for this,” Gemma hissed, gathering Becky to her, hugging her tight.
Then Becky whispered, “Are the men dead too?”
Gemma shook her head. “No, Galen doesn’t kill people,” she said, “but these two are bad men, and now we have to deal with them.”
Becky looked up at her. “Will he kill them then?”
“No,” Gemma said, hating that this sweet little girl had gotten such a harsh view of the world. “Nobody here will kill them.”
“If you give the gun to Mommy, she would.”
Silence.
Galen let out a burst of laughter. It was a sad laugh, but it was either that or reach out and smack the woman for being such a horrible mother.
“Unfortunately, you’re probably right,” Gemma said. “But I think your mommy prefers to get other people to do her dirty work for her.”
Galen looked at Gemma and motioned her and Becky toward the bedroom.
She nodded. “Come on, sweetheart. You’re tired. It’s been a rough night, so let’s get some sleep.”
“What about the men?”
“I promise Galen won’t hurt them,” she said.
Becky took a moment to study them all, and then she nodded. “I’m really tired. I don’t like this. I want to leave now.”
“It’s all right. You’re right to feel that way,” Galen said. “Nobody should like something like this. It’s bad for everybody. So get some sleep and let us deal with it. When you wake up again, we should be through the worst of it.”
Becky nodded, reached up her arms, and he gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Go get some sleep, sweetheart.”
Gemma picked up the little girl and carried her back into the bedroom. As she tucked her into bed, Becky whispered, “Will you stay?”
“Sure. I’ll stay until you go to sleep,” she said. She laid down on the bed beside her niece. Holding her close, she whispered, “It’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not,” she said. “Mommy shot Daddy, Aunt Gemma. I saw her.”
*
Galen was close enough to the bedroom that he heard. He spun ever-so-slowly to look at Rebecca, who stared back at him in shock.
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t kill my husband.”
“Yes, you did,” a man from the couch said in a tired and worn-out voice.
It was the second guy Galen had knocked out, the gunman in the cabin, now conscious.
“I didn’t want to do it, so you took the gun from my hand and shot him right in the forehead.”
“You stupid bastard,” she said. “If you would just shut up, nobody would know anything.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “The cops will be involved, and it’ll be a hell of a mess now.”
“No, it’s not,” she sneered. “You’re just lying to get yourself out of trouble, and it won’t work.”
“Oh, it’ll work,” he said. “I have copies of the emails and everything about our relationship. It’ll definitely work.”
“Not at all,” she said. “It’s my word against yours.”
“Yes,” he said, “my word against your word.” And he sneered. “What makes you think that yours is any better than ours anyway?”
At that, she realized he was pointing to the other man, still unconscious at her side.
She frowned. “You don’t know anything.”
“No?” he said. “I’m sure I don’t. I’m sure you’re full of all kinds of little tricks. I’m still trying to figure out if we were just pawns in the whole mess. I’m pretty sure we were. I just don’t know who else you’re dealing with above us.”
“Why would I be dealing with anybody above you?” she asked. A new tone had entered her voice.
Galen looked at her and smiled. “Joe’s brother, by any chance? Because this isn’t him.”
She looked at him, frowned, and said, “James isn’t here.”
“He has a big place in America, doesn’t he?”
She nodded slowly. “It’s really pretty,” she said. “I was hoping to go over there. Make a new life for my little girl.”
“I’m sure you were. All you had to do was get rid of Joe first, huh?” She lied so damn smoothly that he knew she’d been doing it all her life. And even worse, expected it to work.
“That wasn’t me,” she said. “That was these guys. And James was probably paying them. I didn’t set this up, and Becky doesn’t know what she saw.”
“If you get your new lover involved in this mess,” he said, “it won’t bode well when it comes to building a new life for yourself.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, with yet another wave of her hand. She stepped out on the front step, and he could see the sun