"Thank you." Kelsey smiles as she takes a seat at a reading table. "Why don’t you sit down here and talk to me? Tell me what the problem is. Tell me why you would come here and do this."
I’m impressed. Kelsey is pulling herself together just fine. She’s smoothing her hair and her coat and she looks every bit the professional I’m learning she is.
He cocks his head as he points the barrel of the gun away from Kels. I’m glad he did that. Chambers wouldn’t like me losing her on the first outing.
"I like the library."
Ah, that explains everything. I watch warily as he takes a seat at the end of the table across from Kelsey.
"Generally the library is where you come to read, not target shoot," she says with a very charming little smile. It almost doesn’t sound like an insult. "Are you sure there’s not another reason you came here?"
"He died here," our host says quietly.
I see Kels reach for the mike pack to adjust the volume. Good girl; story first, compassion second. "Who died here?"
"My son. My son died here. In this room." He waves an irritated hand through the air.
"I’m sorry," Kels replies sincerely as she brushes a hand through her hair, tucking an errant strand behind her ear. "What happened?"
"He took an overdose in this room and died. Nobody noticed, nobody cared. They found him at closing. It’s their fault that my son is dead." His anger flares as he jumps from his seat and whips the gun around on me and the woman behind me. I wait for the inevitable and hope that the camera will keep working even if I can’t. I almost shout out a protest when I see Kelsey rising to her feet and approaching him slowly. Jesus Christ, we’re all dead!
"It’s okay," she says softly as she reaches out for him. "I understand your loss. I understand your pain, but there’s no reason for anyone else to die senselessly in this room, is there?"
The gunman whirls around, turning the barrel to the ceiling firing a burst of gunfire into it.
Kelsey avoids the bits of the ceiling raining down around her. She takes a few cautious steps back. She looks a little shocked but is hiding her fear well. Her hands aren’t even trembling as they cautiously brush pieces of the ceiling from her hair and arms.
"It’s their fault! Someone should have been here!" He lowers the gun to Kels pointing it right at her. "You don’t care! No one cares that my boy is dead!"
"I do care." Kelsey offers as she stays near the table. "I do care. If someone here is truly responsible for his death, then I can help you bring them to justice. But you have to trust me and let me help you."
"How can you help me?"
"I can do a story about the library and its policies. If we find out someone here was negligent…"
"You’d do that? You’d help me?" He lowers the gun.
"Yes. Yes, I will, but you have to trust me." She moves slowly towards the table again and begins another approach. "You have to let me help you." I zoom in and see her swallow hard as the sweat breaks out across her forehead. "Give me the gun. I can’t help you unless you give me the gun." With her other hand, she’s brushed bits of plaster from the table and chairs, inviting her captor to sit with her once more.
"No!" He raises the barrel again. I actually feel my heart beat double time and I’m nearly ready to get between them.
"Okay, okay. You don’t have to give it to me."
I hate to break it to her, but he isn’t.
"But I can’t help you if you don’t. Harper and I may as well leave and let police come in here."
"If you try, I’ll kill you."
Kelsey, would you please not mention the goddamn cops to him again.
"Well, then-" Kels gestures around. "This room will have seen four senseless deaths. Mine. Harper’s. Your son’s. And yours. Because if you kill us, the police will have no choice. I just thought you’d like to be around to see your revenge."
This seems to make some amount of sense to the man and though he’s still gripping the weapon in flexing fingers, he does take the seat she’s offered him. Kelsey sits as well, a little too closely for my tastes, but she can touch him now, placing a comforting hand on the fidgeting man’s arm.
"Tell me about your son? Huh? Let’s start there," she’s trying to calm him down before she goes for the gun again and I think it’s a pretty good plan since he looks just a touch too trigger happy for my tastes.
"He came here that day because I’d kicked him out of the house. I caught him with drugs and he wasn’t supposed to have them, ya know? His parole officer told me that."
Okay, I think, zooming in on the two figures. Leave it to Beaver, this ain’t. But it’s great television.
"I was so angry, I kicked him out and told him he needed to pull himself together. Was that wrong?" the gunman’s eyes seek out Kelsey’s, finding in them gentle acceptance.
"Not necessarily," she sooths softly. "Sometimes you have to force kids to make their own decisions and take on their own responsibilities. Especially if he was already involved in the wrong crowds. He couldn’t have expected you to turn the other cheek while he continued to hurt himself, could he? You loved him too much for that."
God, she’s good.
The gunman nods sadly. "I loved him very much. He must have come straight here, didn’t know what else to do. I don’t think he was trying to kill himself, do you?"
Kelsey smiles sweetly, pats the man’s arm. "No, I doubt it. I think his judgment was impaired, is all. Maybe he got some bad stuff. I’m sure he wanted to work things out with you and come home. He knew you were right."
"But these people-" his voice rises in anger again and he starts to stand but Kelsey interrupts him.
"Unh unh," she chastises gently, pulling him back to his chair and reaching again for the weapon. "I told you. I’ll help you bring justice here by determining if they’re understaffed and undertrained. If the library was negligent, we’ll get our revenge for your son, I promise you that. But it won’t be at the end of this gun." She taps the weapon, the sound of her well-manicured nail on steel echoing through the room. "We’ll do what they couldn’t. We’ll make sure that other people don’t die from their negligence without resorting to senseless death."
The man hesitates in his half standing position before allowing himself to be tugged back into the chair. He’s still holding the weapon though it isn’t with the white-knuckled grip of moments before. He wants to trust Kelsey, that much is obvious.
Hell, my little blonde gold mine is so sincere, I want to trust her. Her compassion is earnest and convincing, her grip on him strong and comforting. I see just a glimpse of the woman she must be under all the makeup and cold exterior. This must be the woman that has captured Erik because, until this moment, I just couldn’t figure out why he would stay with her. I figured she must be one hell of a good lay. It’s a theory I’d love to test some day.
So distracted by these lecherous thoughts, it takes a moment for me to realize what’s going on in front of me.
I watch, amazed, as the Psycho Wonder puts the Uzi on the table, then stands up and steps back from it. Kelsey takes it and places it gently to the floor, respecting the weapon even once it is out of the nut’s hands. Giving it a shove with her foot, it slides over to me, stopping at my feet. I follow its slide with the Betacam. As I pan it back to Kelsey, she has left her own seat and is making a slow and cautious approach, holding her hand out to the man, who takes it.
"Do you have any more guns?"
Uh, gee, Kelsey, a better time to ask that question would be before you take his fucking hand! Christ almighty!
He shakes his head slowly. Kels reaches for the mask.
Oh, damn, damn, damn! She’s gonna do it! I feel my breath hitch as she pulls up on the mask and reveals the face beneath it. It’s a woman! Holy shit! I get it all as the sobbing woman falls into Kelsey’s arms and the police rush in.