Flowers for Her Grave - By Judy Clemons Page 0,105

screw somebody, especially that hot little number.” Sissy’s eyes went unfocused, as if she were thinking of Krystal, and what she and the guard might have gotten up to. Her hand dropped a fraction, and Casey lunged forward. She grabbed Sissy’s wrist, lowered her head, and rammed Sissy in the gut with her shoulder, sending her back several steps, like she was sacking a quarterback.

Sissy screamed, clawing Casey in the back of the neck. Casey reared up and headbutted Sissy in the chin. Blood spurted from Sissy’s lip, spraying into Casey’s eyes. Casey jerked her head away, and Sissy twisted the gun toward Casey. Casey tried to gain some traction, but slid on a sofa cushion and fell backward. Sissy threw herself on top of her, howling. Casey raised her foot just in time to catch Sissy’s ribs on her way down, and Sissy jerked hard sending the gun clattering to the floor. Sissy lunged for the gun while Casey reached down and yanked out the dowel rod that braced the balcony door. Sissy swung the gun toward her, and Casey smacked her with the rod, hitting her wrist and sending the gun flying backward, into the entryway.

Sissy scrambled toward the gun, beating Casey there, and raised it, aiming at Casey’s heart. Casey froze.

“I didn’t mean to kill her,” Sissy sobbed. “I didn’t want to kill her. I just…” She wiped her nose with her sleeve. “I just wanted to scare her. To get her to leave him alone! Leave my Brandon alone!”

Casey eyed Sissy and the gun. There was no way she could reach Sissy before she got a shot off. No way Casey could reach down and pick up anything to throw, or dodge behind something that could protect her. Nothing there would stop a bullet. There was a good chance Sissy would miss, if she did shoot, but then the bullet might go right out the window, hitting someone down at the pool.

Casey decided to just stay still and talk, hoping she could find an opening to strike. “So what made you go after Andrea that night?”

Sissy blinked away tears. Casey couldn’t help but think Sissy’s bright blue outfit had the opposite of its usual effect. Instead of making Sissy look like a fresh, vibrant blueberry, she looked old and pale. Tired. Washed out.

“That day,” Sissy said. “Before class. They were talking about who had spent time in this apartment. I wasn’t surprised about Laurie, of course, I knew she was in love with Brandon. I wasn’t surprised about Krystal, either. She screws anything that moves. But Andrea? Why was Krystal trying to cover up the fact that Andrea knew this apartment? It could only be…it could only be because Andrea was in love with Brandon, too.” She sobbed. “And then to find out later that she was engaged to him!”

Her gun hand shook so much Casey was ready to hit the ground. If only she could get a step closer she could disarm her.

“I just wanted to talk to her,” Sissy said. “I was sure if I told her he and I were in love she would back off. She was always so nice. But she kept lying. Saying she wasn’t involved with him. Saying she didn’t even like him. That she hadn’t seen or heard anything from him since he’d left. Why did she lie to me? Why?”

“Sissy, about that engagement—”

“She wouldn’t listen to me. She turned her back on me, saying I needed to get a hold of myself, and she would talk to me when I was calmer. The nerve! I left her and sat in the office—your office, I mean. I tried to calm down, but I just got madder and madder.”

She looked mad now, and not just in the angry sense. Casey was ready to move closer when Sissy blinked and focused on her again. “So I grabbed one of those weights by the desk, and went back. She was in the shower area then. Her back was still turned. I was going to talk some more, but I was so angry. So I hit her. I hit her, and hit her, and hit her.” She chopped with the gun, as if she were demonstrating. “Until she was just lying there. Staring up at me. Just staring.”

Her eyes flicked up to Casey’s, and she steadied the gun. “I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t. All I wanted was for Brandon to love me and not her. And I realized then