Inherit the Dead

the gun. Flames danced in the fireplace, casting eerie shadows around the room.
    “He’s Julia’s son,” Norman said to Angel, almost in a whisper.
    “See?” the man said. “It didn’t take you long to figure that out.”
    Perry was putting the pieces together: The late-night visitor to Julia’s apartment, the masseur. And the man sitting beside him at the bar of the Memory Motel. My mother says I’m too dramatic.
    “What?” Angel’s voice, strident.
    The man took a step closer to Angel, and Perry got ready, every muscle in his body poised for attack.
    “You didn’t know you had a big brother, did you? I’m yourmother’s secret, her bastard, the baby she gave away when she was fifteen, the orphan passed from one foster home to another, while you, her dear little angel, got everything.”
    “Oh, please.” Angel folded her arms across her chest, her face a mask of incredulity and disdain.
    The man waved the gun at Norman. “ Tell her . She needs to know the truth before she dies.”
    “There’s n-no reason to hurt anyone,” said Norman. “Please.”
    “No? She got everything—private school, tennis lessons, clothes—while I got a pittance, an anonymous allowance, just enough to keep me off the street, paid off in dribs and drabs. But that’s how I—”
    “If you only knew,” said Angel, voice dripping with irony, “what my life has been like.”
    “ You? You had a home— two homes! You know what it’s like to have nothing? No family, no one who cares about you.” His voice was quavering. “That lousy allowance was all I had. Julia tried to make it anonymous, but—” He turned to Norman. “You arranged that pathetic stream of guilt money. That’s how I found it, by tracing it to your defunct law practice. It took a long time, but I finally figured it out. At first Julia wanted nothing to do with me, but then she admitted it—because then, she wanted something from me .”
    “This is absurd,” said Angel. “Tell him, Daddy.”
    Perry saw the look of horror and dread bouncing around Norman Loki’s face. “I . . . she . . . we . . . didn’t want you to know, Angel. There was no reason—”
    “But it’s true!” the man shouted. “You don’t want to know it, but it’s the truth! You hear what your father is saying, Angel? Now listen.” He took a step forward, and Perry readied himself again. But the man was still talking, wanting to, needing to.
    “Your mother had me follow the detective, told me it was the perfect opportunity, that you were already missing, so when I foundyou and killed you, no one would be surprised. You see, she hired the detective as a guide for me, and to make it look like she cared about you .”
    Perry flinched at the thought of being used.
    “Julia did her homework. She chose him, see? Because he was kicked off the force, she figured that no one would believe him when it was all over.”
    Perry flinched again, then took a deep breath, tried to calculate out how he could tackle the guy before he fired a shot.
    “Your mother— our mother—said to make it look like an accident, like you were drunk or taking drugs. She said no one would be surprised—that you’re a tramp, that they’d blame one of your boyfriends or think you OD’d or—”
    Angel shouted, “Shut up!”
    “She said once you were dead, she’d get all the money and split it with me. But now, I’ll get it all.”
    “You’re insane,” Angel said. “My mother—I’m not surprised by anything she’d do—but she would never have given you anything, not a dime.”
    “It doesn’t matter now. After you and your father are dead, I’ll inherit it all. You see, I’ll be the only heir.” He aimed his gun.
    Perry got ready to pounce, but Norman Loki put up his hands.
    “Wait. Listen. Angel is right. Julia used you. She lied. She always lied. You have no idea what she was like. She orchestrated her own parents’ deaths. Had them run off the road. You can’t imagine how furious she was to discover that her father had locked away the bulk of his estate for his grandchild until her twenty-first birthday and that she couldn’t get at it.” Norman shook his head. “As if she didn’t have enough.”
    “Nothing was ever enough for her,” said Angel. “You think I had it good with a mother like that! A monster without a heart?” Shebarked a laugh. “You were the lucky one! Getting away from her. From all of this.”
    “So that’s why you killed her?” the man asked.