The Best of Us

by Ursula Gorman

  “Oh, we should still have plenty of time. Your bodyguard, Jenna’s brother I believe, went to get something to eat. Since the cafeteria is closed, he had to leave the hospital to get something, so I should have enough time to finally finish this.” The chord he’d been pulling out of his pocket was now stretched tautly between his hands.

  “Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I followed the tramp to the diner. She sat there at the counter, plain as day, discussing how Jenna had been stupid enough to leave you in charge of the store. You…CARLY…a pathetic excuse of a woman.” He chuckled. “She doesn’t seem to like you very much.”

  “Well, like I said, if you hadn’t re-opened Treasures, I wouldn’t have had to stop you. You could have gone on with the rest of your life; now, you will have no rest of your life.”

  The man moved fast. Carly had been steadily bunching up her blanket and as he moved in toward her neck, she pulled the bunched-up blanket to her neck, putting a barrier between her and the chord. She could feel the pressure, but it wasn’t cutting off her oxygen as he’d intended.

  He growled, grabbed the blanket and, after a pathetic attempt to stop him, pulled the blanket away. She tried to struggle, but she was still so weak. He got the chord around her neck and leaned in, applying his body weight to the chord. Carly tried to get her fingers under the chord, but it was too tight. She couldn’t breathe.

  She saw a sudden bright light, and for a moment, thought she was seeing heaven. But the door to the room had opened and the hall light was spilling into the room. Carly’s vision started to dim and she knew she couldn’t hold on any longer.

  The pressure was suddenly gone from her throat. She painfully gasped for air through her burned throat into her burned lungs. Her eye sight was even worse than before. She couldn’t see what was going on, but she knew there was a fight.

  “I told you, I just don’t feel good about leaving Carly alone. They still haven’t caught whoever tried to kill her.”

  “Look big brother, she is in the hospital, surrounded by dozens of nurses and doctors.” Carter had tried to talk him out of getting his order to go, but to no avail. So he’d ordered their mom some dinner too and they’d headed back to the hospital.

  “I’ll take mom her dinner then head on home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Carter said to Daniel as Daniel got off on Carly’s floor.

  “Give them both my love.” Daniel turned and headed to Carly’s room.

  When he opened the door, he was confused for a moment. Why would a nurse need to check on Carly without the lights on? Was something wrong with her eyes? Then he realized that something was wrong. The position of the nurse wasn’t right. He dropped his to go box, grabbed the man and swung him around. In the split second he had to take in the scene, he’d seen the man trying to strangle Carly.

  The man he’d grabbed came up fighting. He knew how to fight, and fight dirty. This was a man that fought to win at any costs. They fought fiercely, but Daniel lost his grip on the man when he hit Daniel with the side of his hand directly into Daniel’s throat. He couldn’t follow as the man ran out of the room. He stood there gasping and trying not to gag.

  Just then there was a lot of commotion in the hallway. A woman screamed and something shattered. Daniel stumbled to the hallway to see Stone and Harm subduing the man that just came out of the room. He wasn’t going to go quietly and the two men were having trouble getting him under control. Stone finally had to put his knee into the man’s upper back, at the base of his neck, to be able to gain any kind of control over the situation.

  Harm twisted the man’s arms behind him while Stone pulled out his cuffs and slapped them on, not very gently. Wright got off the elevator at the end of the hall to witness the end of the commotion. He hurried over and took over helping Stone with the suspect.

  Harm turned to where Daniel was leaning against the wall. He must have looked pretty bad because Harm yelled for a nurse. That’s the last thing Daniel remembered before the darkness over took him.

  Daniel woke up almost violently. He was in a hospital bed and the room was blindingly white. The shades had been opened and the sun was shining; the walls all but glowed from the sunshine bouncing off of them. He was alone.

  “Carly,” He croaked. He stumbled out of bed and made it to the doorway, his mind still fuzzy with sleep. He stopped in the doorway to get his focus when he noticed Harm flirting with a nurse at the nurse’s station.

  “Harm…” he tried to call out; nothing but a squeak managed to escape but it was enough to get Harm’s attention.

  “Hey little brother, what are you doing out of bed?”

  “Carly…” Again, nothing but a squeak.

  Harm must have been a mind reader to have made out what Daniel was saying, because he said, “Carly is okay. She had a bit of damage done to her larynx and won’t be able to talk for a bit. She will now have to recover from the burns to her throat and lungs and the damaged larynx. She has some ugly looking scratches from trying to dig at the rope around her neck, but they look worse than they are.” While Harm was talking, a nurse had brought over a wheelchair. Harm barely had to nudge Daniel into it for him to sit. Harm knew the sedatives they’d given him through the night weren’t out of his system yet; not if Daniel went willingly into a wheelchair.

  “Who…”

  Harm chuckled. Left Daniel sitting in the wheelchair and jogged over to the nurses’ station. He said something to the cute nurse he’d been flirting with and she handed him something. He jogged back and handed Daniel a pen and paper.

  ‘TY. Who? Why? Is it over?’

  “First, you’re welcome.” Harm responded to Daniels use of text talk to say thank you. “Who and why should wait until we are all together. Let’s go see if Carly and Carter are up for visitors.” At Daniels confused look, Harm explained, “We didn’t want Carly to be left alone. So we drew straws. I got stuck with you and Carter got to sit with Carly.”

  Carter looked over at the door as it opened. “Well, well, look who we have here.”

  Carly turned to see Daniel and smiled. He couldn’t help but notice the red whelps on her neck but managed to hide his knee jerk reaction of anger since Harm had warned him. What he hadn’t expected was the broken blood vessels in Carly’s eyes. He should have known though. He’d seen some strangulation victims at a couple of his fire calls. People thought fire covered the evidence, sometimes it did, and sometimes it didn’t.

  Daniel got out of his wheelchair while Carly scooted over and made room for him. He lifted the covers and got in with her. It was very snug, but they didn’t mind. Carly couldn’t help but think that this isn’t how she expected her first time in bed with Daniel to be; especially with two other men in the room. She couldn’t help when a tiny giggle tried to escape, but it came out more as a growl.

  Daniel looked at her questioningly, but all she could do was smile. Everyone’s attention was drawn to the door when Detectives Stone and Wright entered.

  “Good morning.” They said in unison. Carter and Harm responded appropriately while Daniel and Carly just nodded.

  “Well, I bet you are all wondering what’s happened since last night.” Stone stood at the foot of the bed while Wright made himself comfortable in the only cushioned chair in the room. Carter took advantage of Daniel’s vacated wheelchair and Harm leaned against the wall.

  “I got a call last night that we had a hit on a partial fingerprint that had been found on the outside bathroom door knob in Carly’s apartment. It belonged to Lester Fielding.”

  Harm interrupted, “Fielding?”

  “Yes. Lester is the only child of Beatrice Fielding. All we were able to get out of him before he shut down was that Jenna killed his mom.” Stone looked around at the stunned faces. “He won’t say anything else. He hasn’t confessed, but we are building a pretty strong case. And with last night’s attempt on Carly, he’s not going anywhere.”

  Stone looked over at Carly, but she was writing furiously on a small notepad. As she finished with
one sheet, she’d rip it off and toss it toward Stone and continue writing. Stone read them as she finished each sheet. After writing nonstop for six pages, she was done. She watched Stone as he finished reading the last one. He looked up at her and gave her a sad smile.

  “I’m sorry this happened, but I’m glad you remember all of this!” Stone looked at the anxious faces in the room. “Apparently Lester told her why he’d continued his assault after he had killed Jenna. He didn’t want the store to be open. He blamed Jenna for firing his mom. My guess is when she committed suicide; he blamed Jenna for pushing her over the edge. He admitted to trying to destroy the store and for trying to kill Carly. He told her if she hadn’t re-opened the store, he would have never gone after her. He wanted her dead and for it all to be over.”

  They all talked, or wrote notes, for another thirty minutes. Stone and Wright headed out to get started on all their paperwork, which would be a mountain since they’d made five arrests in this one case; Trevor and Stefanie, Trent and Mason, and finally Lester.

  Carter and Harm decided to go check on their dad and let their mom come visit Carly and Daniel, but before they left, they had to razz their brother.

  “You know, this will probably be the only time that Daniel will be this quiet.”

  “I know; I could get used to it.” Carter laughed, but ruined it when he came over and gave Daniel a fast and hard hug. “I love you big brother.” He said in a low voice, but everyone heard him. He turned fast and left the room.

  “He’s been having a real hard time with this. He hasn’t really talked about Jenna, and then with dad’s heart attack, followed so closely by Carly’s near death in the fire, the attack on her and you here in the hospital…well, he’s having a hard time adjusting to it all. Not to mention he blames himself for making you leave last night. He’s very glad you insisted on coming back to be with Carly.” Harm turned to look at the door to make sure Carter wasn’t there. “He even went to the chapel here in the hospital.” Harm looked at Carly, “Jenna had been trying to get him back into church, but he said it wasn’t for him; looks like he might be having a change of heart.”

  “Anyway, I was arriving at the hospital at the same time as Stone and Wright. They decided to split up, not knowing if Lester would go after Carly or dad. There was a fifty-fifty chance, but since none of the rest of the family’s ever been targeted, Stone believed Carly was the target…I felt she was too, so while Wright went to check on dad, I came on up with Stone. I’m glad I did. I’m not sure either one of us could have taken him alone. He was strong, but he had desperation on his side too.”

  Harm gave Carly a kiss on the top of her head, and then gave Daniel one too. Daniel slapped at him and pushed him back. Carly laughed, and then groaned…at least, Harm thought that’s what she did, they sounded the same.

  He smiled at them, “Love you both. See you later.” With that, he turned and left the room leaving Carly and Daniel alone. They smiled each other and just enjoyed being in each other’s arms.

  Chapter Eight

  Six months after the reading of Jenna’s will, a letter was delivered to Carly. It was delivered by Jenna’s lawyer.

  Carly,

  Well, you probably think I’m silly for writing this, but then, you’ll probably never actually read it! I know, I’m obsessive, but that’s what makes me, well, me!

  If you are reading this, then you are probably wondering what I was thinking leaving everything to you and Daniel. HA! No, you know exactly what I was thinking. I don’t know if it’ll work, but at least you and Daniel will be able to work out your differences so you won’t have to stay away from your family. I love and miss you!

  But on a happier note, if things finally worked out as I’d hoped, you and Daniel will, not only have worked it out, but finally realized what I’ve known all along…you two are perfect for each other!

  If it worked, I wished I’d lived long enough to be able to say you are my sister in law…but then again, you’ve always been my sister, so I am blessed either way! I bet you two will have beautiful babies! Oh how I hope my plan worked.

  As for the store, I only saddled you two with it so you’d be forced to talk to each other. Do with it what you will. You can sell it if you want, but please, don’t sell it to Trent. I don’t want to go into why, but you can ask Daniel, he’ll understand.

  I’ve been trying to get my life in order. I’ve always been so proud of you and how you had your life under control…well, except for spending too many years avoiding my brother! (Sorry, couldn’t help it!) So today, I went to see my preacher. I took a bunch of items I know longer need and asked him to find someone in need. I’m hoping that a little good karma will help my life start turning around for me. (Quit rolling your eyes, I’m silly, but I still believe that God smiles on those that help others!) Anyway, the preacher said he knew of a young couple that had lost everything in their home when it caught on fire. They managed to get out, but all they had were their pajama’s on…I think the saddest thing he said was that they’d had to cut the woman’s wedding band off her finger because her hand was so badly burned.

  You would have been so proud of me! I gave my engagement ring to her. I knew it was the right thing to do! I had just picked it up at the jewelers the day before, but it only brought me pain. I hope it will only bring her joy! It’s a beautiful ring, and I’m happy with the thought of it bringing someone happiness. Anyway, I’ve finally got Trevor out of my system. I know, it took long enough! I haven’t told anyone I did it. I figured I’d just enjoy the freedom from the weight of having the ring without trying to explain why I gave it away. But I feel really good about it. Trevor will be royally ticked off when he finds out, but I don’t plan on letting him know right away. Let him stew over the idea that I have it. (I know, not very nice…but it sure feels good!)

  I don’t think you’ll ever see this letter, but if you do, know that you are the best friend I could have ever have asked for and I love you just as if we were blood sisters.

  Love ya, Jenna

  PS- If, by some miracle, my plan worked, and you and Daniel get married…name your first born after me!

  Carly spent the next hour crying for the time she lost with Jenna and the life that was ended too soon. She finally dried her eyes, squared her shoulders and went in search of Daniel. She had plans and needed to get started right away.

  Epilogue

  One year to the date of Jenna’s death, Treasures and Memories held its grand opening. With the insurance money, Carly turned Treasures into an upscale, but affordable picture studio and gallery. The building was essentially divided into two stores. On one side, was a picture studio where families, grads, and anyone interested, could come have their professional pictures done by a local girl that had made quite a name for herself.

  Carly’s work sold for hundreds, and sometimes, thousands of dollars. She was still highly requested for location photo shots, but she planned on being home most of the time. She was in demand enough that she could pick and choose her assignments.

  The other side of the store was a photo gallery. Carly took pictures all the time, those that weren’t commissioned ended up in her gallery. She had people driving from all over to purchase her work. It wasn’t commonplace for the general public to own an original work from a famous photographer, so people were willing to pay a pretty penny. But if you were local, Carly gave a huge discount…she would never forget where she was from.

  So, to honor Jenna, she incorporated Treasures into the name of the new store, and it still fit perfectly, as if Jenna knew it would. Carly couldn’t help but wish Jenna was here with her to enjoy this perfect moment. Carly was surrounded by friends and family. She’d even invited Glynna, trying to bury the hatchet, but Glynna wouldn’t have any of it. She caused quite a scene when Daniel and Carly became engaged soon after being released from the hospital, and had never spoken to either one of them since.

  The whole Wayne clan was here, Mr. Wayne looking healthier and happier
every day, his heart attack just a memory now. Even Harm and Carter had made sure they were in town to help celebrate. Carly’s parents were here, mingling and enjoying their daughter’s big night. “No,” Carly thought, “this evening couldn’t get better.”

  “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to say a few words.” Everyone turned to see a very handsome Daniel in a tux. He held up his glass and everyone quieted down to listen.

  “Thank you all for coming. My beautiful wife Carly has poured her heart and soul into this dream and I am so glad you could all join us in celebrating this moment.” He turned to smile warmly at Carly, “Carly, my love, I am honored to be able to share in your dream with you.” He turned back to the crowd, “And I would also like to say; Jenna would have loved to have seen this dream of Carly’s come true too. So, I’d like everyone to raise their glasses with me in a toast to the success of Carly, Treasures and Memories…and to my sister Jenna, who was the best of us!”