Burn to Ashes

by Brynn O'Connor

  “You find her?” I ask.

  “What did you do Kari?” His tone is full of accusation. “What the fuck did you do?”

  Oh shit! He never swears. He must have learned something really horrible. My heart starts to pound and my head begins to throb again. Suddenly I can’t breathe. What is happening to me?

  “Kari, what did you do to her?” Mike is asking again.

  “Nothing. This guy from the Sons stabbed her. Is she alright?”

  I know the answer to that question without even asking. His tone has already told me she is either dead or gravely hurt.

  “She was stabbed in the abdomen and shot in the chest. When I poked my head in they were ventilating her, although she had a pulse. I gather they’re trying to stabilize her for surgery. There’s no exit wound so the damage from the bullet will be considerable.”

  Oh my god. Instantly tears are pouring from my eyes. My chest is constricting painfully and I can barely breathe. My little sister is dying and it’s all my fault! Why did I have to go to Marco’s room? I should have just placed an anonymous call like my sister suggested. If she dies I’ll never be able to live with myself; ever!

  “You still have a gun Kari, don’t you?” Mike asks.

  “I didn’t shoot my sister!” I protest.

  “Well it wasn’t the person who stabbed her.” He replies.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because, whoever stabbed her wouldn’t suddenly change his mind and shoot her afterwards. Of if she was shot first he wouldn’t stop and put away his gun to stab her instead; it makes no sense.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” I ask. I have this sinking feeling I know why.

  “Because it’s what the police are going to figure out. How did you shoot your sister Kari?”

  “But I didn’t…” I reply, but my response lacks conviction. There’s a chance in the dark and when I was totally panicking that I may have hit her instead of Marco or one of the whores. Actually it’s the only reasonable explanation.

  “Kari, you need to get yourself a lawyer and turn yourself in. If your sister dies… Well you’ll do time for it.”

  “But if it even happened it was an accident.” I protest.

  “What exactly happened? Did he or they finally find where you were holed up? As long as they were in your room you can claim self-defense and say it was dark, you guys were trying to save your lives and it just happened. That is what happened right?”

  The less he knows the better right?

  “Kari?”

  “Are you going to tell the police?” I ask. I have to know if he is going to throw me under the bus. I wouldn’t blame him. I used him and suddenly just took off. He has every right to be angry.

  “I’m not saying anything I don’t have to say so don’t tell me what happened if it didn’t go down like I just said.”

  “It…”

  “Kari don’t say another word. Get a lawyer and turn yourself in. I’ll try to keep you in the loop about your sister but once they connect me with her and you I won’t be able to contact you. You understand right? I can’t get implicated in this mess Kari. You’re on your own.”

  Then he just hangs up without saying goodbye. On impulse I chuck my phone across the room. I can’t believe this is happening. My sister’s in the hospital and I can’t even go visit her. If she dies I can’t even go to the funeral. Maybe I should turn myself in. Or maybe I can call Adam. He always knows what to do. He may be even more pissed off than Dr. Mike though. I dumped him for Mike and haven’t talked to him since. Calling him may not be an option after all.

  I stretch out on my bed and close my eyes again but I can’t stand the darkness. I feel like it’s closing in on my threatening to swallow me up. I get up and turn on all the lights including the bathroom one. I lie back down again but sleep has fled far far away. When the sun comes up I watch the light seeping in between the curtains. So much light around me and I feel like the dark is right here ready to pounce on me. Once I’m in its clutches there’ll be no coming back to the light for me. I thought I was miserable when my sister was in Ripper’s control but this…this is far worse. I cannot believe I just started shooting blindly. Who knows who else could have been hurt by bullets going through the paper thin motel walls?

  I don’t know how many hours I have been sitting in this room unmoving before my phone rings again. When it does I snatch it up.

  “Is she okay?” I bark into the phone.

  “And hello to you too.” Adam replies.

  Chapter 6

  Phone Calls

  Oh crap! I was not prepared for this. Of all the people I’d rather not talk to, Adam’s at the top of that, probably too long¸ list. I don’t know what to say to him.

  “Is she going to make it?” Adam asks.

  Finally I find my voice. “How did you find out?”

  “A certain doctor called me and told me she is at the hospital.”

  That must have been one uncomfortable call.

  “Was a pretty uncomfortable call…Gotta say, I was surprised to hear from him. Know anything about that?”

  “I didn’t put him up to it if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “It’s what I was asking. So how is she doing or don’t you know?”

  I just know that they were trying to stabilize her so they can do surgery to remove the bullet and repair any damage caused. I don’t actually know if they’ve done the surgery or not.”

  “Did you shoot your sister?” Adam asks point blank.

  “I guess so. It was dark and we were fighting for our lives. He was attacking us so I just shot a couple times after he stabbed my sister. But she was lying on the floor before I even took one shot so I don’t see how I could have hit her. You still have the gun?”

  “Yes.”

  “Get rid of it somewhere where it’ll never be found.”

  “They can’t really pin this on me can they?”

  “There’ll be evidence all over the room. At the very least they’ll know your sister was in there as well as a man and at least one other woman. They’ll know at least two shots were fired from a 9mm hand gun and that your sister did not pull the trigger. That’s already them knowing too much.”

  “They’ll be asking your sister lots of questions soon as she is well enough to talk and if she’s under pain medication she may get tripped up and reveal your presence there. The two of you need to talk as soon as she recovers enough to. I’ll try to get a burner phone smuggled into her room when she is able to talk. You’ll have to work out a story to keep you out of trouble.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask. “You have no reason to be nice to me after I left you hanging.”

  “We can talk about that later. First we need to find how Anna’s doing and then make a game plan. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”

  “Thanks,” I say as he ends the call.

  I get up and begin to pace around the room. Hearing Adam’s voice again has its effect on me. The second I recognized his voice my heart begins to pound and I get this fluttering in my stomach. Here I am, supposed to be thinking about my sister and I’m thinking about Adam instead. The next four or five days are hell. I have to stay out of sight and no one comes to visit me. Once in a while I get a hurried phone call and food gets dropped off at my door but for the most part I live a hermit’s life. By the time a week has passed I’m an expert on Survivor Vanuatu, American Idol, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, and just about every other reality based TV show.

  Then one day my phone begins to ring. It’s right here in my hands but I just can’t seem to answer the call. I haven’t spoken directly to my little sister since I accidently shot her; right after Marco knifed her. To my knowledge he hasn’t thrown me under the bus otherwise I would have appeared on the evening news. I guess there is the distinct possibility that she doesn’t even know I had a gun and she may even think someone else in the room is responsible for shooting her. Who knows how she spun her stor
y for the police.

  “Hi Anna.” I answer just before it goes into voicemail.

  “Kari.”

  “How are you doing?” My mouth is so dry from nerves I can barely manage a single word much an entire sentence. My tongue keeps sticking to the top of my mouth and my lips keep getting stuck on my teeth.

  “Fine.”

  She doesn’t sound fine. In fact I’m pretty sure she’s a long way from fine.

  “Are you in pain?” I’m pretty sure I know the answer to that question as well.

  “No more than normal for being stabbed in the stomach and shot in the chest. Which one of the whores was packing a gun?”

  Holy crap! Does she actually think they shot her and not me? This just may be a lot better situation than I was thinking.

  “I don’t know…”

  “It’s weird…I can see it now, those two kids really coming out of the bathroom without a stitch of clothing on but I never saw the gun. And where could a couple teens have gotten a gun anyway right?”

  “I don’t know. Adam tells me there’s a huge black market for guns so I guess pretty much anybody can get one these days.”

  “Including you?” She asks.

  I know that tone of voice; it’s accusatory. She doesn’t believe they had a gun and she’s trying to get me to admit I shot her. At least I think that’s what’s going on.

  “Yeah…if I wanted a gun I suppose I could get one.”

  “For someone who can steal a car getting a gun shouldn’t be too difficult right?”

  “Why don’t you just come out and say it. No more beating around the bush.”

  “Okay. Fine, here it is. You shot me. I don’t know how. I didn’t even know you had a gun and I don’t remember seeing one last night either. But yeah, I think you accidently shot me.”

  Well at least it’s out in the open now. Question is…do I tell her she’s right? At least she’s well enough to be pissed off at me.

  “Just because I own a gun doesn’t mean I shot you. Besides we were there to verify he was there and with hookers, that’s it. Then we were going to place an anonymous call and be done with it. So I’ll ask again happened?”

  “Don’t you remember the hookers? They came out of the bathroom and surprised us. One of them screamed and Marco woke up swinging.”

  “So there was two hookers right? Which one had the gun?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I guess that sorta makes sense, except, why would they take a gun with them into the bathroom?”

  “Maybe they were afraid of Marco and were leaving.”

  “I guess-. Wait a second Kari, the police just walked in.”

  “Keep the phone on. I want to hear what they have to say.”

  “Fine.”

  “Anna, my name is Detective Quinn and this is my partner Detective Collins. We’d like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

  “I’m kinda tired actually,” my sister tells them. “And anyway, I already gave my statement to the other guys yesterday.”

  “Yes, we read their report. We just wanted to see if you had remembered anything else.”

  “Since yesterday?” Anna replies. “No, I don’t remember anything new. I was just about to go to sleep so-”

  “We won’t be long then. We just wanted to let you know that we picked up one of the girls that were there the night you were shot.”

  “Oh…wow.”

  “Yes, what a surprise.” Detective Quinn says. “What’s even more of a surprise is that she claims there was another person in the room with them.”

  “Well y-yeah,” Anna replies. “I told your guys there were two girls with the guy.”

  “Yes yes, we saw the report,” Detective Collins says. “But the young lady says there was another woman besides her and her friend.”

  “No…just me. Look, it was all confusing.” Anna back pedals. “It was dark, in the middle of the night. I’m not even sure how many people were there.”

  “I see. And what were you doing in that room?” Asks Detective Quinn.

  “I was looking for my friend. I just walked into the wrong room, that’s all.”

  “I see. So who had the gun then?” Quinn asks again.

  “One of the girls.” Anna says.

  “Do you think you’d recognize the girls if you looked at some pictures?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Take a look.”

  There’s a short pause, then my sister speaks up.

  “That’s her. She was in the room and she had the gun.” Anna declares.

  “She had the gun? Are you certain?” Asks Detective Collins.

  “Absolutely!” Anna proclaims.

  “Interesting…” Detective Collins mutters.

  “What’s interesting? Anna asks.

  “Well, there was no gunshot residue on her hands and no back spatter anywhere on her or her clothes.”

  “What are you talking about?” Anna says.

  I can tell from her voice she is becoming alarmed. If she loses it here I’m in trouble.

  “What I mean is,” Detective Collins says. “The person who shot the gun would have had gunshot residue on her hands and you were shot at close range. The girl would have been splashed with your blood. She had neither residue nor your blood on her or her clothes that we were able to recover.”

  “I don’t know…W-what are you s-saying?” Anna stammers.

  She’s losing it. They’re cornering her and she’s gonna totally lose it. I can barely stand to hear this and I’m tempted to just hang up but I have to know where things stand with the investigation.

  “We’re saying that the girl you identified cannot have been the shooter nor could she have stabbed you. She didn’t have a spot of blood on her or her clothes.”

  “Then it was the other girl who shot me.”

  “Had to be.” Detective Collins agrees. “And we’ll know soon enough. We’ve sent a car to pick up the other girl. We should have her statement anytime now.”

  “Oh…uh g-great.” Anna says.

  There’s a pause and neither detective nor my sister are talking, and then Detective Quinn begins talking again.

  “Ah, we’re in luck!” The detective says. “The department just sent me a picture of the other girl. She says she was there that night. Take a look.”

  There’s another pause. Anna must be looking at the picture.

  “I can’t be sure.” Anna replies. “It was dark and everything happened so fast.”

  “But you were sure about the other girl,” Detective Quinn replies. “How could you not be sure of this one?”

  “I guess because the other girl was closer to me.” Anna says.

  “Really, because I’d have thought this girl was closer. You claim she’s the shooter so she’d have had to be damn close to you, and still you don’t recognize her?”

  I can tell from Detective Quinn’s voice that he doesn’t believe her.

  “Can I see her picture again?” Anna asks.

  Then after a brief pause.

  “You know what, that is her.” Anna says. “I remember now, she’s the one with the gun. I just didn’t really look too close before.”

  “She’s the shooter.” Detective Collins says. “You’re positive she is the one who had the gun?”

  “Positive.”

  “Impossible!” Snaps Detective Quinn.

  “What?” Asks my stunned sister.

  “She didn’t have any gunshot residue or back spatter on her clothes or on herself. There is no way possible she could have either shot or stabbed you. Why are you lying to us Anna? Who are you protecting?”

  Oh shit! They totally set her up and caught her in a lie. I am so fucked here if she starts spilling her guts. She cannot throw her own sister under the bus.

  “It was an accident,” Anna says. “She didn’t mean to shoot me.”

  “Who?” Asks both detectives simultaneously.

  Then the line disconnects.


  “Fuck! Fuck…fuck…fuck!”

  I look down at my phone. She purposely stopped the call so I wouldn’t hear her rat me out. I thought it would be Dr. Mike that gives me up but instead it was my sister. My own flesh and blood is going to send me to jail; the bitch!

  Chapter 7

  Some Good Advice

  I am so totally screwed here. I have to call Adam. He’ll know what to do.

  “What’s up?” Adam asks when I get him on the phone.

  I give him a quick rundown of the conversation between Anna and the detectives.

  “Call Doctor Mike. Maybe he can persuade Anna to not name you as the shooter.”

  “It’s too late.” I protest.

  “You sure about that? How much time passed between your sister spilling her guts and you getting me on the phone?”

  “Well…fifteen minutes I guess. I tried you three times before you finally answered.”

  “They would probably have called you by now.” Adam concludes. “Since they don’t know where you are they’ll have called you.”

  “But they do know where I am. My sister would have told them.”

  “Yet you’re standing there talking to me and not in jail.”

  “So maybe she didn’t rat me out?” I ask, not daring to hope.

  “They could still come. You better get out of there. Just grab your purse and get out. Call me when your about five blocks away.”

  “Okay.”

  Crap! On the run again. I grab my purse, and then see my overnight bag sitting on the floor. Some of my favorite clothes are in that bag. I’m not leaving it.

  Two minutes later I’m walking down an alley towing my bag. The street is a disaster. It’s so uneven that my bag keeps tipping over and half the time I end up dragging it. At the end of the Alley I’ve had enough. I pick the thing up and heave in into a nearby dumpster. Hopefully they won’t find it before a homeless lady does.

  I wander for a couple more blocks before running into a mini mart on the corner of Fourth and Divisidero. I call Adam and give him my location. I only have to wait ten minutes before he pulls up on his Harley Davidson. Without a word he hands me a spare helmet. Soon as I’m seated he takes off like a bat out of hell. Fifteen minutes later we’re winding around through the Oakland hills. Ten minutes later we stop in front of a vacant house with a realtor’s for sale sign out front.