Small Town Angel

by K'Anne Meinel

“Outside,” he ordered ominously, waving the gun.

  Amy couldn’t take the chance, not with the children there. With one last look at the two of them, a glance for their now covered mother, she turned and opened the door. She saw a grinning and happy lab wagging its tail behind the storm door. She opened it to slip outside before the dog could come in, she didn’t need Toby getting shot by her deranged brother. He’d do it too, just out of spite.

  Bobby Ray had closed the space between them so she couldn’t slip outside without him and was right behind her. He didn’t see the lab and found himself tripping over the beast. His balance wasn’t good from the blow to his head and he found himself trying to regain it against steps that went downward. He didn’t dance that well and was flung to the hard, snow filling ground. He was out cold and the gun was flung from his senseless hand.

  Amy was startled as this all occurred in an instant and she had the sense to go down the steps and retrieve the gun so Bobby Ray couldn’t have it again. She slipped the safety on and quickly ran up the steps towards Toby who was looking guilty over his imagined crime. She patted him idly as she held the door and the two of them rushed into the cabin. Amy found both children already on the floor trying to revive their mother.

  “Mom, Mommy,” Bailey cried desperately as he rocked her now exposed head in his arms.

  “Mommy,” cried Heather pitifully.

  “Let me see?” Amy asked quietly, slipping the gun into her jeans pocket discretely so the children wouldn’t see it.

  “No, you left her to die!” Bailey accused trying to ward her off.

  “I had no choice,” she told him calmly as she pulled the rest of the blanket aside to see the wound. It looked nasty and was bleeding profusely, dark blood that meant something major. Using the corner of the blanket she pressed it to the wound, to hold in the blood that wanted to leak out. “He made me,” she explained as she tried something, anything to save Abby’s life. They needed her, they all needed her.

  The children stared as the life of their mother began to fade away. They all heard the sirens.

  “Heather, get Toby on a leash and keep him away,” Amy ordered before turning on Bailey. “Lead them in here and tell them to hurry!”

  The children, feeling useless, scattered to obey her. Amy looked down at the pale face of her girlfriend. The woman who had taught her what love was all about. Not the love of a friend, like she had for Landon. Not the love of a parent like she had with her children or Amy had with Grams. But real love, between two people, regardless of their gender, the kind that she’d never experienced before. The kind of love that loves regardless of the secrets one keeps, regardless of who you are or were.

  “Ma’am, we got this,” someone tried to pull her away from where she was holding the blanket against Abby’s midriff.

  “She’ll bleed out,” she argued but she was finally pulled away while the first responders did their thing.

  In no time at all the cabin was full of not only the deputies from town and the Federal Agents who had stayed to protect them, but soon others began appearing. Abby was hustled away in an ambulance but they refused to allow Amy or the children to go.

  “Did someone arrest Bobby Ray?” Amy thought to ask when they kept questioning her. They had found Noah in a pool of blood in the addition, tracks as Bobby Ray slogged through it, unknowingly creating a path to the main room of the house.

  “The man on the ground outside?” someone asked her, she didn’t know who, she hadn’t gotten names.

  “Yes, did you arrest him?” she asked concerned that he had gotten away.

  “He’s dead,” he stated for affect, to see her reaction. They were disappointed as she sat down on the couch in relief. Both children put their arms around her, their earlier fear that she didn’t care if Abby lived or died alieved. She was the only adult that cared about them at the moment and she put her arms around them as well and hugged them close. She was furious that these law enforcement officials wouldn’t let her go with Abby to the hospital. She had to know if Abby would make it!

  “What’s going on here?” Terry asked from the door, holding rolled up copies of paper. He looked about curiously.

  “And who are you sir?” someone asked him officiously.

  “I’m Terry Lenoir, I’m the contractor here,” he offered quickly. He looked around and saw not only the bloody tracks leading into the main room but a shaken up Amy and the kids. “Are you okay?” he asked her concerned.

  Amy had an idea and she stood up giving both kids an equal squeeze on their shoulders. “Terry, did you have two employees recently join your crew?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, a redheaded guy by the name of Bill and another guy by the name of Noah, has something happened to them?” He glanced about concerned at all the officious looking people.

  This confirmed the story that Amy had been trying to get across to the law enforcement officials. She’d told them what she suspected but they still wanted to grill her five different ways to find a hole in her story, a lie. As she had lied about her past before, they were suspicious.

  “Do you have their employment applications on file? Did they tell you where they were from? How long have they been working for you?” The questions came fast and furious and from three different mouths.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on there,” Terry tried to back up but they were on to him wanting information.

  “Why don’t we take this up at the police station while you wait here,” one of the Federal Officers stated to his partner. “And wait for forensics,” he indicated the bloody footprints and the room at the back of the cabin.

  “I am not going to the police station. I am going to the hospital. And if you don’t want to arrest me and Abby Shipman’s children, I suggest you get the hell outta my way,” Amy told them in no uncertain terms.

  “Hospital? Abby? What the hell happened here?” Terry asked wonderingly as he looked around the room.

  “Those two men you hired were my brother and brother in law. They tried to kidnap me tonight and I fought back. Abby tried to defend me and Noah shot her. She was alive when she left here a little while ago but these…gentlemen,” she sneered at the term. “Wouldn’t let me leave without a full questioning.” She said it all clear and succinctly, barely a trace of her accent. She wouldn’t let them interrupt, not this time. “You can arrest me if you want, but wait until the children have seen their mother?” she asked sarcastically as she urged the children towards the front door. Grabbing the children’s jackets she ordered, “Put these on,” to the children and dared any of the officers to stop her.

  “We can take a formal statement from you Ms. Sleuter…” began one of the Federal officers.

  “Adams, my name is Amy Adams,” she told him angrily. “When will you get that through your thick skull?” the accent was back and he nearly winced at his mistake.

  “Can I drive you Amy?” Terry offered chivalrously.

  “No thanks Terry, there is no room in your truck. I think these gentlemen will want your employment records,” she finished with a hint of derision over something so trivial holding them up.

  Terry acknowledged the incongruity of the request to see their employment applications but he also knew if they were asking him questions, they wouldn’t be bothering Amy and she needed to get to the hospital. He didn’t know how bad Abby was but he was certain Amy needed to be there and not here. He nodded to her as he mentally wished her well.

  “Don’t let the dog or cat get out,” she said as she pulled the storm door shut behind her. She ushered the children to the SUV and told them, “Get in your seat belts,” before she herself got behind the wheel.

  Driving erratically she worried that the snow would impede her somehow. When she felt herself slipping on the road she slowed down. At the next stop sign she put the vehicle in 4-wheel drive. She didn’t need an accident on top of the events of the evening. Slowing down though meant that it would take longer to get there and she felt in her gut she didn�
�t have the time.

  The hospital was busy with other people who didn’t know how to drive in this first snowfall of the season. Abby had explained it to her once, they needed one or two snowfalls before the residents were seasoned enough to drive on it and less accidents occurred. The ambulance had just pulled in again when Amy and the kids parked and hurried into the Emergency Room. The area was in chaos, from people who brought themselves in with imagined injuries to family and friends trying to find out about those in accidents.

  Amy made her way to the counter, holding tightly to Heather’s hand so she wouldn’t be lost in the crowd. “Abby Shipman? I’m here for Chief of Police Abby Shipman?” she asked.

  “Are you family?” she was asked automatically.

  Amy never hesitated, nodding she answered, trying to cover her distinctive twang, “Yes, I’m her sister and these are her children.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out,” she was told.

  Amy hadn’t realized that her voice would carry as she began to recognize people from town.

  “Did you say Chief was brought in? What happened to Abby? Was she in an accident?” was asked of her before she could fully turn around.

  “Abby was shot,” Amy told them, not telling them that the Chief had taken the bullet for her. That her own brother had shot her so that Amy would go with him willingly. Everyone in town knew something was up; the Feds weren’t as discrete or unnoticeable as they thought. Everyone had known the strangers. Amy was no longer a stranger after living there a year. She could see she was, if not among friends, at least concerned citizens that knew not only Amy but certainly knew the Chief of Police, Abby Shipman. Anything she said would be texted, phoned, or otherwise spoken about. The whole town would know in a matter of hours what had happened. Abby explained about the two who had lied to Terry Lenoir on their employment applications, she figured that way Terry wouldn’t lose any business or prestige from being duped. She explained that her brother and brother in law had come to fetch her home, that she didn’t want to go and they had gotten ornery. She didn’t tell them that she had shot her brother in law or that her own brother died tripping down stairs. She left that for the rumor mill that was sure to follow.

  “Ms. Shipman?” the nurse called and Amy turned at Abby’s last name. Realizing the nurse assumed she had the same last name as Abby she went forward, both children glued to her side. “I’m Abby’s sister,” she lied again.

  “Come with me? The Doctor will see you now,” the nurse told her and opened a door that was normally kept locked between the reception area and the treatment rooms.

  Amy held both children’s hands now, hoping the news was good. They wouldn’t want to talk to her if Abby wasn’t alive now would they? They showed her into a small waiting area and a doctor was already there.

  “Ms. Shipman?” he asked holding out his hand.

  “Adams actually,” she corrected, trying not to sound so southern. “I’m Abby’s sister,” she repeated for the third time that evening. She knew no other person would get to see the Chief otherwise. The state wouldn’t recognize a same sex partner and they hadn’t been far enough along in their relationship to have medical powers drawn up. “These are Abby’s children,” she said to play further on his sympathies.

  “Ah, Ms. Adams, my apologies,” he began and Amy’s heart sank at his tone. But he went on, “The Chief was shot and we’ve had to remove part of her liver. She’s bled a lot but we think she will make a full recovery.”

  “You can live without part of your liver?” Amy asked unsure.

  He nodded and added, “Yes actually you can. She was very lucky. We’ve removed the bullet but as I said, she lost a lot of blood and it will take time for her to recover from that. You can see her if you wish, but only a moment.” He glanced at the children so she understood why it was only a moment.

  “That’s fine,” she said and nodded that she understood.

  They were shown to an ICU bed where Abby lay. She was hooked up to many machines and for once looked small in a bed. She was very pale. She did not wake up from their visit, even when Heather tried to crawl up on the bed to give her a kiss.

  “Easy there darlin’, let’s not jar the bed,” Amy warned her as she looked on in horror at her girlfriends pallor. If the doctor hadn’t told her she should recover, she wouldn’t have believed him. She knew they had just let the three of them see her for their own well-being. Abby was still unconscious not only from the loss of blood but from the emergency surgery they had to perform to remove the bullet. “We can visit your mom when she’s feeling better and awake,” she promised.

  “She’s gonna die isn’t she?” Bailey asked on the ride home. It took much longer as the roads were heavier with snow and there didn’t seem to be any snow trucks on the road plowing it away. Heather had fallen asleep already in the back seat.

  “No, the doctor said she should recover,” Amy responded surprised, the boy had been right there when the doctor spoke to them.

  “He didn’t give you any signal or anything?” the boy asked.

  “You watch too much television,” she told him with a laugh. “Your mama is gonna be just fine,” she hoped her words were true. There might be a host of things that could still happen to her. She crossed her mental fingers as she concentrated on the road.

  “You love her don’t you?” he asked next.

  Amy was feeling uncomfortable. She wasn’t raised in a family that said, ‘I love you,’ too often. You just knew it. You didn’t speak it. She knew that only the truth would satisfy the boy this time. “Yes I do love your mama, very much.”

  That calmed him somewhat and he was silent the rest of the trip back to the cabin.

  When they arrived there all the official vehicles were gone except for one.

  Amy used her key to get into the cabin where all the lights were on. It was cold inside and she carried Heather to her bed, to put her down for the night. “You wash up and go to bed too,” she ordered Bailey who wanted to find out what they were doing in the addition.

  “Can I help you?” a voice confronted her officiously from the plastic separating the addition from the rest of the cabin.

  “I live here,” she asserted.

  “Oh, we didn’t think you’d be back here tonight,” he said conciliatorily.

  Amy walked into the room through the plastic, shocked at the mess in the room. Not that it had been clean before with saw dust and building debris but they’d removed the body of her brother and were now dusting everywhere for prints and still taking pictures. “Can’t you finish this up? You’ve had hours,” she complained.

  “It takes as long as it takes,” one of the others stated.

  Amy rolled her eyes. She was tired, it was late, and she was worried about Abby. She intended to go back to the hospital as soon as she got the children off to school. They’d tried to argue they should go with her in the morning but she told them they could go after school. Turning from the distasteful scene and the blood still staining the wood floor she slipped through the plastic again and headed to the old master bedroom to change for bed.

  * * * * *

  The kids tried to argue again the next morning that Abby would want to see them; Amy argued that their Mom would want them to go to school and see them after school. It went back and forth but she won as she bundled them in the SUV and headed them off to school. There was a team still investigating she could see so she didn’t bother locking the house up.

  “Hey, do you think we can get back to work soon?” Terry stopped her on the road, glancing at the vehicles in her driveway.

  His beat up construction truck was belching noise and she had to shout over it to be heard. “Your guess is as good as mine,” she rolled her eyes. “Did they question you some more?”

  He nodded but glanced at the children who were avidly listening and leaning forward to see him through the driver’s side window. “Well, call me if you hear anything?” he said meaningfully and then thought to add, “H
ow’s Abby?”

  “They had to remove part of her liver, did you know you can live without part of that?” she asked trying to make it sound light for the children’s sake. “I’ll let you know,” she dismissed as she waved back towards the cabin and drove on. She arrived at the school just as the bell was ringing and she went in with the kids so that the school would know what was going on with their Mom. They already knew, but then, that was what small towns were about.

  “Oh you are such a saint for taking care of these wee ones,” the school secretary intoned, sounding slightly Irish.

  “Of course I’d take care of them,” Amy assured her stoutly, curious as to what they thought but then realized she didn’t really care.

  Amy hurried back to the hospital, noting that the odd and freak snowstorm had finally stopped but saw several instances of where cars had to be hauled out of the ditches. She drove carefully and steadily until she was pulling into the hospital. Anxious to see if Abby was awake and begrudging the need that sent her home to sleep, she’d have stayed all night but for the children, she took the stairs instead of the elevator. Arriving slightly breathless at the room that Abby was in she was alarmed to hear raised voices. She hesitated to enter.

  “We should have been informed instead of finding out about it on the police computer,” a male voice was saying accusingly.

  “If I had wanted you to know, I would have had you on my list of contacts,” Abby said, she sounded weak.

  “But we are your family!” an exasperated woman’s voice said.

  “Really and how often have you come to visit me and my kids?”

  “Well, there was that unfortunate matter…” began the woman’s voice.

  Amy had to wonder if this was Abby’s parents and figured this was her cue to make her presence known. She walked into the room and made for Abby’s bed but a man immediately grabbed her arm, halting her progression.

  “This is for family only,” he told her in a firm voice.

  “Dad, this is my partner,” Abby protested weakly from her bed.