UNHINGED by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cora could feel Gabriel Finch watching her out of the corner of his eye where he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. They faced the small shed where they had met earlier, and Cora had the front door open, her leg braced against it. Fifteen miles from the judge’s house. Now, she could hear sirens every few minutes.

Gabriel was ashen faced and he studied her, her silhouette illuminated by the headlights reflecting off the windows of the shed. “What did you do?” He asked.

“Nothing. Nothing, at all.” She winced. And then said, “Nothing you can be implicated in.”

“Implicated? What did you do?” He repeated, more fervently this time.

But she was staring out the windshield, watching the shed. The large trees around her seemed like camouflage. Part of her wanted to hide in the woods and never emerge again.

She hadn’t intended for the man to kill himself. But then again, she had killed before. There was something different about pointing a gun and pulling the trigger. She knew it was wrong, but it felt more natural, and it felt more appropriate. If that was such a word to be used when describing death. But to scare a man so badly that he took his own life? In such a blunt, savage fashion?

It felt wrong, somehow.

She sighed and glanced at Gabriel. “Thanks for not driving away.”

He looked her dead in the eyes. “I appreciate that,” he said in the stiff voice of a man struggling to keep it together. “But you should know that I wanted to. I definitely would have, but I was scared that you would find me and kill me.” He nodded once and gave a big sigh as if he had managed to get something off his chest that had been weighing him down.

Cora rolled her eyes. She grimaced at the pain in her shoulder. Not just from the recent case in Florida but older wounds. Battle scars. Pain that stuck with her and leached into the bones. Pain that she had so often convinced herself had to be medicated, because if not, she would go insane. But now, she was finding that there were other things that served as medication. Things beyond drugs and drink.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Dammit,” she muttered.

At least Gabriel was no longer asking what she had dragged him into.

“Why would a judge kill himself?” she said, quietly.

For a moment, she wished she hadn’t said it out loud. But on the other hand, Gabriel Finch would find out what had happened soon enough. Besides, the more involved he felt, the less likely it was that he would report to the police. That was what had happened with Rose, wasn’t it? Gabe had been too scared to bring those letters to the cops.

Some of the guilt she was feeling towards him faded at this memory. He was still on her shit list.

“What do you mean?” Gabriel said slowly.

“Exactly what I said.”

“Did you kill someone?”

“No. Weren’t you listening to the question?”

“Did someone kill themselves?”

Cora shrugged.

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