Page 43 of Maverick
I was still sitting in the driveway when my phone pinged with an incoming text. My heart leapt as I dug through my purse. Was it Mav? Was he coming over to explain? I pulled out the phone and my heart fell.
Becky:
Hey! Wanted to let you know I reached out to a local agency and found a health aide for your father. They have someone who can start tomorrow and stay for a few days while you handle the presentation. IT’S UP TO YOU THOUGH!!! NO PRESSURE!!
A pit settled in my stomach. I could be back in Maryland tomorrow. Back to my job. My coworkers. My fake plants. That was the plan all along, so why did it feel so hollow?
***
I unlocked the front door and walked inside. Noodle was barking from the kitchen. “Easy girl, it’s me!” I shouted, taking off my jacket and hanging it in the closet. “Dad, I’m back! How far into the episode did you get?” I paused, not hearing the television under Noodle’s yammering. “Dad?”
And come to think of it, why hadn’t Noodle run to me? Why was she barking in the kitchen?
A gunshot exploded and my heart stopped.
“That’s right, you sorry bastard!”
I raced toward the living room and saw a man lying on the ground, a red puddle growing underneath him. Dad stood across from him, gun raised.
I froze in the doorway and slammed my hand over my mouth to muffle my gasp. I had no idea what state my dad was in and didn’t want to startle him.
Noodle whimpered and sat back on her haunches.
“Good girl.” Dad walked over to the man. He prodded the body a few times with his foot and shook his head. “Don’t think he’s getting back up.” His gaze turned to me, and his eyes softened. “You okay over there, Katie?”
I let out a sigh of relief. He knew me! “Yeah, I’m fine, but what about you? Who is that guy? What happened?”
“No clue who he was. But he was in the house when I got here, trying to rob us, I guess.”
“So you shot him?” I asked, my eyes widening. “Like shot him to death?”
“‘Course I did. What was I supposed to do? It was him or me, and I damn sure wasn’t going to let it be me knowing my daughter was about to walk in that front door.”
My eyes watered. “Oh, Dad.” He held out his arms and I walked into his embrace.
“It’s okay, don’t worry.”
I sniffled and nodded, taking a step back as I collected myself. “Yeah, you’re right. It was clearly self-defense. The police shouldn’t have an issue.” I reached into my back pocket to pull out my phone.
Dad sighed. “We should probably call your mother and tell her to stay away for a bit. I don’t want her to come home and see all this.”
26
Kat
My finger hovered over the nine as I paused. “Um, what?”
“Your mom doesn’t like this kind of thing. That’s why she hid my guns. But I found this one in the closet this morning, in my suit jacket.” He held up the small gray gun. If I hadn’t known that he’d just shot somebody, I’d have thought it was a toy. Which is probably why no one realized he had it on him earlier.
Self-defense was one thing, but if Dad was having an episode when he shot the guy…Fuck,was he even a burglar? Or was he the meter reader caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? My heart pounded as I studied the man on the floor. Who was he?
I searched the room, taking a deep breath as I tried to put together what could have happened. There wasn’t any broken glass, and I’m sure Mav would have locked up before he left. How did the man get in? There’d been no alert on my phone, so the alarm hadn’t gone off. Although Dad had gotten really good at disabling the thing so that didn’t mean much.
The security app only showed live footage. I hadn’t liked idea of our video history being stored on a server somewhere, but I was seeing the folly of that decision now. My finger hovered over the contacts button. There was no other choice. I dialed the number and hoped I wasn’t making a big mistake.
“Kat?” Mav’s voice was surprised, which I guess made sense. At least he didn’t sound like he was in the middle of a sexcapade. “Didn’t expect to—”
“Can you come over?”
