A shot was fired in front of me in the direction of the police. I tried to get up, but my body still wouldn't move. Shots rang out from behind me directed at Lee and Alese. I worried for Imogen. I tried to locate her with my eyes, and then finally I saw that she had moved and was ducked behind the chair that she had been sitting in. More shots were fired, and then I saw Lee fall to the ground. I wasn't sure if he was dead.
Two officers ran over to Lee while John and Imogen stood above me.
"Max, are you alright?" Imogen asked.
I looked up from the ground and saw Imogen's face, angelic in appearance, reaching her hands down to my head to stroke my hair and wipe away the pain.
I couldn't answer.
John spoke, "Max. Max. Are you OK?"
"Max!" Imogen nervously screamed.
"Ginny…" I said.
Imogen bent over and helped me sit up.
"Max, you scared me. Are you OK?" she asked.
I felt my head for a bruise and finally found it, right on my left temple.
"Why must everyone hit me?" I asked.
"Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?" she asked.
"I need a drink," I said.
"John, I think he's going to live," she said.
"What happened?" I asked John. "I mean, how did you know that we were here?"
"Bill flipped," John said. "Right after I spoke with you this morning we were questioning him, and he sang like a bird. Gave up Endicott to save his own ass. Said he was paid a ton of money to keep quiet."
"Well, about that," I said. "There isn't going to be any money for Bill once I fill you in on what Lee Endicott has been up to."
"And what Alese and Lee were up to with that painting over there," Imogen said.
John looked over at the forged Klimt hanging on the wall.
"Oh that. Isn't that a Klimt? Wasn't that burned during World War II?" he asked.
"Now how did you know that?" I asked.
"You don't know everything about me yet, Max," he said.
"I guess not," I said. "Sergeant Carrington the art lover, who knew?"
The other officers had rounded up Lee and Alese and were now escorting them out of the house. I was on my feet by this point, watching as they passed by John, Imogen, and me in handcuffs. Lee had not been shot. He must have fallen when the shots were fired.
"Looks like I'm out of business," Lee said through a smile, his veneers gleaming from the bright sunlight still filling the house, as he was being escorted to a waiting police car.
Still the same old used car salesman. He probably thought that he would somehow beat the murder wrap.
"Can I ask you something, Max?" he asked, the police allowing him to stop for a brief moment.
"Sure," I said.
"You were never going to invest, were you?"
"Not a chance," I said.
"I didn't think so," he said, shaking his head. "Can't blame a guy for trying."
He flashed one last smile at me, and then he disappeared through the window off to jail.
No, you can't blame a guy for trying. But you can blame a guy for murdering your friend and for bilking who knows how many unsuspecting investors out of millions.
Next came Alese in handcuffs, escorted by two officers. This time Imogen broke the silence as she passed.
"Why, Alese? Why throw your life away for him?" she asked.
Alese looked at all three of us and answered, "I love him. He gave me everything that I have. I was a broke girl from the city, and when I met Lee, my life changed. I had everything. Money, homes, cars, jewelry. And now I've got nothing. "
There was nothing to say back to her. She pretty much summed it up. Who knew if she'd go to prison or simply return to the girl who now had lost everything? But Alese was a survivor. We knew that much.
"Love and money, huh, Max, a lethal combination," John said.
"We've seen it before," I said. "Makes you do crazy things."
Imogen simply shook her head as we exchanged our comments.
"Well you two, care to join me downtown for a debriefing session?" John asked.
"We'd be delighted," I said.
The three of us walked out of the house, got in our cars, and headed over to the Manors police station.