Killing the Blues - Michael Brandman [56]
Rollo took a step in Jesse’s direction, waving the pistol at him.
“Now I’m out of control,” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Now it’s you gonna pay the price.”
He looked back at Alexis and approached her. He flicked the lighter, and it leapt into flame. He pointed it at her. She gasped and recoiled. He let it go out.
“Don’t be scared, girlfriend,” he said. “After the initial charring, you won’t feel a thing.”
With Rollo’s attention focused on Alexis, Jesse turned slightly and placed his right hand in the pocket that held the Smith & Wesson. He gripped it.
Rollo fired up the lighter again and this time, he held it closer to Alexis. He moved it toward her clothing. Just as he was about to touch it to her dress, he extinguished the flame.
Alexis screamed.
Rollo laughed.
He fired up the lighter again.
“Stop it,” Jesse said.
When Rollo continued to ignore him, Jesse began to slowly withdraw the pistol from his pocket.
Rollo once again pointed the lighter in Alexis’s direction.
She turned away from him.
He was near her, the flame inching closer and closer to her lighter-fluid-drenched clothing.
Suddenly she shifted her hips and kicked her left leg high in the air behind her. She caught Rollo full force in the throat.
He dropped the lighter and the pistol, and grabbed for his neck. Alexis knew she had delivered a lethal blow. She knew she had collapsed his windpipe.
There was terror in Rollo’s eyes as he struggled for breath. How could this have happened? The voices were silent. He dropped to his knees.
He noticed the lighter on the floor beside him. Gasping for breath, he picked it up, flicked it into flame, and set Alexis on fire.
The pistol was out of Jesse’s pocket. As soon as he saw Rollo extend the lighter, he fired.
The shot ripped into Rollo’s head, shattering his skull, killing him instantly.
Alexis’s clothing was ablaze. She was screaming.
Jesse leapt at her, knocking her to the ground. He fell on top of her, covering her with his body, attempting to smother the flames.
He ripped the smoldering clothes from her, leaving her naked and trembling on the floor. She moaned in pain.
He grabbed some ice packs from the refrigerator and placed them on her burns.
He reached for his cell phone and called the patrol car that was parked outside. He instructed them to immediately summon an ambulance.
He then untied her arms. He reached for the knitted afghan that was on one of the armchairs. He gently covered her with it.
He knelt down, lifted her up, and cradled her in his arms. She raised her head and looked at him.
“The ice packs are kind of kinky,” she said.
He smiled at her. He held her until the medics knocked on his door.
Dr. Lifland had insisted that Alexis spend the night in the hospital. Although her burns proved not to be life threatening, they were burns nonetheless, and the doctor wanted to keep her under observation for at least twenty-four hours. He was concerned about the possibility of infection, as well as pain management.
Jesse sat in a bedside chair.
“Tell me again why you came to the house,” he said.
“I was in a forgiving mood,” she said.
“What if I wasn’t,” Jesse said.
“I was hoping what I had planned for you might change that.”
“Which was?”
“The old roll-in-the-hay tactic.”
“Oh, that,” Jesse said.
“It’s always worked before,” she said.
“Am I that easy?”
“I couldn’t say. I never got the chance to find out,” Alexis said.
“But you did get to experience the exhilaration of lethal contact.”
“Don’t tease me, Jesse. He would have killed you. He was insane.”
“I’m somewhat the cause of that,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“When I took him down in L.A., I brutalized him.”
“And now you’re holding yourself responsible for his death,” she said.
“Maybe.”
“He murdered Steve Lesnick. He set me on fire. He was going to kill you, Jesse.”
Jesse didn’t say anything.
“You can only do