Collide & Burn Read Online Free PDF

suffer any longer because of them? Give him the heave-ho, take a good chunk out of him, and move on.”
    “But I want to see him bleed.” She was pleading now, and I knew I was close, very close to getting the gun from her.
    “Stella, put the gun down now . You’re smart enough to know there are better ways to torture a man … right? You kill him … he is dead, never has to think about what he did. You take him for all he has instead.” I wanted her to lower the gun. I saw one of the boarders stick her head out of the other barn and talk into her cell phone. Police were on their way. If I didn’t get Stella to put the gun down before the police arrived, we’d have a bloodbath. I knew it in my bones.
    She didn’t look at me but spat out, still very much in a fury, “He needs to die, Charlie … he needs to die before he wrecks anyone else’s life. I wanted kids . I’m thirty-five now, and … he put me off and put me off … and now, now he has to pay.”
    “ But you don’t need to go to prison . You can still have kids. You can still have a life. You can be with someone who deserves you. He never did. What you need to do is divorce him … not kill him . Think about it. The only way you win is to leave him and move forward and find the right fit, the right man. You’re still young enough, still pretty enough, and then you still can have children. If you go to prison for him … for him, Stella … then you’ll never have those kids you want.”
    She stared at me. “ Children   … yes, I can still have them …”
    “That’s right, hon … come on, you know he isn’t worth it. Killing him will end your life. Haven’t you given him enough of your life?” I saw something click in her eyes and move into her brain.
    I had gotten through. I was sure of it.
    “Give me the gun, Stella.” I moved cautiously towards her and gently took the gun from her hands.
    She started to sob in body-racking waves.
    I put the safety on the gun and put an arm around her. She collapsed with her arms around me, I mean, like dead weight.
    She was a tall, large woman, and I think I vanished somewhere in her hold. I managed to disentangle myself. I squeaked out, “It’s okay, Stella … come on … time for you to go home.”
    She rounded on her husband then and spat, “I will take you for everything you have—every last dime.”
    I pulled her towards her car. “Stella, do you need me to drive you home?”
    “No … you know I’m not far … I’m okay. I’m okay now.”
    I unbent, backed away from her Mercedes, and watched a moment as she pulled out of her space and started down the long drive. As I turned, I noticed another figure standing just a few feet away.
    Wade Devon.
    He looked angry as he approached me and snatched the gun out of my hands. His voice was harsh. “That was the dumbest thing I have ever seen!”
    Yeah, my eyes must have opened wide because I wasn’t expecting that. A pat on the back, a ‘way to go’ a ‘hey, wow’, but when I stared back at him, I saw he was absolutely livid.
    Astonished, I said , “ Excuse me ? ”
    “You could have been killed!”
    “She wasn’t aiming at me, but she could have killed someone else. Nice lawsuit you would have had on your hands.”
    “Charlie … what were you thinking? You should have called 911.”
    “Ah, someone did that and oh … look, here they come wailing down the drive. Her husband would already be dead by now, and Stella’s life would be over. If I were you, I’d put that gun away before they arrive.”
    “We’ll talk about this later.” He went over to Randy, handed him the gun, and pointed a finger into his chest. I could only guess at what he was telling him.
    Whatever he told Randy was effective, for they both approached the police car, and it didn’t take long for the officers to leave after that. My guess was that Randy downplayed the incident and claimed there had merely been a verbal argument between himself and