Linwood Barclay - Never Saw It Coming

“Oh shit, sorry, thought you had it there,” Kirk said.

“Hey, no problem,” Justin said, and dropped to his knees to collect the scattered bills.

Kirk brought up his knee and caught Justin on the nose.

“Fuck!” he screamed, stumbling back, throwing both hands over his face, blood trickling out between his fingers. “What the hell?”

He turned his face away defensively and flailed blindly at Kirk with his bloodied hands like a bullied schoolboy. Kirk deflected Justin’s feeble blow with one sweep of his arm, then glanced down at the bloodstains that flecked his shirt. “Shit,” he said, and slammed Justin into the wall to the right of the shelves displaying his new wheels.

“You think you can come in here and pull this kind of shit?” Kirk said. “You think I’m just gonna hand you that money?”

“Don’t hurt me!” Justin screamed. “I think you broke my nose! Jesus!”

“I’m gonna break every bone in your body if you think you’re going to leave here with one fucking cent.”

“I’ll tell!” he shouted. “The cops’ll be all over her!”

Kirk closed the distance between them and put his hands around the young man’s neck, just the way he’d done with Keisha earlier in the day.

Justin coughed. “Can’t…”

It was Justin’s turn to use his knee. He brought it up fast and hard, catching Kirk in the testicles.

“Shit!”

Kirk let go of Justin’s neck and closed in on himself, hands over his crotch, the pain radiating through him. He stepped back and to the left.

Justin reached out with his right hand, slipped it between the wall and the shelf, and, putting everything he had into it, pushed forward. The shelf was not secured to the wall, and with two wheels on the top, two in the center, and none on the bottom, it was unsteady to begin with.

It teetered, in slow motion at first, then with a gathering momentum.

The two wheels on top pitched off first. One caught Kirk on the shoulder, knocking him to the floor. A fraction of a second later, the other wheel landed on his upper body and flipped over once, covering his face, the edge of the rim pressing against his neck.

As the unit continued its plunge, the two wheels on the middle shelf fell off. One landed on Kirk’s knee, while the other hit the carpet.

“Yeah!” Justin said. “Take that, asshole!”

He spun around, giddy, grinned at Keisha, just in time to see the beer bottle coming at his head.

As soon as she hit him, she dropped the bottle. She felt the pain of the impact-the bottle hit him solidly on the forehead-shoot right up her arm. The bottle didn’t break, not even when it hit the floor, but it did the trick. Justin staggered backwards and collapsed, hitting the wall next to where the shelf had been and sliding on his back to the floor.

Keisha stood there, her labored breathing the only sound in the room.

She surveyed the wreckage. The overturned shelf, the scattered wheels, Kirk trapped beneath the wreckage. Justin unconscious.

At least, she thought he was unconscious.

“Jesus,” she said.

She knelt down, put her hand on Justin’s chest. He was out cold, but alive. She could feel him breathing under her palm.

Kirk was alive, too. He made a weak coughing sound.

“Babe,” he said. “I can’t… I can’t move.”

He made a gagging sound. Keisha moved toward him, put one leg over one of the shelving unit’s vertical posts, straddling it so she could get a look at Kirk. She could see one eye behind the wheel, saw how the rim was pressing against Kirk’s windpipe. The shelf had landed on top of the wheel, pinning it into position.

Keisha would have to move the shelf before she could get the wheel off him.

“Hey,” Kirk said. “Get this… get this off me.” He was trying to use his hands to move the rim, but one was caught behind his back, and he couldn’t get any leverage with the free one.

Keisha thought.

Surveyed the situation.

Thought about Matthew.

Maybe there was still a way out of this. A way for her to stay out of trouble, stay with her boy.

“Hey!” Kirk said. “You… fucking deaf? I need… help here.” He coughed.

There was a lot to figure out in a short time. She’d have to have it done before Justin woke up.

But what she had here was an opportunity.

“Hey,” Keisha said, looking down at Kirk through the openings between the mag wheel spokes.

“Can’t… breathe,” he said.

“Looks bad,” she said. “Must hurt like a son of a bitch.”

“The fuck… you doing? Move… the shelf.” He was sounding wheezy.

“I think I’ve got a way out, Kirk,” she said. “It might not work, but then again, it might. Got to take the chance.”

“What… you…”

“But it’s not going to work with you. Once Wedmore gets you in a room and starts putting questions to you, well, I don’t think you’re going to be able to outsmart her, you know what I’m saying?”

“… bitch…”

“You’re my weak link, Kirk. Sorry. You were an okay guy, you know? When we met? I really fell for you. You seemed so sweet.” There was that lump in her throat again. “But you conned me. You got inside me”-and she put her hand between her breasts-“before I realized what a useless piece of shit you are.”

He didn’t say anything. He was watching her with that one eye.

“But even a couple of hours ago, I might not have been capable of this. I might have helped you out here. But what you told Matthew? That I was going to send him away to military school?” She shook her head, and a teardrop fell from her cheek, slipped between the spokes and landed on Kirk’s forehead. “That was the last straw.”

“Babe…”

She put her weight on the shelf, which in turn forced the wheel down harder on Kirk’s neck. She managed to lift one foot from the floor, perch it on the edge of the middle shelf, then the other foot.

Kirk made some very bad sounds. Sounds that Keisha would be hearing for the rest of her life.

She sat there a couple of minutes until she was sure, glancing every few seconds at Justin to make sure he hadn’t regained consciousness.

Once she was certain Kirk was dead, she went into action.

She moved with deliberate speed, thinking through everything carefully.

Rehearsed the story in her head.

Got all the props in place.

Then she found in her jacket pocket the card that Rona Wedmore had given her at the Garfield house. Went to the phone in the bedroom and entered the number.

Wedmore picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“It’s Keisha Ceylon. I’ve got a confession to make.”

Justin: Shit, it’s about time. I’ve been sitting in here for hours. This room-is this one of those interrogation rooms? — this room is freezing. They took my jacket, and they even took my shoes. Why the hell did they take my shoes?

Wedmore: Sorry about that, Justin. Let me see if I can turn the heat up in here. I don’t even know if this thermostat is working. How are you feeling?

Justin: My head feels like it’s going to blow up. Thanks for asking. That bitch hit me right in the head with a beer bottle. She’s crazy. Nearly as crazy as her boyfriend. Both of them are nutcases.

Wedmore: The doctor says you might have a mild concussion. But the good news is, your nose isn’t broken.

Justin: Sure feels like it. I want to go home. Is my mom here?

Wedmore: I’m not sure. Listen, they explain to you about the lawyer and everything?

Justin: Oh yeah, but I’m cool. You’re gonna want to hear what I have to say about Keisha and that guy.

Wedmore: That’s good, because I have a few questions for you before you go.