Chapter One: For Nothing
Iris had tried to save him but it was too late. Her little brother Raleigh was pronounced dead at the scene. They wheeled his corpse away under a sheet and she just watched. Raleigh had always been there and it wasn't easy to come to grips with the fact that he was gone. To come to grips with the fact that Lucas was gone, and for nothing!
To come to grips with the fact that she had murdered him for nothing. Iris was a murderer... a murderess. Her cell phone was ringing..
"Hello? Yes, this is Iris speaking.."
Her voice soft, dreamy.. Another voice in the back of her mind snide, mocking.. This is Iris the murderess speaking..
"This is Shepard Lambrick.. I don't imagine you've forgotten me just yet, have you Iris?"
That irritating man.. That monster's smug voice.. Iris leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the living room window, shut her eyes tightly.. Lambrick's voice brought to mind in vivid color a flood of memories she desperately wished to bury six feet deep in the back of her mind.
"Well, listen to me carefully Iris because I have a proposition. We have heard about the tragic.. passing of your brother and we're willing to give you an opportunity."
A brief pause as if he was politely waiting for Iris to respond. Her faint whistling breath was the only reply. Lambrick chuckled and continued unabated.
"Lucas had three sisters, as I'm sure you remember him mentioning.. We are willing to give you the chance to win another game, as defending champion.. And provide salvation for these three little girls you so cruelly doomed.."
Silence from Iris' end now. Tears were leaking down her cheeks as she remembered the shocked betrayal and horror in Lucas' eyes the instant after she pulled the trigger. He hadn't feared for himself but for his sisters, just as she had feared for Raleigh.. They were no different and she could have just walked away with him.. empty-handed but alive.
"When?" she whispered hoarsely. "I'm.. not sure I'd be much of a player at the moment. My brother's funeral.. I have a lot to take care of and I have a knife wound in my STOMACH and I.."
Lambrick chuckled again and Iris shuddered, had to fight back the urge to gag. She could still faintly taste a $10,000 biteful of steak and foie gras.. Memories of a $50,000 decanter of Scotch and an echoing gunshot were even more troubling..
"Iris, Iris, Iris.." Shepard Lambrick was saying. "This is not a negotiation. Do you think I've forgotten that you tried to kill my son? Whether it was an act of self-defense or not is beside the point.. I am throwing you a bone here Iris.. when I really have no reason to do so. My family's foundation traditionally only puts on this game once annually. You may take it or leave it."
"I'll take it," Iris whispered, trying to take deep breaths and keep calm. She had another question but she wasn't quite sure if she wanted to know the answer.. "Who was the "defending champion" this year?"
"Linda," Lambrick said with a full-bellied laugh, seeming absolutely delighted by that tidbit. "She didn't seem to remember that though so I didn't think announcing her as the defending champion would be necessary... Dinner will be served tomorrow night and a car will pick you up same as before."
Click. Iris stared at her phone's screen in a daze as the call ended.
She found herself drifting back through the house to the doorway of Raleigh's bedroom. The thought that she would never come in to find him here again, doing his goofy teenager things.. She couldn't bring him back, nothing could now.. but she could at least try and finish what Lucas had started. If there was something beyond life, she wanted to be able to meet Lucas and look him in the eye.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Oh God, I'm going back... I'm so sorry Raleigh.. I'm so sorry Lucas.."
Iris felt her breath catch in her throat as the limousine door clicked open. It was an intense sensation of déjà vu, mixed with impending dread. The Lambrick manor and estate sprawled out before her in all its glory but she had already been here before. Now she knew what waited inside. It was an even more breathtaking view now.. just for far different reasons.
An expressionless man in a suit led Iris to and through the manor's front door. Waiting for her was the cold-eyed valet Bevans. The hint of a mirthless smile tugged at the corners of the former MI5 agent's lips.
"Welcome back marm," he said in the smooth, clipped accent and tone which didn't nearly match his reptilian eyes. "The other guest is waiting this way.."
"Guest?" she asked as she followed in his wake.
"There's only one so far," Bevans growled in a voice that more than indicated further conversation wouldn't be necessary. "You're early this time."