There are times when feeling like an utter idiot can outweigh fear, at least for the instant it takes to process that I'd been so blinded by my hatred (strong word, considering the expression on the face of the withered old lady pointing a gun at me) of my cousin and his vile girlfriend I'd failed to put the most logical two-and-two equation of all time together before it was too late.

Because it was too late, with Peggy sitting there next to me with her hunched, thin ...