The Next Accident - Lisa Gardner [139]
“You killed Bethie,” Quincy said.
“More easy pickings.” Andrews shifted suddenly, wrapping his arm around Kimberly’s neck and dragging her up against him. Kimberly’s eyes fluttered open. She looked disoriented, bewildered. Then her gaze met her father’s and she simply looked heartbroken.
“It’s okay,” Quincy told her automatically. He wanted to comfort his daughter, erase the pain from her gaze. He kept his hands at his sides. Kimberly was strong. He would trust her strength to carry her through, just as he hoped she trusted his strength now. Believe in me, he willed his daughter. I will always take care of you.
Andrews smiled and jerked Kimberly closer. “On your feet, Sleeping Beauty. Time to say bye-bye to Daddy.”
Andrews jerked them both upright. Quincy didn’t make any move to stop them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he discerned another movement in the background, but once again he resisted the temptation to look. He homed in on Andrews, focusing now on narrowing the man’s universe. There was just Andrews, Kimberly, and Quincy. Just one vicious predator, one daughter, and one father determined to keep his child safe. If he had eyes only for Andrews, Andrews would have eyes only for him. Rainie . . . The rest must be a leap of faith.
“How does it feel, Quincy?” Andrews demanded, twisting Kimberly’s arm, bringing her even closer against him. “How does it feel to lose everything and never even understand why!”
“You’re not a real person,” Quincy said conversationally, moving slightly to the left, away from the living room, and drawing Andrews’s gaze with him. “You’re a shell of a man, lacking genuine feelings, connections, compassion. You’ve spent your whole life acting at being a human being, molding yourself into other people’s images because otherwise you don’t know how to be. You don’t know who to be. The greatest justice in life was that your little girls never had to see you again.”
Andrews jerked up his pistol. He pointed it at Quincy’s head. “Fuck you,” he screamed, causing Kimberly to flinch. “I’m going to kill you! I’m going to blow out your goddamn brains!”
“You can’t,” Quincy said, his voice as calm as Andrews’s was angry. He looked at his daughter, willing her to remain strong, willing her to be all right.
“Yes I can!”
“You can’t. Without me, your life has no purpose. When I’m gone, who will you be, Andrews? What will you do? What will you dream about at night? As much as you hate me, you need me even more. Without me, the game ends.”
Andrews’s face grew red. His eyes dashed from side to side. The rage was building inside him, the implosion imminent. From rational act to crazy reaction. This was what Quincy needed. For Andrews to finally lose control. For Andrews to unleash the monster he kept locked inside.
Andrews’s finger wrapped around the trigger. Quincy kept his eyes on Kimberly. He tried to tell his daughter how much he loved her, and he tried to apologize for what she would have to watch next. Rainie. Kimberly. Rainie.
God give them both strength.
A movement out of the corner of his eye . . .
“Kimberly,” Quincy murmured. “Fuck ballet.”
On cue, she sagged heavily in her captor’s arms. Andrews howled in surprise and pulled the trigger, but her unexpected movement had rocked him off balance. Gunfire spit low across the wall. Quincy dashed left. He brought up his 10mm to return fire but Andrews and Kimberly were too tangled together. He didn’t have a shot. He didn’t have a shot.
“Kimberly,” he yelled, though he didn’t know why.
“Daddy!”
“Hey Andrews,” Rainie called. “Look here.”
The man jerked around. Kimberly broke free and dove to the floor just as Rainie racked back her Glock.
“No!” Andrews howled. He pointed his gun at her—
And Quincy very calmly, very coolly shot the man point blank in the chest. Andrews dropped to the floor. He did not move again.
“Is it over?” Kimberly asked when the echoes of the gunshot faded away. She was trying