The little boy looked at her, and though Charlene honestly didn't like kids very much, his expression was heartbreaking. How many psychologists was it going to take to fix this kid's brain after this was over? Society would be lucky if he wasn't snatching women off the street like the other psycho.

"All right," Lee said.

Charlene didn't know for sure that he meant, "All right, then I guess I'll have to kill him now," but she suddenly decided that she couldn't take that risk. "Okay," she said. "I'll do it. I'll trade places with him. Shit."

"Come closer."

For a moment Charlene couldn't get her legs to work. Her legs were clearly smarter than her. But then she forced herself to walk up to Lee and the boy. She cursed her stupidity for getting into this mess. And, yeah, she cursed that bitch Gertie for dragging her into it. God, this was going to end horribly, wasn't it?

Lee looked past her. "Hey!" he shouted. "Hey! One of you cops! Show yourself!"

"Let the boy go," said somebody over a megaphone. "Nobody has to get hurt."

"Can you hear me?"

"We can hear you."

"That's good enough, then! I just want it known for the record that this lady offered to trade places with my son! That was some pretty selfless shit and I want her to get credit for it!"

"Understood."

Lee lowered the gun. He knelt down and kissed his son on the cheek. "Go," he said, giving him a gentle shove. "Go on. Go find Mommy."

The boy ran past Charlene.

"The hostage idea sounded good, but I don't think I'd get away with it. I don't want to live as a fugitive, and I wouldn't want you to get accidentally shot by a dumbass cop."

"I appreciate that."

Now that he had a free hand, Lee wiped his face. "You should step back," he said.

"What are you going to do?"

"I mean it. You should step back." He raised the gun again.

"No, please don't."

He smiled. "At least make sure your mouth isn't open."

The voice sounded over the megaphone. "Don't do it!"

Lee spun the barrel around, pointing it at his face, and pulled the trigger.

With a couple of extra seconds to prepare, he might have shoved the barrel of the gun into his mouth before he pulled the trigger, or placed it to his temple. But apparently he wanted to do the deed himself, before the police had a chance to take him out, because he shot himself from a few inches away. The bullet hit right beneath his eye, exiting the back of his head in a spray of red mist.

As blood streamed down Lee's face, Charlene just stood there, paralyzed.

The gun dropped out of Lee's hand. It struck the pavement but Charlene couldn't hear it over the ringing in her ears.

Lee dropped to his knees, then his body pitched forward.