Killing Kirshner (A Psychological Suspense Thriller) (18 page)

“Maybe I’m not a good person, Will. I guess I never have been. I was just a little girl when my daddy was taken away from me forever. Do you know how hard that is to understand when you are only eight years old – that Daddy won’t be coming home ever again? And then the man who tortured and killed your father gets off completely free.”

“Why not go after your dad’s killer?” Will asked trying to understand her.

She looked down at the floor and did not an answer him. Will knew by the expression on her face that she had already taken care of her dad’s killer.

“So, it wasn’t enough; you wanted Kirshner to pay for it, as well.”

“You’re damn right; you have no idea what this did to me and my mom. It changed me forever. I lost more than my daddy on that day – I lost my childhood, my innocence. I lost it all again when the trial began, and Kirshner said all those horrible lies about my dad. Kirshner was a monster – an evil demon that needed to be put down, and we did that. Think how many lives we saved. Regardless of how this all started, it was the right ending for that piece of shit.”

Will stood up, and Amanda moved toward him.

Amanda grabbed both of his hands. “I never lied to you about by feelings for you. I know you may not believe anything I say anymore, but that is the truth. I do care a lot about you.”

Will knocked her hands away and stepped back. A red pillow that lay on her bed caught his eye; the pillow Amanda’s mother gave her when she was a little girl to remind her not to lie. Inscribed on the pillow was the phrase: “
Oh
What a Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice to Deceive.”

“How appropriate,” Will thought to himself as he walked out of Amanda’s room for the last time.