What Have You Done(82)

Sean looked up at the ceiling, his eyes welling with tears. “Why do you want to help me? I don’t deserve it. What I did to you. I don’t deserve it.”

“I don’t care about that. Put the gun down, and we’ll call this in. I’ll ride with you to the station, and we’ll have Don meet us there. We’ll all do this together. You won’t be alone.”

“Don’s…”

Joyce lifted her head from her knees and looked up at Sean. “Don’s what? Don’s what, Sean?”

Sean began to cry. “I’m sorry.”

Joyce climbed to her feet, a fresh set of tears forming in her eyes and falling down her cheeks. “Sorry about what? What did you do? Where’s Don? Where’s my husband? What did you do?”

“I’m sorry.”

Joyce rushed over to Sean and grabbed him by the jacket, tugging him back and forth, no longer fearful of the gun in his hand. “What did you do!”

“Leave me alone!”

Sean pushed Joyce away, and she fell to the floor.

“Drop the gun!” Liam shouted.

“No!” Sean screamed. He swung the Beretta away from his brother and aimed it at Joyce, who was cowering and crying on the ground below him. “Enough of this! You drop the gun, or I kill Joyce right here. If you know everything, then you know I’m not bluffing. I’ll kill her like I killed the rest of them. You can shoot me if you want, but I’ll kill her first. Now drop it!”

“Sean, I—”

“Drop it or she dies!”

“Okay!”

Liam placed his gun on the floor.

“Slide it away from you.”

He kicked it behind him and heard it hit the wall by the front door. Sirens began to fill the air but were still a good distance away. Liam raised his hands. “I want to help you. Please. I just want to help. We can get through this. Together. Like we’ve always done it.”

Sean opened his mouth to speak, then stopped and looked past Liam. “Why are you here?” he muttered.

Liam turned around just as two shots exploded from behind him. Sean grabbed at his chest as he was thrown backward and to the floor, his gun skipping out of his grip and sliding away. He lay at the end of the hall, motionless. The immediate quiet of the house was in sharp contrast to the commotion and screaming that had been going on only moments before.

Vanessa was standing inside the doorway, the gun she was holding—Phillips’s gun—still raised in a shooting position, her hands shaking violently, smoke rising from the barrel.

“Vanessa?”

She looked at her husband, then collapsed, unconscious.

Liam ran over to his wife as Joyce scurried past them both, pushing the front door open and falling out onto the porch as neighbors spilled from their homes to see what was going on. Outside, he could see the flashing red lights of emergency personnel turning onto the street accompanied by the beautiful sound of an intrusive and wailing siren.





63

The emergency room was already busy without the army of police personnel taking up most of the area. With all the extra bodies, it was almost impossible to move around. Uniforms stood post at the entrance to the ER as well as at the ambulance bay and stair exits. The press was kept outside in the parking lot, but more news vans were turning in and setting up their live feeds. It was going to be a long night.

Phillips walked into Vanessa’s room with Heckle, Keenan, and the two Internal Affairs detectives, Farmer and Nix. He had his phone out, ready to record the conversation they were about to have. Vanessa was sitting up in her bed, physically unharmed but emotionally scarred. She’d been forced to shoot her brother-in-law in order to save Joyce and Liam. It was a heroic act but one that had consequences on the back end. Phillips knew her sleepless nights and debilitating nightmares were still to come.

“How’s Joyce?” Vanessa asked.

“She’ll be okay. Broken nose. Loose tooth. Bumps and bruises. She’ll be fine.”

“What about Don? Did you find him?”

“We found him,” Phillips replied, then shook his head.

“Oh.”

“How are you?”

“I’m okay, I guess.”

Phillips slid a plastic chair across the room and sat next to the bed. The others stood in the corner. “I need to ask you a few questions.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s start with what happened. Walk me through everything.”

Vanessa took a breath. “I was at home, and a call came to my cell. I didn’t recognize the number, but with everything going on, I figured I should answer. It was Liam. He was frantic. He told me he found evidence that pointed to Sean as the killer and that Sean was dangerous and I needed to stay away from him. He said he was going to Don’s house to get him, and they were going to go to the station together. He said he found out about our affair, but he didn’t care right then. He just wanted to make sure I knew Sean was the killer and to stay away from him. I hadn’t seen Liam since everything went crazy, so I got in the car and drove to Don’s. I wanted to see him and hear everything for myself. I couldn’t believe what he was saying, but at the same time, I knew he was telling the truth. I just knew it.”

Phillips nodded. “Why didn’t you call 911? Or me?”