James Patterson - 7th Heaven

“Of course, I didn’t know he’d never be seen again.”

“Hmmm?” Yuki said.

She’d come here to hear Twilly tell her who’d killed Michael or confess that he was the one who had done it – but suddenly she felt as though there was plastic foam inside her head.

What was happening?

Shapes shifted in front of her eyes, and Twilly’s voice ballooned out of his mouth, volume rising and falling. What was that ? What was Twilly saying ?

“Are you okay?” he asked her. “Because you don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine ,” Yuki said. She was nearly overcome with dizziness and nausea. She gripped the rock she was sitting on with both hands, held on tight.

She had a gun!

What time was it?

Wasn’t she supposed to keep track of the time?

TWILLY LEERED, his face very big in front of hers. Big nose, teeth like a Halloween jack-o’lantern, his words so elastic, Yuki became fascinated with the sounds more than the sense of what he was saying.

Get a grip, she told herself. Get a grip.

“Say that again?”

“When Michael went missing,” Twilly spoke patiently, “the cops came up with nothing . No clues . No suspects . I waited for months.”

“Uh-huh.”

“The Campion story was getting stale – so I did what I had to do. Good citizen thing, right? I called in a tip. I gave the cops a suspect. Completely legitimate. I’d seen Michael at the house of a little hooker named Junie Moon.”

“You… did that?”

“Yep, it was me . And like an answered prayer, Junie Moon confessed . Man, sometimes I even think she did it. But you didn’t convict her, did you, Yuki? And now I have a shitty ending for my book. And whoever killed Michael is free . And I’m up to my neck in knee-breakers, so I can only think of one way to get a big-bang ending and bring it on home.

“And that’s where you come in, little girl,” Twilly said. “I think you’re going to appreciate the drama and the poetry.”

There were flashes in the sky behind Twilly, bright colors and images she couldn’t make out. There was a whooshing in her ears, blood racing or animals running through the underbrush. What was going on ?

“What’s… happening… to me?”

“You’re having a mental breakdown, Yuki, because you’re so depressed.”

“Me?”

“ You . You… are… very… depressed.”

“Nooooo,” Yuki said. She tried to stand, but her feet couldn’t hold her. She looked at Twilly, his eyes big and as dark as black holes.

Where was her gun?

“You’re morbidly depressed, Yuki. That’s what you told me in the parking lot this morning. You said that you have no love in your life. That your mother is dead because you didn’t save her. And you said you can’t get over blowing this trial -”

He was bending her mind.

“Craaaazzzy,” she said.

“Crazy. Yes you are ! You were on camera, Yuki. Thousands of people saw you run from the courthouse,” Twilly said, each of his words distinct and powerful – yet senseless.

“That’s the way I’ll tell the story, how you ran to the parking lot and I ran after you, and you said that you wanted to kill yourself, you were so ashamed. One of those Japanese honor things. Hara-kiri, right?”

“Nooooo.”

“Yes, little girl. That’s what you told me. And I was so worried about you, I followed you in my car.”

“You…?”

“ Meeeeee . And you showed me your gun that you’d gotten so that you could end your life and give me the freaking megawatt ending my book so richly deserves!”

Gun! Gun! Her arm was made of rubber . She couldn’t move her hand off the rock. Lights flashed in the dark.

“I didden… nooooo.”

She started to slip from her perch, but Twilly hauled her up roughly by her arm.

“The prosecutor lost her case,” he said, “and took her own freaking loser life. It’s the money shot . Get it? Bang. Clean shot to the temple and another big chunk of dough goes into my bank account -thanks to your dramatic, tragic , movie ending.

“Plus, Yuki, it is personal. I’ve really come to hate you.”

“What time is it?” Yuki asked, blinking up at the starburst pattern that was somehow Twilly’s face.

I WAS FRANTIC.

The audio had been coming in loud and clear from the transmitter in Yuki’s wristwatch, but now we’d lost her! We’d gone out of range! I grabbed Conklin’s arm, stopped him in the path that had petered out onto a small clearing before snaking out in three directions.

“I’ve lost the transmission!”

“Hold it,” Conklin said into his mic to the SWAT team that was moving through the woods in a grid formation.

And then the static cleared. I couldn’t hear Yuki, but Twilly’s voice was tinny and clear.

“See, when I was thinking about this earlier,” Twilly was saying, “I thought I could get you to spread your wings and fly off this cliff. But now I’m thinking, you’re going to shoot yourself, Yuki.”

Yuki’s scream was high-pitched. Wordless.

Twilly was threatening to kill her! Why didn’t Yuki use her gun?

“Up there. Top of the ridge,” I shouted to Conklin.

We were at least two hundred yards away from the summit. Two hundred yards! It no longer mattered if he heard us. I ran .

Brambles grabbed out at me, branches snapped in my face. I stumbled on a root, grabbed out and hugged a tree. My lungs burned as I ran. I saw their forms between the tree trunks, silhouetted against the sky. But Twilly was so close to Yuki, I couldn’t get a clean shot.

I yelled out, “ Twilly! Stand away from her now .”

There was the crack of gunshot.

OH, GOD, NO! YUKI!

Birds broke from the trees and flew up like scattershot as the report echoed over the hillside. Eight of us boiled out of the woods into the clearing at the ridgeline. That’s where I found Yuki, on her knees, forehead touching the ground.

The gun was still in her hand.

I got down on the ground and shook her shoulders.

“Yuki! Yuki! Speak to me! Please .”

TWILLY HELD HIS HANDS in the air. He said, “Thank God you showed up, Sergeant. I was trying to stop her, but your friend was determined to kill herself.”

I pulled Yuki into my arms. The smell of gunpowder was in the air, but there was no blood, no wound. Her shot had gone wild.

“Yuki. I’m here, honey, I’m here .”

She moaned, sounded and looked dopey. There was no liquor on her breath. Had she been drugged?

“What’s wrong with her?” I shouted at Twilly. “What did you do to her?”

“Not a thing,” Twilly said. “This is how I found her.”

“You’re under arrest, scumbag,” Conklin said. “Hands behind your back.”

“What are the charges, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“How do you like attempted murder for starters?”

“You’ve got to be kidding . I didn’t touch her.”

“Yuki was wired, buddy. You teed her up for a dive off this cliff. We’ve got it all.”

Conklin squeezed the bracelets tight enough to make Twilly yelp. I called for a medevac, sat with my arms around Yuki as we waited for the chopper to arrive.

“Lindsay?” Yuki asked me. “I got it… on my watch… didn’t I?”

“You sure did, honey,” I said, hugging my friend, so very grateful that she was alive.