Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

Joseph kept his expression congenial. ‘But Reggie failed too. It’s fascinating that the most serious damage was done by a girl with a modified Glock.’
    Again the smirk.
    ‘Of course, she’s dead. Your only casualty.’
    The smirk disappeared abruptly.
    Oh, yes . ‘ Marina took seven bullets altogether. Six in the extremities. Whoever came up with the idea of her wearing the pregnancy pad . . . kudos. It worked. Mostly. The seventh bullet, though, hit her right between the eyes.’
    Millhouse’s chest rose and fell with the deep breaths he now took.
    ‘Maybe you’re wondering who killed her. Who could have been a big enough sonofabitch to shoot a pregnant girl right between the eyes? To put a bullet right through her brain? To blow her head right off her shoulders?’
    Millhouse’s chest was pumping like a bellows. A little bit more would push him over the edge. But getting Millhouse angry at Stevie would be a waste. She wasn’t here for Bill to attack. But I am . Joseph didn’t think Stevie would mind if he borrowed her glory.
    He spread his arms wide. ‘ I’m the sonofabitch who killed your brave soldier.’
    Millhouse turned his head then, his eyes so full of hate that Joseph might have been nervous had the man not been shackled with two rifles pointed at his head.
    Joseph smiled. ‘Yep, it was me. And I’m glad I did it. The look on her face right before I pulled the trigger . . . It was fear, Bill. She begged me not to shoot, but I did anyway. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Right between the eyes.’
    The only warning was the subtle tensing of muscles before Millhouse sprang. Because Joseph had been expecting it, he didn’t flinch, just remained in his chair, arms loosely crossed while Millhouse came crashing to the floor. His head landed only inches from the tips of Joseph’s shoes.
    The uniforms had their rifles cocked and aimed at Millhouse’s head before it hit the floor. Millhouse lay breathing hard, his cheek pressed into the concrete, his body fully extended, his feet at awkward angles to the legs of the chair, the bolts of which had held. Thank God for that .
    ‘My engineering degree always comes in handy at the strangest times,’ Joseph said blandly. ‘Like when I calculate the exact trajectory a body will take when it’s hurled through the air toward me. You disappoint me, Bill. You’re predictable. Now your little girl, Marina. Not predictable. I wonder if she was supposed to open fire like she did. What possible purpose could that have achieved? I wondered this. I did.’
    He paused. ‘And I came to a conclusion. Do you want to know what I think?’
    Millhouse spat at him, the gob of phlegm hitting the edge of Joseph’s shoe.
    That’s just nasty . But Joseph didn’t flinch. ‘I’ll take that as a no,’ he said, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket. Taking care to stay out of Millhouse’s reach, he cleaned his shoe and tossed the dirty hankie on the table.
    ‘That’s okay. I’d planned to tell you all along. See, I think you anticipated they might fail inside the courtroom. I think a smart guy like you always has a Plan B. When I first walked in here, I thought Plan B was to create chaos outside the justice center, just like your family was supposed to do inside, but on a much bigger scale. I thought you had a team, like helper bees. I thought they’d all buzzed away when they saw that you’d been taken down by Detective Fitzpatrick and that your plan had disintegrated into one little girl shooting people in the front row. But now I think Plan B was simply to kill Daphne Montgomery for the pain she’d caused your family. Payback for Reggie’s unfortunate incarceration. Of course, Marina also failed to do that. How’m I doing?’
    ‘Go to hell,’ Millhouse growled.
    Joseph ignored him. ‘I think you circled around like you did because you were planning to swoop in and grab Marina once she’d shot Montgomery. I think Marina took things into her own hands when you didn’t show up like you had planned.’
    Millhouse’s expression changed. Softened.
    Pride , Joseph thought. Affection? Tenderness? Love?
    ‘ There is one piece I don’t get. What was the purpose behind the abduction of Daphne Montgomery’s son?’
    Millhouse lifted his head to stare at Joseph, his eyes narrowed. Then without a word Millhouse lay back down and Joseph got the feeling one of them had missed something.
    Joseph sat quietly for a minute, waiting. Finally Millhouse