between them, blocking Paul’s aim. He’s only ten feet from Jet, though, and he could still hit her almost anywhere with a snap shot. I hold out my arms, trying to make myself as wide a shield as possible.
Paul smiles strangely. “There you are, old friend—right where you’ve always been. Between us.”
“I can’t let you shoot her, man.”
He takes a step closer. “I don’t want to shoot you. You’re just another sucker like me. But I will. She’s not taking Kevin.”
“You’re not doing this for Kevin,” Jet says from behind me. “Have the guts to be honest, at least. You’re doing this because of what Max said. Your sense of ownership is offended. He got me pregnant when you couldn’t. You’re afraid he fucked me better than you. You think by shooting me you’ll stop that pain? You won’t.”
Jesus, would you shut up? I think in desperation. You’re committing suicide—
“You and Max were so blind,” she goes on. “You think Kevin loves baseball more than his mother? For God’s sake.”
“I know he loves you,” Paul says. “And I wish I didn’t have to do this. But it’s the only way I can stop you. As soon as the sun comes up tomorrow, you’ll be charting out your legal strategy to steal him from me. And if I’m not his biological father . . .”
Nearly paralyzed by futility, I experience a thunderclap of revelation. “Paul, wait, man. You’re missing the forest for the trees. Max is dead. You have his seat in the Poker Club now. You own the judges in this town. She can’t get Kevin from you. Think, man! Come on.”
For the first time since he got up, my words have struck home.
“But the DNA,” he reminds me. “There’s no way around that. Blood trumps all, like Max told me in the hospital. To get Kevin, I’ve got to be the only parent left. So nobody even raises the question.”
“And me?” I ask, stating the obvious. “Are you gonna kill me, too?”
When he averts his eyes, I realize the answer is yes. To get custody of Kevin, he will kill me. Maybe I should have let him kill himself after all—
“Not if you don’t make me,” he says, an offer of clemency in his eyes. “Why would you defend her now, anyway? After what we heard tonight? Christ, you heard what Pop said. How disgusting was that? She fucked him, and she loved it. She fucked us all, betrayed us all. She’s poison, man. End of story. Now step aside.”
“You make me sick,” Jet says from behind me. “Both of you. You say you love me? Love me. But tonight Max slandered me, and who did you believe? Him. A lying psycho, and you take his word over mine. If I didn’t know how badly Kevin needs me, I’d just as soon you shoot me.”
Paul is edging to his right, prepping for his shot. I move left with him, still using my body as a shield. My nerves are vibrating like I’ve taken hold of a live wire.
“Get out of my way, Goose,” he says. “Let me do it clean. No pain.”
Abject fear raises every hair on my body.
“Do it, Marshall,” Jet says in surrender. “Move clear.”
For a second I wonder if she means to shoot at Paul when I move. Surely she’s not that deluded, to think she’d have any chance of killing him first. “Jet—”
“There’s no use in you dying, too.” Nadine’s gun clatters to the floor. “He’s past all sense, all caring. He doesn’t see that by killing me, he’s killing himself. But this is where we are. And maybe I did bring us here. I just wanted love. You know? I wanted to be loved.”
As when Max spoke from the heart, truth has its own ineffable power. Paul’s face goes from that of resigned executioner to a man tortured by the fires of hell. He stops moving toward me, and in this odd lacuna of time and intent, my eye is drawn to the white rectangle of notebook paper on my kitchen table.
My breath stops.
“Paul,” I say, pointing at the note. “Where did you get that?”
“What?”
“That note was in my bedroom dresser for the last three months. Either you broke in here and stole it or Max did. Which is it?”
“Max gave it to me at UMC. Today.”
Epiphany washes over me like blessed grace. “I think I understand! Max was lying about sex with Jet. Put your gun down for two minutes. That’s all I