The Nicest Guy
Epilogue
Detective Shannon O’Brien slumped against the wall. She berated herself for trying to be a bad-ass and get the last word in. It had been too close. She almost felt his will hit her, but he hadn’t been able to get the words out fast enough.
She knew that somewhere in this house, her girlfriend was waiting, a prisoner, but she needed just a moment to gather herself together. She didn’t know what state she’d find Melissa in, what kind of trauma she’d have, or what brainwashing she’d have to untangle.
For the moment, she just stared at the widening pool of blood. Soon she would go through the motions of contacting dispatch, reporting shots fired and a suspect dead. Then there would be inquiries, interviews, and counseling, and it might be weeks before she would have any time to process the horror of this last week.
Seeing the love of her life mentally hollowed out, seeing her will slowly drained from her. Following her and seeing that she was being controlled or coerced somehow by this piece of shit. She’d tried to talk to her and hit dead end after dead end until she finally found ways around the orders she was following.
She hadn’t believed in mind control or hypnosis before, but the evidence was substantial. Her girlfriend had truly believed she loved Keith and that their relationship was worthless, meaningless, and ultimately, over.
Shannon was stubborn though and wasn’t going to give Melissa up. She treated it like a case, looked at all the facts, investigated, and reached a conclusion. The fact that nobody else would have believed her was secondary. She knew what she’d witnessed.
She took a moment to put the stun gun back together and dropped it on the floor near his dead hand. Suspected kidnapping, confronted a material witness, reacted in self-defense when she believe he had a weapon. It would take time, but the outcome was pretty much guaranteed.
Pulling out her phone to dial dispatch, she prepared herself to clear the house and face whatever she would find.