The Eyewitness

by Nancy C. Weeks

  “Open your eyes, Emersyn. I need you to wake up.”

  Her brother’s desperate tone pulled her out of her stupor. She recognized where she was from the smell alone. Hospitals had their own unique stench. The bright glare from the florescent light above her head amplified the throbbing behind her eyes, but she forced them open.

  “The light . . . ”

  “Sorry.” Nathan reached above her and flipped a switch. “Is that better?”

  She nodded and took a moment to study his features. “God, you look like shit.” Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his handsome face had that pinched, drained look. She reached up and brushed the dampness from his cheek. “I missed you.”

  “You scared the crap out of me.”

  Emersyn lifted her left hand and studied the IV port taped above her knuckle. She cringed at the thought of the long, thin plastic needle positioned in her vein. When she tried to swallow, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Seeming to read her mind, Nathan offered her a few ice chips from the Styrofoam cup beside her bed. The wet coolness eased down her throat.

  She placed her hand on her chest. “Nathan, damn, why does it hurt?”

  The pain meant something, a vague dream. She couldn’t hold on to it long enough to catch it. An overwhelming sense of dread consumed her. Something was terribly wrong.

  She scanned the room. Alec Pearce stood at her right with his back against the wall, his posture rigid, like a coiled snake ready to strike. “Where are Mom and Dad?”

  They should be here.

  Then the dam burst. Dad!

  Memories of the bike trail, a collage of senses blending together—night sounds, the piney scent of the woods, dirt, her father jerking back, collapsing on top of her, the coppery stench of blood—it all hit at once. She clutched the bedrail and pulled herself upright. Pain spiked across her chest, and she gasped for air. Yanking at the tube in her nose, she choked out, “Dad? Where is he?”

  “Stop, Emersyn.” Her brother placed one hand behind her and the other on her shoulder, easing her down onto the bed.

  “It hurts,” she said, her hand covering her chest as her eyes locked on Alec. Why didn’t he move, say something?

  Nathan pressed a cylinder device against her palm and wrapped her fingers around it. “Press the button with your thumb.”

  She shifted her stare back to him, unable to focus. Nothing made sense except the pain.

  “Emersyn, hit the damn button.”

  Nathan never spoke to her in this angry, frustrated tone. Alec shoved away from the wall, yanked the device from her grip, and pressed the gray button before tossing the device on the bed.

  Deep warmth spread through the veins in her left arm, and her head grew heavy. Pain-free waves washed over her body, making her feel weightless. She settled back into her pillows and stared at the front of the bed. Her father stood with his hands on the foot rail.

  Thank God! It was only a nightmare, a horrible, cruel dream. He stood straight, rigid, like Alec. When his lips moved, nothing came out.

  “I can’t understand you.”

  It had to be the drug Alec had pumped into her. It took care of the pain but blocked out her hearing.

  Her dad spoke again. This time, she read his lips.

  Listen to me.

  “I’m trying. God, I feel horrible.”

  “Trying to do what, Em?” Alec asked.

  Her father moved to reach for her hand. She shook her head to clear the strange image. Instead of walking past Alec, he walked right through him. What the hell?

  Covering her face with her hands, she forced her mind to focus. “Why can’t I hear him? What did you give me?”

  “Hear who?” Alec lifted the device. “It’s a morphine drip for the pain.”

  She opened her eyes. Alec stood where her father had been, and her brother sat on a stool to her left. Her father was gone.

  She swallowed the burning sob in her throat before it choked her. “Where is Dad?”

  “He’s gone, Emersyn.” Nathan’s eyes flooded with tears, something she hadn’t seen since they were kids.

  Emersyn gripped her brother’s hand. “He was right here.” Alive.

  “Sometimes you hallucinate with morphine.” Alec’s tone came out harsh, angry.

  “No. Dad wasn’t a damn hallucination.” Emersyn eased the pressure off her jaw before she cracked a molar. She sent Alec her famous glare, and he matched it with one of his own, his eyebrows lifting, mocking her. Heat rose in her cheeks as another memory flashed before her. She’d kissed him, full assault lip-lock. And her father had witnessed the whole thing. What the hell did she ever do to Alec that he would be this cruel?

  She tucked her thumb into her palm and made a fist.

  Alec pressed his hand over it. “Don’t.”

  “You set me up, wanting Dad to see us. You deliberately put another wedge between us.” She jerked her hand free. “I hate you, Alec Pearce. Leave. Get out of my room.”

  “He died in my arms, Em.” His features gave away no emotion, but what shocked Emersyn were his hands. The fingers of his left hand lost all color as he clutched the bedrail like he needed it to stand. The other hand shook at his side. “The sniper’s bullet passed through him into you.”

  “No. He’s not . . . He was right here.” Her hand went over the thick bandage that covered most of her chest. The pain didn’t disappear but lay in wait for the drug to wear off so it could break her heart.

  “He’s not lying to you. Dad’s gone,” Nathan whispered. “We think he’s the sniper’s latest victim.”

  Emersyn couldn’t help the tremor that sliced through her. Her father and Alec were part of a statewide law enforcement task force team looking into five random murders across Maryland from one weapon, a Bushmaster XM-15 sniper rifle. The crime spree had the same components as the Beltway sniper attacks several years before, when ten people were killed and three more critically injured.

  She placed her arms behind her hips and tried to shift higher in the bed. The simple movement sent a sharp pain into the center of her chest.

  Alec gently lifted her higher in the bed and repositioned the pillows. “Better?”

  She nodded as she eyed the drug pump but didn’t reach for it. “It wasn’t the sniper.” Her training surfaced. “Dad’s . . . ”

  The word murder caught in her throat. Every stupid, mean thing she’d ever said to him ripped tiny grooves into her heart. It was hard to get a breath.

  “Emersyn?” Her brother’s grip tightened on her hand.

  “I need a moment.” She shut her eyes to the burning tears and reached for her calm. Nathan didn’t need her breaking into pieces. “It can’t be the sniper. It doesn’t make any sense why the bastard would target a cop. And there was a man in the shadows of the tall oak tree.”

  Alec straightened his spine. “I didn’t see anyone.”

  She turned to her brother. “I know what I saw.”

  “Emersyn, you have been in surgery for hours. They extracted the bullet from your chest.” Nathan barely seemed able to get the words out. He pressed her fingers to his lips. “It missed your heart by a couple of centimeters. After what you have been through, it’s understandable that things could be fuzzy. The lab will tell us more in a couple hours.”

  His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he checked the text. An unfamiliar hardness pinched his features, and he shot a stare at Alec.

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good.” Nathan tried to place a smile back on his face but failed. “Emersyn, Tessa took Mom home so she could rest. Alec is going to stay here with you.”

  “No. You can’t leave . . . ”

  “I have to go. I’ve been away too long already.”

  A deep sigh escaped his throat as he glanced anywhere but at her. But the tears he didn’t seem to notice gave it all away. His heart hurt as much as hers, their life forever changed in one fucking, senseless instant. Damn it. She needed him. So, she pushed. “Mom needs you
. . . I need you.”

  “Don’t make this harder on him than it has to be,” Alec murmured.

  Emersyn swallowed the nasty retort on the tip of her tongue. That was the old Emersyn: strike first, think later.

  This time, Alec had a point. The undercover job was eating Nathan alive. Whatever he was involved in had to be important. Protect and serve ran as deep in her brother’s veins as it did in their father’s.

  “Alec, can I have a minute with Nathan alone?”

  The room grew still. Alec released the rail and walked out the door.

  “Don’t be so hard on him. It was just a kiss,” Nathan said as the door shut the world out.

  “You know?”

  “You’ve been out for hours. Tessa told me.”

  “If I hadn’t kissed Alec, Dad would never have been on that bike trail.”

  “Don’t you dare do that. Whatever the hell went on had nothing to do with you.

  “How do I stop?”

  His arm cradled her head. “Dad would hate it if you blamed yourself.”

  Damn. Nathan found the one thing that hit the spot. As much as she’d butted heads with her father over the years, she hated disappointing him. She swiped the tears from her cheeks and whispered, “I left the house so I didn’t have to see Alec, but the idiot followed me to Grayson’s Tavern.”

  “Again, it was just a kiss. You and Alec have been at each other’s throats since the raid at the fraternity party.”

  “Do you blame me?”

  “No. I understand things have happened, but at some point, you two are going to have to work through the shit between you. He’s family.”

  Tears clouded her vision. “He pushes my buttons, and I let it get to me. Tell him to go home and get some sleep.” She covered her brother’s hand with hers. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about leaving.” As soon as the apology was out of her mouth, another thought hit her in the gut. “You can’t attend Dad’s Mass or anything, can you?” Emersyn couldn’t utter the word funeral to save her life.

  “I hate funerals, and Dad’s . . . ”

  He lowered his head, and all Emersyn could do was wait, helpless, while Nathan’s shoulders shook. She reached out to hug him, but pain made her drop back onto the pillows. “Can’t you come in disguise?”

  “Dad’s shooting has caused a crazy media frenzy. Orders have already come down. If I’m spotted, it could jeopardize everything.”

  “This is so fucked up.”

  “I’m telling Mom you’re using that word again.”

  She tried as hard as she could to smile. “Promise me you’ll be safe.”

  “Always. As for the funeral, I hate not being there for you, Tessa, and Mom. I’ve spent time with Dad downstairs. We are good . . . have always been good.”

  He choked on his last words. Em glanced down to let him find his control.

  “I’ll check in with you as soon as I can get away. Your surgeon said you’ll feel like shit for a few weeks, but nothing vital was damaged. Just do what the doctors tell you and don’t be so hard on Alec. He’s as worried about you as we all are.”

  Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Dad died angry with me.”

  Nathan hugged her. “He loved you the most, you know. You’re just like him.”

  She pressed her face into her brother’s shoulder to keep the storm of tears back. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

  He rose at the same time Alec slipped back into the room, holding out his phone. “Nathan, are these two friends of yours?”

  Her brother studied the image on the screen. “No, I don’t know them. The colors they’re wearing are Torks, but the tattoos on the neck are wrong. Why?”

  Alec shot a look at her. “They’re looking for this room number. Are you carrying?”

  Nathan removed his weapon. “Take the door.” He positioned himself in the center of the room, blocking Emersyn. She had Alec in plain sight and wished she didn’t. His stance was coiled, as if he would strike out at any second. He was there to protect her. But his eyes sure as hell didn’t convince her of that fact. It was as if every emotion had drained away, leaving behind a stranger. She opened her mouth to ask what she could do, but his hard glare stopped her from uttering a sound as his tense stance screamed, Let us do our job!

  The door crept open an inch, and Alec and Nathan froze. Why didn’t they block the damn thing? Once it was half open, Alec reached past the first man and grabbed the man behind him by the collar, yanking him into the room. In an instant, Alec slammed him flat against the wall, the left arm twisted so high up his back, Emersyn waited for the snap.

  The other man leveled his weapon on Nathan. “Let my brother go.”

  Nathan stepped forward and jabbed the barrel of his Smith and Wesson between the man’s eyebrows. “All I want is a name.”

  The man didn’t lower his revolver, but sweat formed on his forehead as his eyes darted to his brother.

  Nathan’s arm muscles seemed to tense, and he dug the metal deeper into the man’s skin until he let out a groan and shifted away from the pain.

  “You’re thinking you can fuck with me and lie about why you’re here. You don’t want to do that.” Her brother shoved the man against the door, his back slamming hard.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking—”

  “I’m not asking again.”

  “You won’t kill me, cop.”

  Nathan turned to Alec. “Am I a cop?”

  “Nope.”

  Before the word was out of Alec’s mouth, Nathan did a magic twist with his free hand and now held the man’s own gun at his heart. “One name.”

  Alec’s man jerked his head free. “It was just a voice on the other end of the phone.”

  “Shut your trap.”

  Nathan rammed his hand into his captive’s stomach. He then lowered what Emersyn always called his Dirty Harry weapon and emptied the cylinder. He made it obvious he was reloading only one bullet before he replaced the barrel in the exact same spot on the man’s forehead. Without saying a word, her brother pulled the trigger. The gun clicked.

  “What the fuck?” The man’s head jerk back against the door.

  “See how this is played?”

  “Dear God, Nathan.” Emersyn couldn’t keep the shock from her voice.

  Nathan glanced at Alec’s man. “Help your stupid brother.”

  “He said to take care of the scrub in room 317. We thought it was, dude.”

  Nathan pocketed the extra weapon, fisted his man’s T-shirt, and turned him toward the door. “Call it in,” he said to Alec. He pulled a zip-tie cuff out of his pocket and secured the man’s hands behind his back.

  Emersyn could only gape. Her brother had morphed into Rambo. And when the hell did he start carrying ties 24/7?

  “What are you going to do with him?” Alec asked while securing his guy.

  “You get that one. Me and big brother here have a few things to discuss.”

  “I’m going to need him back,” Alec said.

  With a quick nod, Nathan left the room, and Emersyn swallowed a sob as the door shut. She might as well have been invisible. The room chilled to a dead quiet the moment Alec allowed the door to close behind him.

  Sucking in a breath, she filled her airless lungs as her mind struggled to make sense of what had just happened. The men must have jotted down the wrong room number. There was no other explanation. She reached for the pain pump, closed her eyes tightly, and let the tears loose.

  A hand covered hers. “Are you in pain?” Alec whispered.

  “Damn, Alec. Don’t sneak up on me like that.” Emersyn sucked in a breath. “What just happened?”

  “He won’t hurt him. Nathan will get his answers.”

  That was what scared the air from her lungs.

  “The only thing I trust about you, Alec Pearce, is that you don’t lie to me. Don’t start now.” She sucked in another calming breath. “Nathan is a cop.”

  “And he’s living and breathing de
ep undercover with assholes like those two. It’s a fucking part he has to play.”

  “Please go away.”

  “I can’t, Em.”

  “What I need is to be alone so I can deal with my sweet brother morphing into whoever the hell that was. And then there’s my father. I can’t handle you right now.”

  “I lost him too.”

  The four words pressed down on her bruised heart.

  “Tell me about the man you saw on the trail,” Alec said, leaning toward her.

  “All I can give you is a general build. He was a couple of inches taller than Dad but leaner. His face was completely hidden, and he masked his voice. But there was something familiar about him.”

  “Familiar how?”

  “Like I should know him.”

  Alec’s grip tightened over hers. “What did he say?”

  “Three words: Leave it alone. And Dad replied, ‘Never.’”

  “Did he notice you?”

  “I was standing right next to Dad before he shoved me behind him. The man had to be in contact with someone else because he didn’t shoot Dad. I was looking right at him. Dad gave the wrong answer, and they killed him. This can’t be connected to the sniper case.”

  Alec moved away from the bed, his head bent as his hand raked across his neck. “When they take your statement, don’t mention the man on the bike trail.”

  “Are you crazy? That’s withholding—”

  “You can’t identify him.”

  “My statement will keep them from lumping my dad’s murder into the sniper case.”

  “And it will place a bull’s-eye on your forehead. By sending those yahoos in here, whoever killed your dad proved he won’t take the chance that you recognized him.”

  “Those yahoos could have had the wrong room.”

  “Are you going to risk it?”

  “You said it yourself. I made it my life’s work to dig through what criminals leave behind. That man is a huge part of the evidence chain that will help us find Dad’s murderer. What you’re asking is impossible.”