Читать книгу Her Best Defense - Jackie/Lori Merritt/Myles - Страница 7

Sixteen years ago

Chicago, Illinois

The alley was dark, lit only by lone streetlights at either end. At best, those lights illuminated no more then a few feet of the alley, casting shadows that bespoke of hidden, unspeakable things. The middle of the alley looked as if it had been swallowed by the night, and his stomach churned with dread. Was blackness and an eerie silence the reason that this particular place had been chosen for the meeting?

He looked around before entering the alleyway. The buildings on either side appeared to be deserted.

Again, not a good sign.

But it wasn’t just the lack of light that was unnerving; the lack of sound was equally as injurious to his normal courage. No cars passed by, no voices could be heard, no music wafting through windows. The only sounds now were those of his shoes softly shuffling against the pavement and a lone dog barking somewhere off in the distance.

“That’s far enough,” he heard from out of the darkness.

“Step out so I can see you,” he addressed the shadows.

“You don’t need to see anything.”

But he did see something. A glint of light, a flash of sorts, but all too late. He felt the bullets entering his body at the same time he heard the shots. Everything went black.

“You shot him! What the hell did you do that for? I thought we were only going to talk to him.”

“Shut up and get over there. Make sure he’s dead.”

“Hey, I want nothing to do with this.”

“Johnny, go make sure he’s dead while I have a little talk with Paulie here.”

“Sure, boss.”

The barrel of the gun jammed into his guts. For a few seconds, Paulie thought he was going to be next. Out of instinct, he grabbed at the gun; at the same time, he felt his boss releasing the weapon into his possession.

“Now you got something to do with this.”

Paulie knew he’d just been framed for murder. “What do you want me to do, boss?”

“Get rid of the gun, stupid. Unless you want to go to prison.”

“Yeah, he’s dead,” Johnny hollered back.

“Good, now let’s get out of here.”