Chapter 130
‘Get the hell out of the way, Poe,’ Esmerée said, the gun’s barrel wavering for the first time. ‘I don’t want to shoot you – you’re the closest thing to a dad I’ve ever had, and Jesus ain’t that the sorriest shit you’ve ever heard – but I swear to God I will.’
‘You won’t shoot me, Esmerée,’ Poe said.
‘I freakin’ will. I’ll hate myself for ever for doing it, but I can’t let her walk out of here with fifteen million bucks. Not after what she did.’
‘You’re not going to shoot me, Esmerée,’ he said again. ‘You’re not going to shoot your mother either.’
‘What are you, fucking bulletproof?’
‘Poe, step out of the way, please,’ Estelle said. ‘I’m not sure Esmerée is in full control right now.’
‘You see, I think she is, Estelle,’ Poe said.
‘I think her killing Vincent du Buk explains her alien hand. Tilly tells me it’s psychosomatic.
I think Esmerée hated the idea she’d killed someone so much, her brain invented a way of explaining it away.
It wasn’t her, it was her hand. And if she’s not in charge of her hand, she isn’t a murderer. ’
He took a step forward. Close enough to see the grooves in the Beretta’s barrel.
‘The thing is, her brain didn’t have to invent such a complex scenario. She’d done nothing wrong. It wasn’t murder; it was self-defence. Any court in the land, both sides of the pond, would acquit when they heard the messed-up stuff that had been going on between Vincent du Buk and her mother.’
Esmerée’s finger tightened on the trigger. Tears poured down her cheeks. She made no move to wipe them away. ‘Don’t make me shoot you, Poe.’
‘You did nothing wrong, Esmerée.’
‘Please.’
Estelle stood. She moved around the table and stood at Poe’s side.
‘Poe’s right,’ she said. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong. You don’t need to do this.’
Bradshaw joined them.
‘Not you as well, Tilly.’
‘You’ll have to shoot all three of us, Esmerée,’ Bradshaw said. ‘And we’re your friends. Why would you want to shoot your friends?’
‘But my mother …’
‘… is a nasty pasty.’
Esmerée smiled, used her free hand to wipe away some of her tears. Poe could have grabbed the gun, but he didn’t want to. He needed her to put it down of her own accord. ‘She’s a fucking butthead.’
Bradshaw nodded. ‘She is indeed. Stupidest f-word butthead I’ve ever met.’
Esmerée giggled. ‘Still won’t swear, huh?’
‘It’s not big and it’s not clever, Esmerée.’
‘What do I do now, Tilly? Doc? Poe?’
‘It’s up to you, Esmerée,’ Poe said. ‘If you put down the gun, you have options, some of them pretty fucking cool – and I’m sorry, Tilly, but swearing is big and it is clever – but if you pull the trigger, you don’t have any.
Yes, your mother deserves worse than she’s getting, but you’re missing the point. ’
‘What’s that?’
‘You deserve so much better.’
Esmerée shook her head. Seemed confused. Then she sighed and collapsed into her seat. It was as if the spell she’d been under had broken. She put the gun on the kitchen table. Pushed it away. Poe picked it up and put it in his pocket.
Océane breathed out a huge sigh of relief. ‘See,’ she said. ‘I told you she was a fucking psycho.’
Poe ignored her.
Everyone ignored her.