Lying to Live by Darrien Lee Page A

dead.”
    When Julius looked up, he saw Rock, the man who had pulled a gun on him, being put on a stretcher in handcuffs.
    â€œDid that guy shoot Viper?” Julius asked.
    Detective Daniels looked across the room. “Yes. Mr. Jackson had a lot of enemies. We’ve had you under surveillance for some time now in hopes of getting the evidence we needed to get to the truth, but we didn’t expect anything like this to go down,” the detective confessed.
    Angry, Julius said, “You almost got me killed!”
    â€œWe’re sorry about that, but we protected you as much as possible. You see that gentleman over there?” he asked as he pointed to a large, unshaven man leaning against the pool table. “That’s Detective Dunn. He’s one of the best undercover officers in our division, and he was able record your conversation with Mr. Jackson before the shooter came in and shot Mr. Jackson. Detective Dunn was watching over you the entire time, so when the shooter came in and shot at Mr. Jackson, he shot the assailant. You were the only witness to the murder at the store, and we weren’t getting any cooperation from you, so we had to do what we had to do. It’s behind you now. We got the confession we needed, and we got our man.”
    Julius looked over and saw Viper’s body on the floor, covered with a sheet. He couldn’t believe how close he had come to dying, but he was glad that it was over.
    Detective Daniels helped Julius up and said, “Come on. Let’s get you home. You shouldn’t have been here, anyway. He could’ve killed you if we hadn’t had you under surveillance.”
    As Julius stood, he noticed blood on the wall. As he walked out of the pool hall, the glass crunched under his feet. Outside he saw Viper’s entourage in handcuffs in the back of a couple of police cars. On the way home all Julius could think about was how angry his father was going to be. He was happy that justice had been served for the store clerk, but he felt a sense of sadness given that he had basically watched a man die . . . until he remembered that it could’ve been him.
    When they arrived at Julius’s house, the detective walked him to the door and explained to his parents what had happened and why Julius had the bandage on his head. Mrs. Graham was in tears as she hugged her son, but Mr. Graham immediately yelled at the detective for allowing his son to be put in harm’s way. Before slamming the door in the detective’s face, Mr. Graham let him know that he planned to sue the police department for their reckless behavior. Then he hugged his son and told him how much he loved him.
    Exhausted, Julius skipped dinner and headed straight to bed. It wasn’t until he was safe in the confines of his room that he really exhaled and thought about what he had been through over the past few weeks. He had a major headache, but before going to bed, he called Domingo and told him everything that had happened at the pool hall. Domingo couldn’t believe his ears, and while he was thankful his friend was not hurt, he was also angry that he’d gone to the pool hall alone. Before hanging up, Julius asked Domingo to call Denim and tell her what happened so she wouldn’t worry that someone would attack her again for her association with Viper. Once Julius ended his call, his little sister, Zakia, entered his room to check on him. She was a brat at times, but he loved her dearly.
    She touched his bandage and asked, “Does your head hurt?”
    He could see the concern in her eyes, so he smiled and said, “Just a little bit.”
    Zakia climbed onto the bed with her brother and hugged his waist. “Can I stay in here with you for a while?”
    He kissed her forehead and said, “Of course you can.”
    Zakia started softly singing to her brother, and before long Julius drifted off the sleep, and so did Zakia.

Epilogue
    Two months later