Gory debris from the shot litters the kitchen. Use my sleeve to wipe the bits from my face. Just smears more of Red's red. My shirt is freckled with the container of his final thoughts.

"Thank you," I say to Sam.

"You're welcome," she says back. Wipes a smudge of grease from her cheek.

I turn to Beth. Time to take control of the situation.

"The guy had it coming. You understand," I say.

"I know," Beth says. She's calm. Steady breaths.

"And another thing. We just saw you kill that deputy," I say. "That makes the score tied in this shit storm. Don't think we won't rat on you if you try to haul us in."

"I know," Beth says again.

Both she and Sam realize they're aiming their handguns at a corpse. Shift to training their barrels at each other.

"You sure know a lot. Good for you. Now let's talk about you putting down that gun," Sam says. Smiles wide.

"In a minute," Beth says.

"No. Right now," Sam says.

Beth's gaze travels past Sam. Looks out the kitchen window. "There's someone coming up the driveway," she says.

I turn to look. Well, I'll be damned.

Turns out we didn't lose Les's guys after all.

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