Rock Her(43)

“Yes, Stewart, you will,” Annie countered.

“What the hell are you doing here, Annie?” Stewart said. “Come to see the product of your boyfriend’s handy work?”

“Stewart, you hit me. You’re lucky you got off as easy as you did.”

“Lucky?” Stewart yelled at her. “Lucky? Do you know that the doctor told me I may never walk the same again? You call that lucky?”

Annie looked down. As much as she hated him for what he had done, she felt bad that the damage was that bad.

“Stewart, I am sorry you’re hurt so bad. But you know you started it.”

“So, is that why you came, Annie,” Stewart said, shaking his head. “To tell me I started it. That’s rich.”

“No, Stewart,” Annie said. “I actually came to ask you why you are trying to have me killed.”

Stewart lowered his eye lids. “Have you killed?”

“My apartment? The mall?” Annie glanced up at the television mounted on the wall. “I know you’ve seen the news.”

“I saw the news about the mall shooting, and the interviews with your boyfriend. A real hero that one.”

“I was there, too, Stewart,” Annie said. “And you’re man nearly killed me before Kip shot him. I was the target. Thanks to you. How much is my insurance policy?”

Stewart shook his head. “What the hell are you talking about? What insurance policy? Are you telling me you think that I am trying to have you killed?”

Annie shook her head at him. “Give up the innocent school boy act, Stewart, you fucking prick!”

Stewart started to laugh. “Oh, this just keeps getting better and better!” He laughed more and harder. “You came here to accuse me of trying to have you killed? Oh, that’s good. Listen to me hitch, I wish I had thought of it. I really do.”

For a moment, Annie was on the verge of believing that she might have made a mistake. His act was very good.

“Stewart, you and I both know you’re behind it.” Annie said, a little less forcefully.

“I wish I was, Annie. Not for any insurance money, but just for the sheer joy of watching you die. But, you crazy cunt, I don’t have any insurance policy out on you. So watching you die would be the only benefit, believe me.”

Annie started to think now that maybe they had all made a huge mistake. If Stewart was behind the attacks, he would have confessed it to her, just to see her hurt. Annie held her mouth open because she could not think of what else to say. She took a step toward his bed.

Then the window shattered and the wall exploded directly behind where she had been standing. Annie immediately fell to the floor, screaming out all of the air she had in her lungs.

Stewart also started screaming as the room began to erupt in drywall powder and glass. The TV disintegrated above Annie’s head, and then she could see the mattress bounce as bullets impacted it. Stewart’s screaming stopped and Annie looked up to see his hand fall limp over the edge. Just then the door flew open and uniformed men poured in. the first two took shots directly in their chest and they fell backward into the second two. The door swung back closed and the shooting stopped.

Annie laid on the floor beside Stewart’s bed screaming and crying. “Help me! Help me!” She reached inside her blouse and tore the microphone from her chest, screaming into it, “Stewarts dead! Stewarts dead!”

Then the door to the room cracked open. The officer on the outside called into her.

“Stay Put, Ms. Beecher. You have full cover. The shots are being fired from across the street. We have men on their way there now.”



Seconds later the door pushed open and Kip ran in, stepping over the cops that were lying on the floor just outside.

“Annie, come with me, quickly.”

The four cops leaped up and followed him in, grabbing him and forcing him to the floor, where they handcuffed him. Two of the cops stepped away and caught their breath as they pulled off their bullet proof vests.

Then Lieutenant Porter rushed in the room.

“Let him up!” he yelled at the deputies. Confusion abounded. The cops pulled Kip to his feet as Porter ran to Annie and helped her to her feet. “And un-cuff him.”

“Are you alright, Ms. Beecher?”

Annie nodded and cried at the same time, turning to look at Stewart. He had several bullet wounds in his chest and leg. He was still.

“The shooter is gone. He fled the building before we could get a team in there.”

“That’s great. That’s just great!” Kip exploded. “You said there was nothing to worry about. All would go smooth!”

“Mr. Jones,” Porter said sternly, “we were working off of information you and Ms. Beecher here gave us. We had no way of knowing you were being survielled. And clearly, your theory of Stewart here being behind the attempts on Ms. Beecher’s life was a little off, wouldn’t you say?”