Suzie’s House 115: You’re Under Arrest

Vin put his back to the wall, but hesitated over pulling out the gun he knew Drew didn’t want him to have, especially when Drew gave him a pointed look.

“We aren’t a SWAT team, Vin,” Drew said dryly.

“Oh. Right.” Vin moved to stand beside Drew. Miranda already stood on the other side.

After glancing to either side to be sure everything was as it should be, Drew knocked on the door. A minute later a guy with a scraggly goatee opened it.

“Yeah?” Mr. Goatee said.

“My name is Andrew Banks. I’m an FBI agent investigating….”

“Mike?” Miranda screeched. “Mike from Four Star Video?”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

“You jerk!” Miranda slapped the man. Hard.

“Miranda!” Drew said in shock. He moved to block any further attack, but knocked the door open in the process.

Through a living room with so many layers of white paint slopped on the walls it screamed “rental unit” past wide doorway into a kitchen Vin could see a red haired man standing at the counter.

“It’s him!” Vin shouted.

He surged forward, scrambling around the knot of angry people at the front door. He jumped a coffee table, vaulted over a couch, and skidded around the kitchen door to nab Joseph O’Connor before he made it out through the third-story window.

The third man, Mike’s room mate, had moved to intercept as Vin crossed the living room, but headed for the door instead of the kitchen. That accounted for everyone. Vin had Joseph alone.

The gun was in his hand. Vin didn’t remember drawing it, but there it was, out, and aimed at Joseph’s temple. The temptation to pull the trigger wrenched his guts.

Wouldn’t it be fitting to take the man out like this? It wasn’t exactly the same as when Joseph ran Vin off the road, walked calmly up to him, pointed a gun at his chest and pulled the trigger, but it was close. The desire for revenge made the gun shake.

“Go ahead,” Joseph said with more defeat than fear or anger. “Give me a warrior’s funeral. It’s no more than I deserve.”

A warrior’s funeral? It was far less than this idiot deserved. Long years behind bars, if not in a padded room, that’s what the homicidal maniac deserved. Anything else had too much honor.

“You have a right to remain silent,” Vin said, through force of habit, since he was no longer employed in any official capacity. As he spoke, he flipped Joseph over, and attached handcuffs.

That was when Joseph started to buck. He wrenched around and twisted, nearly escaping twice. Fed up, Vin cold cocked him.

Joseph went slack in a very satisfying way.

“Vin!” Drew shouted, having extracted himself from the mess at the front door. “Thank God you didn’t kill him.”

“Please,” Vin said sarcastically. “I’m not like him.”

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