What Doesn't Kill Us--A McKenzie Novel by David Housewright (best books for 7th graders TXT) 📕

heard of. Bring him down there because it would make him feel uncomfortable and he would be more apt to tell us the truth if he was feeling uncomfortable. Find out if he was really related to me, if he was going to hurt me or help me, help save Charles. You said.”

“Don’t kid yourself. We brought him down there because RT’s was known as a drug haven. Cuz it was known for being a trouble spot; cops had to be called in a half-dozen times in the past few months. No one should’ve been surprised if he got shot down there.”

“Not ‘we.’ You. You meant to shoot him. You meant to shoot him all along.”

“We meant to shoot him. That’s the way the police will see it; what you have to understand.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re afraid I’ll turn you in. Turn us both in. I should. I really should.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Jamal said. “It makes me nervous you talking like that.”

For a couple of heartbeats, Jenna remembered sitting next to Jamal in the front seat of Jamal’s car just down the street from RT’s Basement. They saw a man wearing an expensive sports jacket enter the club alone.

“Is that him, is that him?” Jamal asked. “I bet that’s him.”

Jenna made to open her door.

“No,” Jamal told her. “Let’s wait.”

“Why?” Jenna asked. “I thought we were going to talk to him.”

“Want him to be feel uncomfortable, remember what I said?”

So, they waited.

After about fifteen minutes, the man appeared just outside the entrance of the club. He glanced around. Jenna knew he was looking for them.

“Wait here,” Jamal said.

He got out of the car and walked swiftly to where the man was standing. The man didn’t see him coming. He was too busy gawking at a woman who looked like a hooker approaching from the other side.

When he got close, Jenna saw Jamal raise his hand and shoot the man in the back.

She wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

Jamal turned and started back toward the car.

He was smiling.

Jenna opened the door of the car. She started running, not even bothering to close the door behind her.

She didn’t know why she had picked the narrow path between RT’s Basement and the building next door except that it led away from the man lying on the sidewalk. She rounded the corner and nearly collided with Dr. Tucker Hammel. She was shocked to see him there. Her first thought should have been to ask for help. Instead all she could think was that he would recognize her. She turned and ran off in the opposite direction. Fifteen minutes later she was in a Lyft and heading back to her home in Summit Hill. She couldn’t bear to return to Lake Minnetonka and face her brothers.

“Why, why, why?” Jenna asked. “Why did you do it?”

“I did it for you, baby. How many times do I have to say it?”

“He could have helped Charles.”

“Once he’s gone and we’re rich, you’ll feel better about it,” Jamal said.

“I’m already rich. Wait. Once he’s gone? Who? Charles? I don’t, I don’t understand.”

“You told me about Charles, remember? Told me he was dying of some liver disease I can’t pronounce. Remember?”

“I was crying and you wanted to know why I was crying and I told you.”

“The way I saw it—what happened, I have connections, Jenna. I know people. Not just you. Customers most of ’em. They helped me get my hands on some KTech stock. Thousands of shares that I sold. Now, when Charles dies and the stock prices collapse…”

Jenna shouted at him.

“You shorted KTech?” she said.

“What I don’t get is why the stock price hasn’t kept going down; why it’s going up instead. No one has seen him in weeks, right? They have to think Charles is sick. Have to think he has the COVID or something. You’d think the price would be going down at least a little bit.”

“Oh my God.”

Jamal saw something in Jenna’s face then, a mixture of both sadness and contempt.

“Baby…” he said.

“This was never about me, about stopping McKenzie from looking into my past, discovering my secrets. You shot McKenzie to keep him from helping my brother. You want Charles to die so KTech’s stock price will drop and you can make a killing. Only the stock price won’t drop, at least not enough to make a difference. I’ve already seen to that.”

Jamal moved closer to the woman.

“Jenna, what have you done?” he asked.

“We’ve been playing an investor named Justus Reinfeld, convincing him that the company was a prime target for a hostile takeover. He’s been buying up shares, keeping the price high. If Charles recovers, we’ll drive a stake through his heart. If he doesn’t, then Reinfeld can have KTech. Let him be the white knight. My brother and I don’t want to have anything to do with the company if Charles isn’t there.”

It took a few beats before Jamal realized what Jenna had told him.

“The stock price will remain high?” he asked.

“That’s the plan.”

“You did this?”

“It was my idea.”

Jamal balled up his fist and hit Jenna.

She staggered backward.

“You fucking bitch!” he shouted.

He hit her again.

“Do you know what you’ve done? You’ve wasted me.”

Jamal hit her a third time.

Jenna crumbled to the floor.

“I didn’t want to do this,” Jamal said. “I tried to keep it from happening and then … and then when I decided if it had to be done, I wanted someone else to do it.”

Jamal pulled a gun out from where he had hidden it behind his back and pointed it at the woman sprawled across the floor.

“Why are you making me do this?” he asked.

Jenna gazed up at him.

“Not here, not here,” she chanted. “This is her house. This is Emma’s house. Please not here.”

Jamal knew that Emma was Jenna’s daughter. He had seen her a few times from a distance, yet they had never been introduced. That was Jenna’s doing and Jamal resented her for it. At the same time, he felt a twinge