are you, again?”
“We’re from Combatants for the Unborn.” Murphy had picked up on Lizzie’s tactic. “We’re here to do the Lord’s work. Like you.”
“Amen,” David intoned.
Lizzie took another step forward.
The woman’s expression changed to suspicion. “I’ve never seen you at any meetings. I’d have noticed. Especially—you.” She nodded at Murphy.
“We work for Georgina in special cases. Like this one.” Murphy was smooth.
But the woman in the flowered dress was no longer buying. “No, you’re not. You’re with her. You need to leave now, before you get hurt.”
“I believe we outnumber you,” Murphy murmured.
But as long as the woman had Nina clutched tightly against her chest, neither Lizzie nor Murphy could do anything.
The woman in the flowered dress began to laugh almost hysterically. “I’m working for Jesus, saving innocent babies. Your evil won’t win. Just wait until Wyatt gets back. And John. You…” she looked towards Isabella “…immoral bitch. You go sit down on that bed or do I have to hurt your brat?”
She took a step towards Isabella and then let out a scream as Kevin on the floor grabbed her ankle and bit. Christina, who’d snuck forward on elbows and knees, rose to her feet and grabbed the child from the woman’s arms.
The woman in the flowered dress aimed her gun at Christina.
Lizzie shot her.
Isabella rushed to her daughter and swept her up into her arms. Christina crossed to her brother and helped him to his feet.
Christina looked around. “Mrs. Black? Where is she?”
Did they not know that Patricia, aka Mrs. Black, had shot their parents?
David had rushed across the room to where they had last seen Patricia. Now he was helping her to her feet. And she looked unhurt. Lizzie was chagrined that she’d failed to realize that Patricia had been rescuing Isabella.
But Patricia had still killed four people.
Patricia spoke a few words quietly to David that Lizzie couldn’t hear. But she could hear his response.
“It doesn’t matter now. I’m just glad that you’re safe. And the kids are safe.”
Isabella carried her daughter over to Lizzie. “Wyatt could be back any minute. We need to get out of here. NOW!”
Lizzie glanced over at Murphy, who shook her head. She understood the message. Don’t call the police. Not now. Lizzie had just shot someone. Even if it was justified, and there were witnesses to prove it was justified, Isabella still needed to leave Texas quickly, to protect her life and health. Notifying the police could create legal problems for all of them.
That was quite apart from not wanting a showdown with either Wyatt or Petersen.
They made an odd procession up the stairs, Murphy first, then the two Phillips children, David and Patricia, Isabella and Nina, and finally Lizzie.
Once outside the house, the decision was to divide between the two cars, Murphy riding in the Mercedes with Patricia, Kevin, and Christina, and Lizzie taking Isabella and Nina, with David riding shotgun. Then they would all meet up back at Lizzie’s office.
Which would give Lizzie a little time to decide what to do about Patricia.