We Begin at the End(100)
Darke stared up at him.
Walk continued. “What did he have on you?”
Darke looked confused, but maybe the wheels were slowly beginning to turn. “He liked to take photographs.”
Walk nodded to no one but himself.
“He just wanted a friend, someone to go hunting with. So I went. We’re all looking for angles, Chief Walker. That’s what we do.”
Walk thought of Martha.
Darke clenched a fist and the blood ran faster. “This the part where I confess my sins?”
Distant sirens.
“I know about Madeline.”
Darke swallowed then, the first trace of emotion. “She’s fourteen now.”
“Same age as Duchess Radley.”
“I didn’t want to come for the girl. I tried every other way.”
“Hal.”
“He didn’t give me a chance to speak, just pulled a shotgun.”
“You’re a murderer.”
“Just like your friend.”
Walk took a step back, that dizzying feeling all over again. “Vincent …”
“Tragedy has a way of making saints out of sinners. Believe me, I know.” Darke gulped air, the pain was sharp. “The boy in there. I didn’t hurt him.”
“I know.”
“People see me. The way I look, they think certain thoughts. That’s alright, it helps me get things done.”
“You murdered Star Radley.”
“You even believe that anymore, Chief Walker? I asked her for a favor, to talk to Vincent for me, get him to sell up. I only had to mention his name and she lost it, throwing punches. She was wild.”
“You and Vincent made some kind of deal. You couldn’t see it through. Couldn’t raise the money.”
“I’m a man of my word. Ask Vincent, he’ll tell you.”
“You talk like you know him.”
“Maybe I do. Maybe Star told me things, she liked to drink, drugs, whatever. Confession doesn’t only happen in church.”
“What are you saying?”
“Vincent … he’s not who you think he is.”
Walk watched him, looking for the truth, maybe not wanting to see any of it.
Darke’s breath grew short then. “I have life insurance. Enough to keep Madeline.”
“It was always about the money.”
“They won’t pay out for suicide. Believe me, I checked.”
“Suicide by cop.”
“Not if you tell it right.”
“She doesn’t need you?”
Darke closed his eyes, then opened them to the pain of it all. “A child is always better with a parent in their life. But the place she’s in. That’s what she needs. That’s all I can give her.”
“She won’t get better.”
“They can’t say that for sure. There’s a chance, in time. Miracles happen every day.”
Walk didn’t know if he really believed that, but guessed it was what kept him going.
“Shoot me.”
Walk shook his head slowly.
“Put my gun in my hand and then shoot me.”
Walk took a step back.
The blood still dripped. Darke was too strong, too big and strong.
“Fucking shoot me. Please. Just fucking shoot me. I killed the old man. I came for the girl. Please.”
Walk heard noise behind, distant but coming.
“I can’t do that.”
“Mercy, Chief. Your God believes in that.”
Walk shook his head, nothing clear, the right thing, the fair thing. He thought of Madeline, a girl he did not know, and Duchess, a girl he did.
He took a step toward Darke.
“Give my girl a chance. You can do that. It’s in you.”
Walk took another step. “They’ll lock you up.”
“I’ll get out one day. And then I’ll come for Duchess again. This time it’ll be revenge. Simple. I’ll shoot her.”
Walk saw through it, too easy.
“Fuck. Please, Walker. You let the cops take me and my daughter dies. I’m out of money now, I’ve got nothing. The club was all I had. I can’t pay to keep her alive.”
Walk stood there, the gun so heavy he could barely hold it.
“You need to wipe your prints off it.” Darke lay his head back against the tree, tears filled his eyes. “There’s a key in my pocket. A lockup outside the Cape. West Gale. There’s things in there I want Madeline to have. It’s important she knows us.”
Walk just stared.
“We don’t have time. Just do it, Chief. Give my girl a chance.”
Walk wiped Darke’s gun, then leaned down and handed it to him.
Darke winced as he raised it, then aimed wide and pulled the trigger.
The echo. The ringing in Walk’s ears as he raised his own gun.
Darke nodded once.
Walk pulled the trigger.
43
DUCHESS PASSED THE FACE OF towns and lonely mountains and a sky at times so blue it brought her home to the endless waters of Cape Haven.
She rode above the wheel, every bump in her bones, the road laid out like a scar across land her grandfather had once traversed, his only happiness far behind.