by Nancy Adams
“No, señor,” he answered politely. “However, you are also not free to leave. As my officers informed you—Oh!” he then added in afterthought, “I forgot to introduce myself: I am Police Chief Sanchez.”
He stuck out his hand and Jules shook it. David and Juliette merely sat together in tearful respite and looked at the hand when it was offered to them as one would gaze at a poisonous snake. The police chief simply smiled at this and retracted the hand. He’d been informed that the wife was ‘mentally unfit,’ as it was put to him by one of Sam’s men when he was contacted with this particular job.
“So, as I was saying,” Sanchez went on, “I was commissioned with the job of retrieving you for Sam Burgess. Earlier today, my men were doing a routine check of the freeway and that is when they spotted your vehicle and acted. I hope that you didn’t find their treatment unsatisfactory. You must understand that we couldn’t risk your evasion, so the handcuffs and guns were a necessary precaution.”
“What happens now?” Jules asked next.
“A member of Sam Burgess’s team is moments away. They will arrive in a helicopter and I am informed you will be flown to a local airport before being taken by private jet to Colorado.”
“Why Colorado?”
“Mr. Burgess’s men were most insistent that you know everything you need to know, so I will tell you what they told me to tell you. In Colorado you will be taken to Mr. Burgess’s address there, where you will meet him and talk.”
“Talk!?” Jules let out in confusion.
“Yes: talk. This is what I was told to tell you. Apparently, he has taken a keen interest in your case and wishes to help you in any way he can.”
“But why?”
“This I do not know. All that I have told you is all that I know, I’m afraid. Anything extra you will have to take up with his men who are coming to fetch you.”
“Do we have any choice in this?”
“I am told to tell you that you do not.”
“So you’re saying that we’re now the prisoners of Sam Burgess?”
“You may choose to see it that way, or you could see it that you have a very resourceful benefactor who wishes to help you. Either way, you will be going to Colorado.”
Jules was gazing at the man in astonishment when he felt the light touch of his love’s hand take his forearm. He glanced sideways to see her gleaming emerald eyes gazing forlornly at him.
“Let them take us,” she implored softly to him. “I want to go back to Colorado. Let them take us home. Then Danny can get better and we’ll be happy.”
Jules smiled at her and a shiver ran through him that produced tears in his eyes.
“Okay, honey,” he wept gently, “we’ll go home.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Claire was at the hospital holding the trembling hand of her mother. June was sitting up in bed, glaring blankly into space, her face completely dull, as if she still saw Joe standing before her with the gun against his temple. Claire kept offering her soothing words, but the woman hadn’t spoken since it all, and her daughter’s words appeared to fall on deaf ears. Not one word seemed to break through.
Having gotten Jordon out of there and to the hospital, another paramedic team saw to the others and quickly diagnosed both Agnes and June with shock, clearing Claire of anything, the girl having not felt it all quite as harshly as the older women. Of the two women taken in, it was June who clearly suffered from the most severe shock. The woman was practically unresponsive when the paramedics had first gotten to her, and had remained so throughout the ambulance journey and now at the hospital. Even when the nurses removed her clothing, Claire helping with the process, and bathed the blood from her, June had simply gazed forward into an abyss of nowhere, the sight of her dying husband forever stained upon her eyes.
Claire looked up from her mother as the door to the room was opened and in came Sam holding two coffees. She immediately smiled at him as he set them down on a small table and then took a seat next to her.
“I take it she’s still not said a word,” he inquired in a soft tone.
“No, nothing,” Claire replied, before turning back to her mother with a benevolent look.
“It’s like the nurse said; she’ll gradually come out of it.”
“I hope so, Sam. I really do.”
Sam placed a loving hand over her free one and kissed her delicately on the temple. As the three sat there in tepid silence, there was a knock at the door and all but June’s eyes flashed toward it. Sam let go of Claire’s hand, got up and went to see who it was.
On the other side he found Sheriff Daniels, twisting the rim of his hat about in his hands, a sorrowful look upon his features.
“It’s a little too early for statements I think,” was the first thing that came to Sam’s mouth.
“No. No,” repeated the sheriff, shaking his head in a dejected fashion. “You misunderstand. The statements can come, all in due course. That stuff can be left alone for another day. It’s just, Sam—I can call you Sam, can’t I?”
“Of course.”
“Sam, it’s just that me and my wife have known Juney Prior for a very long time, and my wife wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t at least come in and see how Juney is for myself. I heard from the doctors that she’s in real bad shock. I’d like to see her for a moment.”
“I’m sure she’d appreciate that, sheriff.”
“Call me Tony.”
“She’d like that, Tony.”
With that Sam guided Sheriff Daniels into the room and the man looked upon June’s terrified state with benevolent softness, before glancing at Claire and saying his hellos.
“What they say?” Daniels asked as he gazed back at June’s wide, staring eyes.
“They say,” Claire began, “that physically there’s nothing wrong with her, so that’s a plus. But they also say that she’s had a terrible shock and it’s caused her to go into cataleptic shock. They have a psychiatrist coming soon and he’ll diagnose her before giving her medication that may help.”
“Hey, Juney,” the sheriff called out softly, directing his eyes at the unfortunate woman, hoping to break through.
After several minutes gazing at her with a compassionate smile, the sheriff shook his head and came and sat down on a chair that Sam guided him to. When he sat down, the old man looked terribly despondent, shaking his head and repeating that it was “a damn shame.” The events of the morning had obviously affected him greatly. First there had been the discovery that one of his closest friends for these past twenty years was a sex offender, and that he, Sheriff Daniels, would have to be the one to bring him down. Then, after that, Joe had gotten bail and within the space of three hours of his arrest, had gone on a rampage, gunning down a man, before shooting himself. What was the world coming to? he asked himself as he sat in the hospital room, glancing occasionally at the mesmerized June.
Sam felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and excused himself from the room.
Out in the corridor he answered. It was John Ryan.
“We got them, Sam.”
“Oh that’s awesome!” Sam let out, feeling a sudden release of joy. “That’s the best news I’ve had in a long, long time. How did it go down?”
“Mexican police spotted the car. Arrested them. They submitted and were taken to a local station, treated well. Our guys have just gotten to them and are loading them onto a helicopter. They seem fine, the female’s a little shook up, but the doctor we sent with them has given her a sedative to help her rest. The male claimed that the Mexican’s were fair and—”
“What about the boy?” Sam interrupted.
“The boy is fine. Apparently looking forward to riding in a helicopter and then a jet plane. Appears he’s never flown before.”
Sam instinctively grinned at this news.
“John!” Sam let out with ecstatic joy brimming over inside of him. “If you were standing here before me I would take your cheeks in both hands and kiss those cherry lips of you
rs!”
“Just a pay raise will do, boss.”
“And a pay raise you shall have. Tell all the boys it’s bonus time.”
Then John’s tone went very serious and he said, “I hear one of my boys, Jordon Sale, took a bullet. You any the wiser about his condition than me?”
“He’s still in critical,” Sam replied, “but the bullet went straight through him, puncturing the right lung with no other damage. The operation went well and he’s stable. They say that by morning, he should be out of critical and on the mend.”
“That’s good to hear. Jordon’s a good kid.”
“Yes, he is.”
“How’s everything else?” John asked. “How’s the mother?”
“She’s still unresponsive and the shrink will be here soon to assess her. Hopefully she’ll snap out of it in the next few hours.”
Just then the door of the room opened out into the corridor and Sam glanced over to see Sheriff Daniels leaving, Claire seeing him out. “Damn shame,” the man continued to mutter as he nodded a goodbye to Sam and went on his way. Claire gazed across at Sam and noticed his happy face, her own expression turning to one of confusion as she didn’t know what his grinning expression really meant.
“I gotta go,” Sam said to John. “Call me if there are any developments.”
“Will do, Sam. We should all be at the Cliff Face within five hours.”
“Okay—and again, John: thank you.”
Sam snapped his phone shut and put it back into his pocket.
“What’s the matter?” Claire asked, still a little unsettled by the smile.
“Come,” he said reaching his arm out and ushering her back into the room, “I’ll tell you inside.”
They went into the room and sat in two chairs alongside the bed, June’s condition unchanged.
“So what’s up?” Claire asked once they were seated.
Sam took both her hands delicately in his and said with joy, “They found him.”
Claire’s eyes immediately widened.
“You mean they have our son?”
“Yes. They’ve just collected them. They’re bringing the family out to the Cliff Face as we speak. They should be there within five hours.”
“My God!” Claire let out, tears sprinkling from her eyes, her hand rushing over mouth.
She leaned forward and Sam took her in his arms, holding her tightly as she wept with joy. So much had happened to her in these last few days that she felt that she had been running a trial; a trial of her very soul. So many blows had she been forced to take that she wept with relief more than anything else. Relief that the trial was coming to an end. That she had been forced through much, but had survived, and the clouds appeared to be parting, sunshine flooding down upon her head.
And it was at that very moment that Claire felt a hand touch her back softly and stroke it. She opened her eyes sharply and saw that both of Sam’s were wrapped around her, so it couldn’t be him. She slowly pulled herself away from him and looked to her side. There, on the bed, she saw her mother gazing down at her with a benevolent look, her hand still stroking Claire’s back.
Claire instantly got up, pulling herself fully from Sam, who looked at her stunned.
“Ma!” Claire cried out, making Sam glance at the mother as well.
“You found your son?” June asked in a confused voice. “The child you said you had. You found him?”
“Oh, Ma!” Claire cried and took ahold of her mother in her arms, weeping with wild relief.
Sam merely stood up and watched the scene with a smile, feeling a light open up in the room, making everything seem that little bit brighter, that little bit warmer.
“Where’s Agnes?” June asked from within her daughter’s grasp.
“She’s in with Beth and George. But she’s talking and not so bad as you were. You feel okay now?”
“I gotta go see Agnes,” June said, as if ignoring Claire’s questioning, or not hearing it at all, her mind buzzing too loudly with innumerable thoughts.
“Agnes is okay, Ma,” Claire informed her mother as the old woman attempted to get out of the bed, her weak, shivering body failing her, and falling back. “Ma, you need to stay in the bed for a moment. You’ve had a big shock. Plus, you’re only in pajamas.”
“But I gotta go see if Agnes is okay. I gotta apologize to her. I should never have brought her in on this. I need to say sorry to her.”
“But you need to let the doctor see you,” Claire stated before turning to Sam and asking if he could go and get the doctor.
When he’d left the room, June continued to offer feeble resistance to her daughter, until she finally gave in. She sat there gazing into space again and Claire wondered if she hadn't returned to her former state.
But as Claire began to panic, June turned sharply to her and exclaimed, “I slapped you,” before falling into a pool of tears and placing her arms around her daughter.
“He hurt you,” her mother continued to sob, “and I hit you for it. I’m no better than him.”
“Don’t you ever think that, Ma,” Claire said firmly. “Don’t you ever think that. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You are far braver than you’ll ever know.”
“I thought he was gonna shoot me, sweetie. I really thought he was gonna go through with it. And poor Agnes…what will she think of me now?…What will the neighborhood think of me now?”
“They’ll think that you were a hero,” Claire assured her. “It will be you who will be remembered as the wife who had the tenacity to take down her own husband, who chose righteousness and justice over her own husband.”
“But what about you? He hurt you and I did nothing.”
“You did all of this the moment I came to you with it. That’s not nothing.”
“But I should’ve know long before that.”
“Ma, I love you with all my heart and don’t blame a drop of this on you. For my sake, and the sake of my love for you, you gotta get thoughts like that out of your head. You’ve been through so much.”
Then a sudden thought hit June, her mind getting clearer by the second, the shock dissipating.
“Have you spoken to your brother?” she burst out.
Claire shuddered slightly and opened her eyes wide.
“Oh, my!” she let out. “In all the shock, I completely forgot about Kyle. He’s probably seen it all on the news.”
“You have to tell him,” June said in a panic.
“I will now.”
Claire grabbed her phone from the side. It was switched off for the moment, and when she turned it back on, she found countless messages from Kyle. She called him up and her brother replied immediately.
“Claire,” he exclaimed in a worried tone, “what’s going on? It’s all over the news. They’re saying that dad was arrested this morning and then let out on bail and that he then went to Agnes’s shot some guy and then himself. They’re saying that mom was there, where is she now?”
“She’s okay. She’s sat beside me.”
“Can I speak to her?”
Claire handed the phone to June and the mother began sobbing down the other end, assuring her son as best she could that she was okay.
“I’m gonna be on the next flight over, Ma,” he said when she’d reassured him that she was okay. “You just get better, okay? And I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay, son,” she sobbed. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Ma. Stay strong and I’ll be there by tomorrow.”
June passed the phone back to Claire.
“What happened?” he asked straight away.
“Can you wait until you're down here with us?”
“But they say you were there with Sam Burgess. Why would he be there? They say that the man that was shot was working for Techsoft’s security branch. And why was Dad arrested? The police haven’t even released a statement yet. They’re saying that a source claims that it was about images found on hardware belonging to him. What’s going on? Why ha
s my father just blown his brains out in front of my mom?”
“Mom found some really disturbing stuff that Dad had stored on a memory stick. She did the right thing and took it to the police. Joe—Dad—was charged, but he pleaded not guilty and was given bail. But the moment he got back to Robert Peterson’s place, he got a gun from the house, took Robert’s car and came to Agnes’s. He must have found out somehow that mom was there. I had Sam Burgess put someone with her and that’s who Dad shot.”
“But what’s Sam Burgess got to do with it?”
“Because that’s who I’m with now.”
“You’re dating Sam Burgess!?”
“It’s more than that…we’re in love.”
“I don’t get it…everything’s spinning…”
At that moment the door opened and in came Sam with the doctor.
“Look, Kyle,” Claire said down the phone, “the doctor’s here now to see Ma. I’ll call you back the moment he’s finished.”
“Okay, Sis. Speak soon…and, Claire?”
“Yeah, Kyle?”
“I love you, Sis.”
“I love you too.”
Claire put the phone down just as the doctor was beginning to ask June a few simple questions.
“What’s your name?” was the first.
“June Prior,” she answered as he shone his pencil light into her eyes.
“Your address?”
“10 Springfield Road, Wood Creek, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the United States of—”
“That’s okay, Mrs. Prior, just the first few lines will do. And can you tell me where you are, Mrs. Prior?”
“I’m at the city hospital. I was brought in with shock. I am a nurse, you know.”
“And you feel better now?”
“Better, he asks! My husband just shot himself right in front of me. How am I supposed to feel?”
“I’m sorry, June,” the doctor said in a compassionate tone. “I just meant to ask if you feel a little better than you did when we first brought you in.”
Claire stood at the side of the bed softly rubbing her mother’s arm.
“He’s only trying to help, Ma,” she said.
