I Need Them

The Counsel

“We’re wasting time just waiting around here, and you know it.” Maddie tries to argue again, but Hen and Chim hold firm.

“Sorry, Mads, but we can’t just let you go barging in there like a maniac banging down the doors. At least not until we know exactly what happened.”

At that, they all turn to Eddie to ask, “What exactly did Buck do?”

Eddie has no time to repeat himself, “I told you, he talked to the cops.”

Hen shakes her head, “No, we need to know when.”

Eddie replies, “Last night.”

That sets Maddie off over again, “Last night?! He didn’t think to tell us what he was planning?”

Chim asks, “What exactly did Buck go down there to confess to?”

Eddie recalls, “That he shot Mackey, and he used my father’s gun.”

Hen demands, “How the hell did he get his hands on your father’s gun?”

He knows he’s going to be put on blast for this, but he just forces himself to say, “Because I-I stole it back from the pawn shop I sold it to.”

Now Maddie’s pissed, “You gave my brother a gun?!”

Eddie quickly denies, “No! If anything, I was planning to use it.”

Maddie steps away, shaking her head, “You’re both insane.”

Eddie has to make them understand, “Mackey was this close to convincing Buck to reopen his lawsuit, and get us all fired! What the hell was I supposed to do? I sure as hell didn’t know! And Buck, our Buck, was the one that talked me down from using it to shoot Mackey to begin with, because it would just make everything worse. So I put it in my locker at the firehouse, and was waiting till just after shift so I could sneak it back to the pawn shop.”

“So that’s where Buck got his hands on it?” Chim asks.

Eddie can’t even reply, just shakes his head in complete shock, so Chim moves on, “Okay, so where is it now?”

Eddie sighs, “I snuck it back into the pawn shop, after Mackey was confirmed dead. I really thought everything would be okay. And then the cops showed up at my father’s hotel room with a warrant, and searched the whole room.”

“Are you telling me the cops have the gun?”

Maddie’s doesn’t now what to make of any of this, “I can’t believe this. I really can’t.”

Hen asks, completely authoritative now, “Is there anything else you want to share with us, now that you’ve dropped this huge bomb on us?”

Eddie has to stop to massage his temple with one hand, but when Hen prompts him again, “Eddie?”, Eddie just says,

“Buck is hell bent on taking responsibility for all of it. He said you guys have spent way too much time picking up all his slack, and he never wants to put you through that again.”

Maddie replies angrily, “Well I’m going to knock some serious sense into my brother the second I get my hands on him, because that’s complete bullshit.”