by J. R. Adler
The door to the cottage swung open. A paramedic walked backward, pulling the stretcher through, while the other pushed on the end. Bearfield and Sam immediately went to help as they were struggling with the rock-lined path and the fact that David was a massive lump of uncooperative dead weight. Nicole walked beside him, holding his hand, crying. Just as they started loading him into the ambulance, a voice screamed from the main house.
“Dad, oh my God, what happened?” Emily cried out, running toward her father.
She tried to get close to him, but the paramedics told her to back away.
“Dad!” she yelled.
His mouth and nose were covered with an oxygen mask, so he didn’t speak. He wasn’t even attempting to say anything as his daughter and his wife wept over him.
“Tell me what happened!” she yelled, this time directing her attention at Sam. “Tell me!” She threw her hands up.
David pulled his oxygen mask off. “Emily…” He tried to lift his head to look at her.
Emily turned back toward David. “Dad.” Her eyes widened.
“I’m sorry,” he said, letting his head drop back on the stretcher. He didn’t have the strength to hold his head up high, nor the dignity to.
Emily took a small step back, crying into her hands.
A paramedic slid the mask back on him, and they lifted him into the ambulance, wheeling the stretcher in.
“Can one of you check on my detective?” Sam asked.
“We’ve got to get him to the hospital,” the paramedic said.
“It’s fine. We’ll follow behind,” Kimberley cut in.
Sam pulled out his handcuffs and cuffed David’s wrist to the stretcher.
“Is that really necessary?” Emily cried.
“It is,” Sam said. “We’ll be right behind you.”
Emily turned to Kimberley. “You’ve destroyed my family. First Wyatt, now my dad.”
One paramedic hopped into the back of the ambulance. “Immediate family only.”
Emily turned and climbed in without saying another word to Kimberley.
Nicole hesitated, looking at David and then back at Kimberley. Her face crumpled. More tears spilled out. “I’m sorry. I have to make sure he’s okay.” She turned her back on her daughter, stepping up into the ambulance. The other paramedic shut the doors and ran around to the front, hopping into the driver’s seat.
The sirens blared and the lights flashed as they sped off.
“Hill, you got the evidence bagged and tagged?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Leave them with Burns and follow them to the hospital. He might be injured, but he is a tough bastard and very large, so don’t let David out of your sight. We’ll be there in a bit.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, running to his vehicle.
Sam let out a deep breath. He pulled his radio from his holster. “All available units to the Turner Farm. All available units to the Turner Farm off of N2440 road.”
He put the radio back in his utility belt and walked back to Kimberley.
“I’m going to have the team do a clean sweep of the farm.”
Kimberley nodded.
“Bearfield, I want you to take the lead on searching this place. Start with the outbuildings. Bag up anything that could have been used to decapitate Hannah Brown.”
“You got it,” Bearfield said, beckoning Burns with his hand. The two started off toward the back of the cottage.
“You did good today,” Sam said to Kimberley.
“No, I didn’t.” She shook her head.
Sam tried to look her in the eye, but Kimberley wouldn’t meet his gaze. She was ashamed that she hadn’t seen the signs, that she discovered who David really was over the dumb luck of looking for her daughter’s stuffed animal. Her instinct should have told her as soon as she stepped foot in the house that David wasn’t a good man. She should have seen it in her mother’s weakened and sad appearance. She should have known with how David acted around her. It was all right under her nose, right in front of her face. But she didn’t see any of it.
“It’s hard to see trees when you’re standing in the forest, right? Didn’t you tell me that?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“Something like that…” Kimberley sighed, opting not to correct the saying. It made more sense to her that way.
“I kind of got a sense of what happened here, but ya mind sharing it with me on the ride to the hospital where you will be looked over by a doctor, and no, that is not a request. If it’s too much, you can give your statement tomorrow, but I will not budge on the wellness check.”
“Yeah, that’s fine… hold on,” she said, handing him the ice pack. She walked toward the cottage. The door closed behind her with a thud. Inside, it was still, the only evidence as to what had just transpired being the pools of blood on the floor. She wiped her feet on the rug, force of habit, and walked further into the house, turning toward the long hallway. The stuffed elephant lay covered in blood on the floor.
The door opened with a squeak and closed with a thud again.
Sam stood there with the ice pack in his hand. “Everything good?” he asked, taking a couple more steps into the house.
Kimberley bent down, picking up the stuffed toy. She tried to wipe the blood off, but it just smeared it more.
Sam peered down the hallway where the fight had happened, noticing the broken drywall. “Was that you?” he asked.
“It was my body, if that’s what you’re asking.” The soreness in her back had returned, or perhaps it had been there the whole time, but she was blocking out the pain.
“Let’s get you to the hospital.”
Kimberley opened her hand, dropping the blood-soaked stuffed animal back on the floor.
35
Kimberley sat on the edge of an exam table in a small doctor’s office. She’d been fully examined and was just waiting on a prescription for pain meds from the doctor. There was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Sam poked his head in first. She had refused to get into the hospital gown but did remove her shirt so the doctor could have a look at her back. She was dressed back in her uniform.
“How ya doing?”
“Concussion and a couple of bruised ribs.” Kimberley shrugged her shoulders. “How’d it go?”
She wasn’t concerned about her own injuries. She wanted to know about David. Would he fess up? Confess to it all? Make this an open-and-shut case so it’d be easier on his family and Hannah’s family? Or would he deny everything? Demand a lawyer? Refuse to talk? She could see it going either way. He was a proud man, and proud men don’t admit their wrongdoings.
“He confessed to all of it.” Sam shifted his stance.
“Really?”
He nodded. “He said they’d been having an affair for over two years on and off. Hannah got pregnant shortly after they started seeing each other. Isobel is his daughter. But recently Hannah wanted more. She wanted to leave Dead Woman Crossing, take her daughter and find a better life. She blackmailed him, saying she’d go public with their affair and his fatherhood if he didn’t pay her to keep quiet. She wanted fifty large, but obviously David doesn’t have that type of money, and she didn’t know that. Apparently, they met down at Deer Creek, and she flew into a rage when she realized he didn’t have the money, tried calling Wyatt to expose David. And he shot her.” Sam shook his head. “It’s a damn shame.”
“And let me guess, he staged it to look like Katie DeWitt James’s murder to throw us off?”
“That’s right.”
“I mean, he got us to bite on that for a while but… what a fucking idiot.”
“That’s right too.” Sam rocked back on his heels.
“Now, what?” Kimberley asked.
“I’ll wrap this case up. You take it easy, spend some time with your daughter, and come back when you’re feeling better. And I mean it. Take some time off.” He cocked his head and turned on his foot toward the door.
&
nbsp; Before he left the room, Kimberley said, “You know I’ll be back in the office on Monday.”
“I know.” Sam smiled.
36
Kimberley lifted Jessica into her high chair, wincing from the pain she felt throbbing in her back. She locked the tray in and set down a bowl of Cheerios and a sippy cup of apple juice mixed with water. Kimberley was dressed in her uniform. It was perfectly pressed and creased in all the right areas. She had attempted to cover the bruise on the side of her face with some concealer, but it still showed through. It was Monday morning and she hadn’t seen or heard from her mom since Friday when she hopped into the ambulance with David. She didn’t know where she was staying, as Kimberley was still residing in the cottage. She figured she’d need to find a new place to live soon. Sam had the place swept and a forensic cleanup crew in and out by the time she brought Jessica home on Friday night.
Even after she had run the elephant through the wash cycle three times, she still couldn’t bring herself to give it back to her daughter. It was tainted. Jessica had cried for an hour when Kimberley told her it had left and joined the circus. She spent hours searching for the same elephant online, but with no luck. She had decided that after work, and before she picked up Jessica, she’d drive over to Weatherford to look for a new stuffed elephant.
“Are those yummy?” Kimberley smiled at Jessica.
“Yeah,” she said, pushing several into her mouth.
“Take a drink.”
Jessica lifted the cup, taking a big gulp.
“Nana?” Jessica said, setting the cup back down on the tray. “Nana.”
Kimberley’s face crumpled for a moment. She quickly smoothed it out, not wanting to break down in front of her daughter.
“I’m right here, sweetie,” Nicole said.
Kimberley turned around, finding her mother dressed in a long cotton dress standing in the doorframe. There was a cracked smile on her face, like she was both happy and sad, proud and ashamed. What was she doing here? Where had she been? Why had she chosen David over her own flesh and blood?
Instinctively, Kimberley stepped in front of her daughter like a lioness protecting its cub. Nicole’s face crumpled. Tears streamed down her face.
“I’m so sorry, Kimberley.”
“Sorry for picking a murderer over your own daughter and granddaughter?”
“No. It wasn’t like that. I’m sorry… for believing him. I just… had to make sure he was okay.”
Kimberley narrowed her eyes. “Were you with him the whole weekend?”
Nicole shook her head. “I stayed in a motel to give you space and to clear my head. He confessed everything to me, but I know deep down I didn’t even need his confession. I knew he did it as soon as I saw the phone and the gun. I just didn’t want to believe it.”
Kimberley’s lip trembled. She wanted her mother in her life, but how could she trust her around Jessica? Would she do the same thing again? Stand by a man that broke her. She had before.
“I know I screwed up. I can’t explain why I did what I did. But I’ll be better. I’m getting help. I’m getting out of this cycle I’ve been in my whole life.”
Kimberley stared at her mother carefully. She looked different than she did a few days ago. Her face was a little fuller and brighter. The dark circles under her eyes had faded slightly. Her hair was combed. She had even applied makeup, which was now tear streaked with black mascara running down her cheeks. She looked as though she had eaten, she had slept, she had changed. Like she was clean from her addiction, David, and before him, Kimberley’s father. Nicole had an affinity to damaged men.
“I love you so much, and I never want to lose you or Jessica. You two are my whole life.”
Tears streaked Kimberley’s cheeks too. For over thirty years, this was all she had ever wanted out of her mom: strength.
“I love you too, Mom,” Kimberley said, walking toward her with open arms. They cried into each other’s shoulders, holding one another tight. The embrace lasted longer than all of their hugs over their lifetime combined. Kimberley knew there was now a fracture in their relationship, and she hoped over time it would mend. But deep down, Kimberley knew it was only a matter of time before Nicole would need her fix again.
“Wuv you,” Jessica said, giggling in her chair.
Kimberley and Nicole turned back to Jessica and laughed, wiping the tears from their eyes.
“Such a smart girl,” they said at the same time. They smiled at Jessica and then at one another.
Kimberley glanced at her watch. “Oh, I’m going to be late.”
“You’re going to work?” Nicole immediately started tidying the kitchen up.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Oh… I can take Jessica to daycare if you’d like.” There was a plea in her mother’s eyes.
Kimberley grabbed her messenger bag from beside the counter. “Why don’t you keep her home and spend the day together?”
Nicole’s eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face. “I would love that.”
Kimberley nodded, saying goodbye to Nicole and Jessica. She closed the door to the cottage and walked up the rock-lined path to where her Ford Explorer was parked. She opened the car door and tossed her messenger bag across the driver’s seat into the passenger’s seat.
“Hey,” Emily called out. She was standing on the large white wraparound porch, wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt.
Kimberley stepped out from behind her car door and took a couple of steps toward the house. “Hey.”
Emily put her hands on her hip and glanced off into the wheat fields for a moment. She looked back at Kimberley. They hadn’t spoken at all since the day David was wheeled away in a stretcher. She was fully anticipating that Emily would yell at her, tell her she needed to move off their property, that she wasn’t welcome there. She thought she’d call Kimberley every name in the book, blame her for what happened to her family not once, but now twice.
“Do you wanna come over for drinks tonight?” Emily asked.
An olive branch had been extended.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” Kimberley said with a nod.
Emily gave a small smile and disappeared back into the house.
“I’m so happy to see you,” Barb said, standing up from her desk. She walked around it, carrying a pink gift bag.
“Hey, Barb.”
“Some of the guys had bets on when you’d be back in the office.”
“Oh yeah?” Kimberley cocked her head.
“Yeah, they clearly don’t know you that well. Sam and I said you’d be back today. The rest of them bums said you’d take a week off.”
“Glad I could be here to prove them wrong.” Kimberley smiled.
“I got your daughter something,” Barb said, holding out the bag. “Look inside.” She grinned.
Kimberley reached her hand in and pulled out a gray crocheted stuffed elephant, with tan yarn to accent the ears and feet, pink yarn for rosy cheeks and white yarn for tusks and toenails.
“I heard what happened to her other stuffy, so I spent the weekend making this one for her.”
Kimberley’s eyes moistened. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her or her daughter. Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around Barbara.
“You’re welcome,” Barb said. “Now get to work.” She was smiling as she walked back to her desk. “By the way, there’s coffee and fresh-baked cookies on your desk.”
Kimberley smiled and thanked her.
As soon as she entered the main office area, clapping ensued. The deputies rose from their desks, breaking out into applause. Kimberley nodded and flicked her wrist, her way of saying it wasn’t a big deal. They whistled and hollered. Sam emerged from his office, joining in. His hands thundering together.
“Alright. Back to work, everyone. Hill, go ahead and give Barb my winnings too.”
Deputy Hill nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard you all bet against me.” Kimberley shook her head.
“Burns said you got thrown through a wall. Shit, I would have taken two weeks off,” Deputy Bearfield said.
“I didn’t say ‘through,’ I said ‘at.’”
“Did her body break part of the wall?” Bear asked.
“Yeah.”
“Then you got thrown through a fuckin’ wall. Anyway, you’re tough for—”
“What? A girl,” Kimberley cut him off, cocking her head.
“No, I was going to say, you’re tough for coming back so quick. We’re all real proud of you.” Bearfield smiled.
Kimberley nodded her approval. “Thank you.”
“Come on, Detective.” Sam beckoned her into his office.
She quickly went into her office, dropping off her gift bag and messenger bag. Kimberley picked up the coffee and the plate that contained two large chocolate chip cookies.
Sam was seated at his desk when Kimberley entered. She sat down and extended the plate of cookies.
“Want one?” she asked.
“You know I do.” He snatched one up. “Ya know, before you came along, I got way more baked goods.”
“Well then, you’re lucky I share,” she said, setting the plate down and taking a sip of her coffee.
Sam broke a chunk off his cookie and tossed it in his mouth, smiling happily. “How ya feeling?”
“Good.”
“False. You had a concussion, several bruised ribs, a back injury, and several contusions in the face just three days ago. So, you literally can’t be ‘good,’ but I suppose that’s your way of saying you’re fine to return to work so quickly. But are you good, I mean, really? You don’t have to play tough with me.” He raised an eyebrow.
Kimberley nodded. “I’m fine.”
“You know what it’s going to be like now?” He tilted his head.
Kimberley raised an eyebrow, half mocking his previous expression.
“Well, now that the case is closed and most all of your newfound Oklahoma family members have been charged with crimes, it’s back to traffic violations and breaking up brawls at The Trophy Room.” Sam cracked a smile. “How does that sound?”
