She sat down with it at a table a couple minutes later. She pulled out her phone. There were no messages from Jeremiah, which was a bit surprising. Maybe his day had been hectic, too.
She called him and he picked up just before it went to voicemail.
“Hi,” he said. “I was wondering when you would be calling.”
“I’m just now getting lunch,” she said. “It’s been an...interesting...day so far.”
She longed to tell him more, but figured it was better not to complain about her new boss while actually at work. “I’ll tell you all about it later. How is your day going?”
“Well, it’s been a bit rough. Liam was attacked. He’s in the hospital.”
“Oh my gosh! Is he okay?”
“The next forty-eight hours will tell. He’s got a lot of broken bones, but they think they stopped the internal bleeding.”
She sat there, stunned. “Is Mark okay?”
“Yeah, he’s shaken up, but fine. We’re having lunch before heading back to the hospital. He wasn’t with Liam this morning when it happened.”
“Do they know who did it?”
“Not yet. There’s a lot to tell, but I’ve got to get moving here soon.”
“Yes, of course. Well, I’ll come to the hospital after work.”
“Okay, see you soon. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” she said.
Despite everything just hearing him say those words gave her a happy glow. She was convinced that she was never going to get used to hearing him say it.
They ended the call and she turned her attention to her ramen even as her mind raced ahead thinking and worrying about Liam. The last thing Mark needed was to lose another partner. Besides, she really liked Liam. He was a good guy.
“It seems like everything’s in chaos these days,” she muttered to herself.
She had an entire hour for lunch, but she was done eating in fifteen minutes. She wished she could go back to her desk and just leave early instead. She was going to need to start bringing a book or something with her. She finally stood up. She might as well get back to her desk and start cleaning it out. Maybe if she was lucky she could get it all done by the end of the day.
Jeremiah was tired. The adrenaline of the morning was wearing off and with nothing to actively do, no one to pursue, he could really feel the drain.
“You okay?” Mark asked as they walked into the hospital.
“Long day,” he said. It was true enough. It just felt like an endless, useless day of waiting and reporting to others.
“Tell me about it,” Mark muttered.
Once inside the hospital a nurse was able to direct them to Liam’s room. As soon as he had the room number Jeremiah called and gave it to Rebecca who vowed she would be there soon if she had to move mountains. Or, in her case, policemen. He hung up with her just as they entered Liam’s room.
He had prepared himself so he was not shocked to see just how bad Liam looked. The man’s face was swollen with cuts and bruises on it. His arm was in a cast and there was bruising visible above that. He lay very still with several machines hooked up to him and an IV drip going.
Next to him Mark made a little sound of dismay and moved forward quickly. “Hey, partner, we’re here,” he said, his voice cracking slightly.
Liam’s eyelids fluttered and then slowly opened. He stared from Mark to Jeremiah and back again. Slowly his lips began to move, but no sound came out. He licked his lips and tried again.
“What happened?”
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Mark said, the anxiety clear in his voice.
Jeremiah stepped forward. “You’re in the hospital. You’re going to be okay. Someone attacked you early this morning while you were walking to Rebecca’s shop.”
Liam’s eyes opened wider and Jeremiah hastened to add, “Don’t worry, Rebecca’s fine. She’ll be here shortly.”
“Okay,” Liam said.
“Did you see who hit you?” Mark asked.
“I didn’t even know I was hit,” Liam said slowly.
“Do you remember walking toward Rebecca’s shop?” Jeremiah asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you have flowers with you? Yellow roses by any chance?”
“Yes, how did you know?” Liam asked.
“There were a couple of petals on the ground next to where you were found,” Jeremiah said.
Mark glanced at him. Jeremiah had no idea if the officers on scene had taken note of the petals as being significant. Hopefully they had. Liam’s attacker had likely been the one to take the flowers. The question was, why would he bother? If he was looking for a trophy or proof of the attack he would have taken something else, something more personal.
“Did you see a motorcycle parked near the shop?” Jeremiah asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you see the rider?”
“No.”
As soon as Rebecca got there he’d ask her about the motorcycle. If it was indeed gone before she made it onto the scene then he was certain whoever the rider was attacked Liam.
“Care to share?” Mark asked with a raised eyebrow.
“In a little while,” Jeremiah said.
Liam was in obvious, understandable distress. The faster they could get past this and let him rest the better.
“Have you received any threats of any kind recently?” Jeremiah asked.
“No.”
“Has anyone you helped put away been recently paroled or have the ability and desire to reach out beyond prison to do this?”
Mark squirmed and Jeremiah realized he was just now realizing that he could be in danger as well. His discomfort couldn’t be helped at this point. Either he was in danger or he wasn’t and the sooner they figured that out, too, the better for all concerned.
Liam glanced at Mark and frowned slightly. “I don’t know...Mark?”
“I don’t know either, but we’ll find out as soon as possible,” Mark said.
The detective’s phone rang and he scrambled to retrieve it. “It’s the car place,” he muttered and then stepped outside to take the call. He was back just moments later. “It’s ready,” he said gruffly.
“I was supposed to pick you up this morning, I’m so sorry,” Liam said.
“Don’t worry about it. I made other arrangements,” Mark told him.
“I’ll take you to pick it up after Rebecca gets here,” Jeremiah said.
“Thanks. Then I’ve got to get to the station.”
“You don’t have to stay,” Liam said.
“Stop it,” Mark said roughly. “Of course we’re staying.”
One look at Mark’s face told Jeremiah that the detective was nervous about leaving his partner alone when the threat against him was out there somewhere. Jeremiah felt the same way.
~
Mark’s head was spinning. Jeremiah’s suggestion that whoever had done this to Liam might be someone that he’d helped put away wasn’t sitting well with him. It was always a danger, but the beating Liam had taken was horrible. Retaliation against Pine Springs police officers was virtually unheard of. This wasn’t Los Angeles. They didn’t have many violent criminals they put away. No gang members for certain. The killers they did put away for the most part weren’t hardened criminals, just people who had snapped and decided to take the law into their own hands.
There were exceptions, of course, but the thought that this was past work related really rattled him. If this was retaliation against Liam then he could very well be in the crosshairs, too. He needed to get some answers and fast, ideally before he talked to Traci. She’d be asking these same questions and not in a polite way. She turned into a lioness these days if she perceived any threat to her family, no matter how remote or unrealistic.
He closed his eyes and grimaced. He couldn’t wait until he had answers to call Traci. He’d promised himself he’d call and tell her as soon as he knew what Liam’s condition
was. Well, he had answers about that now, at least, for the moment barring complications.
“If you need to call Traci, do it,” Jeremiah said suddenly.
Mark looked at him sharply. “How did you know that’s what I was thinking about?”
“You were fidgeting with your wedding ring. I figured you were thinking about her. You were exhibiting signs of anxiety therefore thinking about calling and telling her what happened to Liam.”
“Just join the police force already if you’re going to scrutinize people like that,” Mark snapped.
Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. “I’ve got a job. Don’t need another one.”
“I’m sorry,” Mark said with a sigh. He turned to Liam. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m just going to go call Traci and let her know you’re okay,” he said with forced cheerfulness.
“Tell her hi,” Liam said.
Mark nodded and left the room. He realized he was starting to sweat. This whole thing was making him uneasy. He kept telling himself that Liam was going to be just fine. He was awake, talking, he’d be up and walking in no time.
I can’t lose another partner, he thought as he found a quiet corner to call Traci from.
She picked up right away and she sounded tired, too. “Hey.”
“Hey, how are you doing?”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, clearly hearing the trepidation in his voice.
“I found out why Liam didn’t come to pick me up this morning,” he said.
“Oh?”
“Someone jumped him near Rebecca’s shop and beat him up. He’s in the hospital.”
“What?!”
“Yes. The doctors need to keep him for observation. He’s got some broken ribs, a broken arm.”
“What are the doctors observing, exactly?” she asked.
“He had some internal bleeding,” Mark said, wincing as the words came out. “They’re watching his spleen and his liver.”
It was a testament to how tired and upset Traci was that she swore. Usually she left that to him. After a few seconds he could hear her taking a deep breath, clearly trying to calm herself down.
“Who did it?” she finally asked.
“We don’t know.”
“You mean this psychopath is out there?” she demanded, her voice raised until she was nearly shouting.
“We’re going to find him,” Mark said.
“Is it someone looking for revenge?” she asked quickly.
Mark sighed. “We have no evidence that it was work-related in any way. Maybe it was random, or maybe...”
“Maybe what?” she asked when he didn’t finish.
“Maybe it has something to do with his past, his family. Even Jeremiah’s noticed that he doesn’t talk a lot about them.”
There was a pause and then she said, “That doesn’t seem as likely as the other.”
“Are you sure? Because, whoever did this, it seemed very personal. They really beat the crap out of him. It’s amazing he wasn’t killed,” he said, voice getting shakier as he went.
He hadn’t meant to tell her that. He wasn’t doing anything to allay her fears. He was only aggravating them for both her and himself.
“You honestly think this is some specter from his past and not some criminal he’s crossed paths with as a cop? Or some guy that just has a problem with cops in general? It’s not like there haven’t been a lot of hate crimes across the country lately.”
“It’s not random, it’s personal,” Mark snapped.
“What makes you so certain? Maybe someone found the nearest cop and took out their rage on him.”
“No, this was a planned attack, there was a reason behind it,” he said forcefully.
He realized that he had no evidence to back up that theory. He just couldn’t bring himself to think it was random. No, he was convinced this had something to do with Liam personally.
He realized that Traci had grown silent.
“Are you still there?” he asked, regretting the tone he’d taken.
“You know what your problem is?” Traci asked.
“What?”
“You’re afraid of losing another partner and the whole thing being a mystery, just like Paul.”
“I think there’s more going on than that,” Mark said slowly.
“There always is with you, but face it, you’re freaking out because Liam’s not out of the woods and you have no idea who attacked him or what’s going on.”
“Alright, say I am having some sort of flashback to losing Paul and discovering I never even knew Paul. Say that this is something from Liam’s past coming back to try and take him away. What do you suggest I do about it?”
“I suggest you solve the mystery.”
“Thanks, Hon,” he said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “Because I wasn’t planning on using the full resources of the police department to figure out who did this to Liam and lock him away forever.”
“No, idiot,” she said, matching his sarcasm. “Not that mystery.”
“What do you mean?” he asked sharply.
“You’ve had what might be the final pieces to the riddle that is Paul in your possession for weeks now and you haven’t done anything about it. I think you’re afraid to close the case.”
A chill danced up Mark’s spine and he felt something cold slither in his stomach.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, you need to finish the Paul mystery once and for all before it kills you.”
9
Cindy found a box containing packages of paper by the copy machine. Since there was only one package remaining in it she was able to put the paper in the machine and free up the box. She took it back to her cubicle and sat down, ready to tackle all of Rose’s personal things that had been left behind. Glancing uneasily at the desk she couldn’t help but think she also might need a trash bag. She had a tiny trash can at her desk that seemed like it would be woefully inadequate to the task at hand.
She started by grabbing a pink sweater off the desk. She used it to wrap the glass votive pen holder in and put them and the flower pens carefully in the box. The stuffed unicorn followed. She took the rose pendant off the monitor and found an envelope she could seal it in so it wouldn’t get tangled or overlooked. She put in the red stapler. It seemed pretty clear it had belonged to Rose given the rhinestone encrusted name on it. Whether or not it had started out that way, it was certainly hers now.
Pinned to the low walls of the cubicle were all kinds of pictures of cats and unicorns. She carefully removed all of them, dumped the pins in the shallow desk drawer where they belonged and put the pictures in the box. A small ceramic unicorn sitting underneath the monitor was the next to go after she found a purple scarf wadded up in a pile of papers, the edge of it just barely sticking out. She wrapped the unicorn in the scarf and deposited them both in the box.
A small cube of motivational saying sticky notes went next. Those were definitely not company issue. They had cats on them with cute little sayings. Cindy couldn’t help but like them and wonder where Rose had bought them. She could definitely see how something like that could cheer up the drab little work station.
Why would she leave all these things behind? the thought came to her again.
It made no sense. Even if she had decided to abandon the work related items, why leave behind clothing and the necklace? It just felt wrong somehow. Then there was the picture of her and the older woman who could be her grandmother.
Cindy picked it up. She didn’t know why she hadn’t put the picture in its heart themed frame into the box yet. Something about it was just odd to her. She took a closer look at the frame.
It was silver, with hearts carved into it. At the bottom the words True Love were inscribed. It was very romantic, not the kind of frame one usually used for a picture with their grandmother. It looked like something you’d use to frame a picture of your sweetheart.
She
started to put the frame in the box, but her hand hesitated. It was like she couldn’t let go of the frame. She put it back on the desk and looked at it more closely. She turned it around and discovered that the picture just slipped in the top. You didn’t have to take the back off. She grasped the edge of the picture and gently pulled up on it. She took it out then turned the frame back around.
There was another picture in the frame. It had been behind the picture of Rose and her grandmother. This picture also had Rose in it. She was wearing a little black dress and sitting on the knee of a man dressed up like Santa Claus. She was blushing and half-turned away from the camera to look at the man in the suit. Her skin was glowing, her eyes were soft, pupils dilated.
It was the kind of picture that fit in the frame for a very specific reason. Rose looked like a woman in love.
~
When Rebecca finally walked into the hospital room and laid eyes on Liam Jeremiah couldn’t help but think that she looked like a woman in love. She rushed over to him and grabbed his good hand and kissed it.
“Are you okay?” she asked, voice trembling.
“I am now,” Liam said softly.
Jeremiah smiled. From the way that Liam was looking at Rebecca it was clear how this was all going to play out. He was obviously in love with her.
Good for them, he thought.
With his next breath, though, he prayed for their safety and that Liam would pull through everything alright.
As though sensing his thoughts on their behalf Rebecca turned quickly to look at him. “Thank you, for everything,” she said.
He nodded and stood. “You’re welcome. I need to drive Mark to pick up his car. I figure we’ll do that now.”
“See you later,” Liam said.
“I’ll walk you out,” Rebecca said hastily.
“There’s no need,” Mark said.
“I’ll just be a minute,” she told Liam, ignoring Mark.
She had something she wanted to discuss. Jeremiah stepped outside with Mark, but then stopped before they made it to the lobby.
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