“There’s no need to worry. We will let her go.” Madison made eye contact with Terry. He seemed to receive her silent message. “Detective Grant is going to step to the side.”
“He stays where he is!”
Terry’s eyes disclosed a mortal fear, but she hoped that he could read her eyes—they were going to make it out of this alive, both of them.
“Come here, Dawn. Get beside me now.” Barnes’s arms were unsteady, the rifle swayed. The sweat on his brow, the shiftiness of his eyes, panic laced each element of his being.
Madison thought again of Higgins and Tendum. Where were they? Something wasn’t right.
His wife shuffled over to him. Her face had paled considerably and tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Why are you—”
“Shut up, Dawn. I mean it. I will kill them. I will.”
His eyes were bloodshot. Madison looked closer and his pupils were dilated.
“Where are the other officers, Mr. Barnes?”
“Mr. Barnes. Mr. Barnes.” He parroted her. “So fuckin’ proper.”
“Where are they?” She held his gun on him. “Are they safe?”
“They will be okay. They will be...” Barnes’s chin screwed up, his face contorting as a wave of emotion laid bare over him.
“What did you do?” She tightened her grip on the gun. She could tell it was loaded due to its weight, but wondered about the number of bullets. “Tell me, Mr. Barnes. We can work this out.” Her heart beat in her ears. Tunnel vision set in, fine-tuning all her senses—sounds, sights, and smells all came into clear focus.
Barnes smelled of marijuana and whiskey. Mingled with his scent was that of a musty basement.
She heard Terry’s breathing, and her own, as if each inhale and exhale existed in a world of its own.
Sirens faintly wailed in the distance.
“Work this out? You want to put me in prison. I won’t go.”
“Please, Don.” His wife touched his shoulder. In an instant, that arm swung out, connected with his wife’s body and slammed her to the ground.
Madison squeezed the trigger.
The bullet fired from the gun and found purchase in Barnes’s shoulder.
His rifle fell to the floor, but not before Barnes squeezed the trigger in return. A deafening report sounded.
He couldn’t hold the shot and the rifle had jerked to the side.
Dawn’s hand went to her chest. Blood oozed from the wound, soaking her fingers a bright red. Shock played over her features—her eyes glazed over and her mouth opened, but no words came out. She collapsed to the floor.
Barnes dropped beside his wife. “No. No!” His wails fused with the approaching sirens.
Terry turned around, pulled Barnes from the floor and away from his wife.
“I…killed…her,” Barnes cried. “What have I—” The rest of his words disappeared and he became silent as Terry cuffed him, read him off his rights and led him upstairs.
Madison could barely breathe. Was this what she had signed up for? Death?
On the count of three…
There had been a noise and I went out back to investigate…
The rest filled in with clear imagery. She knew exactly how everything had unfolded now. Her chest heaved with the recollection.
She looked at Mrs. Barnes and knew there was nothing they could do. Her chest was torn apart by the bullet and the feeling in the air revealed that a life force had been taken, not to return. The light in the woman’s eyes had extinguished, leaving them wide open and vacant like unseeing marbles. She was gone.
Madison hated the sickening feeling that all of this could have been prevented. If they weren’t here, if they hadn’t pushed this, none of this would have happened. She swallowed the emotion, tamping down the irrational thinking process she was experiencing. She talked herself back from the edge, back from the point where she wondered if it was worth it—the long hours, the sacrifice, the dedication to a career that stripped away her humanity one fiber at a time. She forced herself to recall the solved cases, the ones where justice was brought to the victims and closure provided to their families.
Another siren broke through her thoughts. An ambulance, and it had to have been approaching before the shootings down here. Higgins and Tendum.
She ran from the basement to the driveway. The younger officer, Tendum, held Higgins perched at a forty-five-degree angle, his legs in front of him, and his torso against Tendum for support. Tendum was holding onto Higgins’s hand.
Her feet cemented to the ground.
Blood pooled out from Higgins’s body. A bullet had burrowed into the right side of his chest.
She forced herself to run but performed a half jog at best. It felt as if the adrenaline slowed progress. Closing the distance, she feared her friend, the man she had looked up to for years, may leave this earth.
She dropped to her knees beside him. “Come on, Chief.” She hoped calling him by the affectionate nickname she always used would help him hear the sincerity in her words. “You will pull through.” The blood saturated her clothing and the warm liquid penetrated to her skin. “Chief, I want to hear more of your stories. Do you hear me?” She bowed her head and closed her eyes. They opened to face his wound straight on.
She placed a hand on his chest beside it. “He’s breathing! He’s—”
The ambulance pulled to a stop and the paramedics were hurrying toward them. She stood up to provide them room.
“He is breathing. You can save him.” Back to Higgins. “Chief, we’ll be talking about this over a drink. Everything is going to be f—” Then the revelation struck her. Barnes had a rifle when he came downstairs. The size of the wound wasn’t from a rifle. Being in the basement must have muffled the sound of the shot.
She ran over to Terry where he was with Barnes, waiting for medical attention.
“He’s armed. He has a handgun.”
Madison yanked on Barnes and ran her hands over him. She came to the Smith & Wesson he had in his pocket. “You fucking son of a bitch!”
“You cops are fuckin’ stupid.”
Rage filled Madison’s vision, blinding her. Images flashed, the actions she wanted to take, the consequences. Was it worth it? Her attention trailed over to Higgins. Paramedics had placed oxygen on him and worked to secure him on a stretcher.
“You don’t know any—”
She hammered the butt of the weapon into Barnes’s injured shoulder and it had him buckling to the ground.
Terry pulled him up. “I was just about to search him.”
She motioned for Tendum to come over. “Glove up and take this. Don’t kill yourself.” When he was ready, she handed him the gun and hurried back to Higgins and the paramedics. “He’s going to be okay, right?”
“We will let you know.”
“I’m coming with you.” She passed a glance to Terry to make sure he heard her.
Tendum came to the back door of the ambulance as the one paramedic swung the doors shut. “We’re full,” he said.
Madison caught the young officer’s face in the crack before the door shut and it’s a good thing it was only an instant because she likely would have said something she’d regret.
Higgins would be okay. He had to be.
-
Chapter 54
SOMEHOW THE SIRENS DIDN’T SEEM as loud inside of the ambulance, but they served as a background noise that underscored the severity of the situation.
Madison watched the paramedic work on Higgins, trying to staunch the blood flow, trying to keep him awake. Machines beeped and an intravenous was established.
Her heart pounded in her chest and pulling in air felt like a thousand little needles puncturing her lungs. She remained speechless on the way to the hospital, afraid that if she said one word, somehow, she would jinx his survival.
Higgin
s’s eyes opened briefly but fluttered shut.
The paramedic worked animatedly over him, reaching for this vial and that, shooting each, in turn, into Higgins.
She wanted to reach for his hand, but she had to let the paramedic do his job to save her friend’s life. Somehow she had to think positive, many people swore by the benefits of doing so and she was willing to try anything.
The ambulance slid to a stop under the overhang for emergency as if it were a jet plane that had just careened to a graceful stop on the runway.
The back door flung open and the two paramedics had Higgins unloaded and wheeled into the hospital in seconds—and each one counted.
She heard their words as they hurried.
“Cardiac arrest…”
“Right to surgery…”
“Know we’re coming…”
She stood there, watching after them, feeling lost and incompetent. There was nothing she could do.
Lights flashed and a cruiser parked behind the ambulance. Tendum got out and jogged toward her.
“How’s he going to—”
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough already?” There was nothing this young recruit could say to bring Higgins back to her, nothing that could retract the bullet, nothing that could reverse time and consequence.
“This wasn’t my fault.”
Madison’s earlobes heated with anger. “It’s not about blame. It’s about a man’s life. You let an armed man continue on. A woman is dead because you let him go.”
Tendum ran a hand through his hair. His face was pale, and when he spoke, his mouth sounded pasty. “I couldn’t do any—”
“The man had shot an officer. You’re to stop the threat, even if that means you shoot to kill.”
“It wasn’t that simple.”
“It’s always that simple.”
Tendum turned to the side and he vomited on the walkway. He ran the back of a hand across his mouth. “He shot Higgins. He held his gun on me.”
His eyes were bloodshot as he recounted the story. He was physically ill as a result of the day’s events, but Madison found it hard to conjure empathy.
“Higgins may die…because of you.”
“It’s not my fault.”
“You’re not made for this job. If I were you, I’d think about what to write in your resignation. If you don’t, you can bet I will make your life hell. And if you pray, Tendum, you better have started because if that man doesn’t make it—” She pointed to the hospital, the rest of her words not forming aloud, as she went into the cool, bright light of the waiting room.
-
Chapter 55
HOURS PASSED. Terry and every off-duty officer, along with ones in the area, were there too—a brother had just been shot.
Barnes had been hauled downtown, and even if his gun didn’t match to the ravine bodies or Douglas’s maid, he was involved in a shooting now. He’d live the rest of his life behind bars.
She glanced over at Terry periodically, wondering if she should come clean about how her memory had returned, but now wasn’t the time or place. She would tell him, though. At least, she knew she could answer the question that had haunted her for days—who had pulled their gun first.
She shot to her feet. “This is crazy. Why hasn’t any—”
A doctor came through swinging doors that were labeled Emergency Surgery Room 2. He was dressed in a teal blue uniform, a mask dangled around his neck and rested on his chest, but what had Madison’s attention more, was his age. He appeared to be too young to carry the responsibility of life in his hands. He looked all of twenty-six, not much older than Tendum, who sat slumped in a chair, his head resting on his hand.
The doctor approached and glanced at Madison and Terry. He settled on her when Terry took a few steps back.
“Mr. Higgins—”
She knew he kept talking, but she focused on his body language, on his eyes—they were wary. He was wringing his hands.
“...it’s going to be touch and go for a while.” His eyes probed hers as if he had sensed her drifting and analyzing.
“So, he’s going to make it?” The words thrashed in her chest, the emotional implication of the question not lost on the doctor, who gave her a brief smile.
“He has a good chance, but the next twenty-four are going to be critical. He needs his rest, but if one of you wants to go in for a short visit, in about twenty minutes, then that should be fine.”
Madison’s hand went instinctively to her heart. He was going to make it. The tough dog had come out the other side of a bullet. Relief tugged the corner of her mouth, but uncertainty reined in the emotion and prevented its full formation. “Thank you, Doctor.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll send a nurse out in about twenty minutes.” He walked away.
Madison spun to face Terry. Worry had added years to his appearance or was it merely a reflection back of how she felt? She had to think positively, or she would go over to Tendum and strangle him.
He must have sensed her watching him. He raised his head and connected eyes with her. When he made a motion to get up, Madison held up her hand to keep him there and went to him.
“He’s going to be fine.” She wanted to add, no thanks to you.
Relief washed over Tendum’s features, and his blue eyes a little brighter. “Thank God.”
“He’s still not in the clear, but I’m able to go in and see him in a few minutes.”
Tendum straightened. “I didn’t mean for any of this happen.”
Terry brushed her elbow as he positioned himself beside her. “Things happen, Officer, things outside of our control, but first and foremost, we keep our brothers safe. You got that?”
Madison picked up where Terry left off. “Sounds like a recruitment speech, but it’s the truth. We’re a family. I mean, look around this hospital, it’s a sea of blue. Brothers and sisters come together when one has fallen.”
“You think I’ve failed the brotherhood.” Tendum’s voice was low and fractured.
She angled her head and made sure she had his full attention. “I’ll leave that for you to figure out.” She walked toward the mass of hallways branching off the emergency area like tentacles.
Footsteps tapped behind her on the tile flooring.
“You were a tad harsh on the kid.”
She stopped and turned. “Terry, Higgins might die.”
Silence fell between them. The time absorbed honest contemplation over the severity of the situation.
Tears stung her eyes and she shut them to will them away. She was stronger than this.
“I know you really care for him—Higgins,” Terry said softly, tamping around delicate ground. “But it wasn’t Tendum’s fault, and you know it.”
“What I know is that an officer is fighting for his life. One other person never had the opportunity. It all could have been prevented.”
Dawn Barnes was pronounced on site by Cole Richards. When that rifle fired, she didn’t stand a chance.
Madison resumed walking. She didn’t even know why she was on the move. It was difficult to stay still as if that represented giving up.
Terry pulled back on her shoulder.
She let out a deep breath, crossed her arms and turned around.
“You know it’s not his fault,” he said.
“Detective Knight?” A nurse called out her name.
Madison ran toward her.
“This way.” She led Madison down a hallway and stopped outside of a room marked 113.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. The doctor said to keep it brief.”
Madison nodded and went inside, prepared to see her friend, fallen and broken. Reality was much worse. On both sides of the bed, tubes fed to him from machines. Blood and medicine were being pumped into him. His eyes were shu
t.
“Reggie.” Speaking his first name was her natural response to seeing the man without his uniform, to her innate connection with him.
His eyelids fluttered and, seconds later cracked open. “Mad—”
She put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Chief. Save your strength.”
He looked up at her.
She feared smiling, in case emotion overtook her.
“We’ve got the guy who did this.”
He blinked acknowledgment.
She noticed how pale he was, how his eyes were clouded. She preferred to replace the current reality with how she knew him—a fighter, an amazing cop, and an even better human being.
She squeezed his arm. “You’re going to come out of this, my friend.” Emotion fractured the last word, but she dared to continue. “Now, you’re just going to have something to brag about. How you are Superman.”
“Don’t forget to tell that to the ladies.”
Madison laughed. “I’ll be sure to.”
Reggie Higgins had never married. He had dedicated his life to Stiles PD. He dated women but always considered himself ‘on the market.’ He liked things that way. Maybe that’s partially why Madison was drawn to him. Or it could have been the fact that he had been the one to shape her career.
“Remember when you were my FTO?”
“How could I forget being your field training officer? You were so stubborn. And I wondered where they got you from. You were a girl.”
“You noticed, huh?” Madison laughed.
“Right away. I took a lot of flak for it.”
“You did. I was the first Stiles PD had. It was like the nineteen fifties around there before me. I brought you guys into the twenty-first century.”
“You’ve done so much more than that.” Exhaustion had his eyes closing briefly.
She swallowed roughly. Tears hindered her vision. Maybe it was okay if this man saw her emotion.
“You were inspiring. You still are.” Madison had to steer things back around to the positive, to the future, not to the past, dwelling on it as one does memories when those involved are no longer around.
“You just keep on, Maddy.”
Just Cause Page 22
