by Jessie Cooke
The sound of the gunshot made her body jerk, and a scream tried to escape from her injured throat. Simultaneously with the shot, the big man fell off her and she clutched at her neck and began to gasp for air. She tried to sit up, and the blinding pain in her side joined forces with the pain in her neck and her inability to breathe…and suddenly, the lights went out in her world.
40
“Can’t you go any faster?” David was sitting on the bench in the back of the ambulance, holding Kat’s hand. She had passed out, but she was still breathing, and he watched each rise and fall of her chest as the ambulance made its way to the hospital. It was only a matter of blocks, but the traffic was incredible.
“Almost there, sir,” the EMT who had started the oxygen flowing for Kat, started her IV, and was now monitoring her vital signs told him. The sound of the siren in David’s ears was almost as deafening as the gunshot in that tight little space in his apartment had been. After shooting the man that was choking Kat in the head, David pushed him all the way into the floor and ignored the body until the ambulance got there with two uniformed officers. One of the cops knew David, and David told him they’d have to arrest him to keep him from going. Neither of them was willing to do that, and the one David knew was calling Kyle as he followed the gurney carrying Kat out the door.
“She just had surgery,” David said.
The EMT nodded. David wasn’t sure but he thought he might have told them that already. “I informed the RN; they’ll be ready for her when she gets there.”
“How far out are we?”
“Less than five minutes,” the EMT said. David’s eyes moved from the rhythm of Kat’s chest up to the finger marks on her throat. A knot formed in his throat and he swallowed it down to his stomach. He never should have left her alone. What the fuck was he thinking? After he and the detective left the bar, he’d dropped the detective off at his car. They’d both taken one of the proofs with the photographer’s information on it, and Detective Munroe was going back to New Orleans while David worked on tracing him from his end. He was actually feeling proud of himself when he walked into the apartment. But, when he heard the noises coming from the bedroom, the hair on his arms and the back of his neck rose instantly. He’d taken out his service revolver and as soon as he rounded the corner and saw the man choking Kat, he shot him. One shot to the head and the man’s brains exploded out the other side. David was glad the assailant was dead, but he prayed that he hadn’t too late to save Kat.
The ambulance finally pulled into the bay at the hospital and the doors were pulled open. Kat was pulled out, and the EMT talked to the nurses or doctors or whatever they were, the whole way. David had followed them as far as the inside door when he was stopped by one of the nurses and told he’d have to wait in the lobby. His first instinct was to refuse…but he didn’t want to do anything to delay Kat’s getting the help she needed. His eyes filled with tears as they took her away and he saw the spot of blood on the front of her t-shirt. Her surgical incision was bleeding and even if the attacker hadn’t done any damage to her spine or trachea, her liver could still be in danger.
David went into the waiting room and called Detective Munroe. He briefly told the detective what happened. “My flight doesn’t leave for three more hours. I’m going over there.”
“My brother should be there and the detectives who catch the case will be there by now too. Keep me posted on what’s going on, will you?”
“Yes. Thank God you got there in time.”
David swallowed around the new lump forming in his throat and said, “Just pray that it was in time.” As soon as he ended that call, his phone rang. It was Kyle. “Kyle? Are you at my apartment?”
“Yeah, I’m here, Dave. The detectives need to talk to you, bro. You shouldn’t have left.”
“I need to be here for Kat. That piece of shit will still be dead when I make sure she’s okay, and then I’ll talk to them.”
“I get it,” Kyle said, but David wondered if he really did. “They’re just not happy you left. I’ll do what I can to smooth things over, but one of them has already called your sergeant.” Sergeant Troy was a fair man, and he and David got along well. David had no doubts he’d be in his corner.
“Who caught the case?”
“McFarland and Reese.”
“Tell them that he was trying to kill her. I walked in, saw it, and shot him once in the head.”
“Will do, little brother. Do you need anything? I can call Angel…”
“I’m fine. Just stay there while they process the scene, please. Kat has blood and tissue under her fingernails. His blood is probably all over the bed…his pre-shot-to-the-head blood.”
“I will, David. Don’t worry about the scene. You have enough to worry about with Kat.”
“Thanks, Kyle.”
“No problem, little brother. I hope she’s okay.”
“She will be…she’s fierce.”
Kyle chuckled. “That’s one thing about Kat we can agree on. I’ll talk to you soon.” David ended that call and spent some time pacing the waiting room. Knowing that it would probably be hours before they came out to talk to him, he gave the girl at the desk his phone number and went up to see Dillon.
Dillon was out of ICU and in a private room. David tried not to think about how much this was all costing Kat. She must have given the hospital a deposit, but every time David brought it up, Kat changed the subject. When he walked into Dillon’s room, he was pleased and surprised to see him sitting up and watching television.
“Dillon, damn, you look good.” The yellow tint to his skin was still there, but almost so faint now, you had to look hard to see it.
“David! You look good too. Where the hell is my daughter?”
David sat down next to the bed and said, “Can I ask you a question first, Dillon?”
“What?” he asked, suspiciously.
“Did they explain to you about the liver graft?”
“They said I had a living donor. I’m a thankful son of a bitch right now.”
“The donor was Kat.”
“What? Katrina donated part of her liver to me?”
David nodded. “She did, and she was at my place recuperating when…she was assaulted, Dillon. She’s in the ER.”
“Oh my God!” Dillon tried to sit up, but all the wires and monitors he was hooked up to prevented it. “That’s why she hasn’t been here?” He had tears in his eyes. “I thought…fuck! Why didn’t they tell me? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Hey, you’ve been confused and out of it. I’m sure someone has told you, but no one, including Kat, blames you for not remembering. Take a deep breath and try to relax. I’m going to keep you posted on Kat. The truth is, I might have waited until she was out of the ER to even mention this to you, but…”
“What, David? You’re scaring me.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to. I am having a hard time figuring out how to say this. I shot the man who assaulted her. I killed him.”
“Good.”
David nodded and said, “Dillon, I’m pretty sure it was the same man that killed your wife, Kat’s mother.” Dillon’s face went pale, and David was regretting talking to him again. He sighed and said, “I was just afraid the police would come in to talk to you and they wouldn’t be able to give you the full story.”
“I don’t understand. How do you know this man killed Victoria? How did he find my Kitty-Kat?”
David told Dillon about his investigation, the detective from New Orleans, and their theory about the tattoo artist. He led up to coming home and finding the man assaulting Kat. Dillon’s tears had been replaced by a look of anger by the time David finished talking. “I’m sorry you killed him,” Dillon said.
“You are?” David asked, confused.
“Yeah. I wish I could have pulled the trigger myself.” They were both silent for a few seconds and then Dillon said, “Thank you, David. She’s lucky to have you.” A tear rolled down his cheek as he said, “Sh
e doesn’t have anyone else.”
“Stop it, Dillon. Kat loves you. She’s practically lived in this hospital for weeks now, worrying about you. And, she gave you a piece of her liver. Do you think she would do that if she didn’t love you? The past is the past and we all make mistakes. But Kat knows you did the best you could, and she knows you love her.”
“You really think so?” Dillon asked him.
“I do,” David said. “I’m going to get back down to the ER but I promise I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thank you,” Dillon said again. David left and when he got back to the emergency waiting room, two detectives and his brother Kyle were waiting for him.
“I’ve told you everything. Can I get back to the ER now?” David was frustrated. The detectives were from a different precinct and they both seemed to have a chip on their shoulder about something. When he originally refused to go to the station with them, they had threatened to arrest him if he didn’t. Kyle was the one that encouraged him to go, but now David had told the story three times and they still weren’t satisfied…not to mention that he hadn’t seen his brother since they got there. They kept harping about the gun, which he told them he turned over to Kyle…yet neither of them would leave the room to find out what Kyle did with it. He knew the gun never should have left the scene. He knew he never should have left the scene, but any cop with any compassion would understand. He was at the end of his patience with these two and he was about to do or say something stupid that would get him arrested when the door opened and another cop said:
“His attorney is here.”
“He didn’t ask for an attorney,” one of the detectives said. David looked up and saw Angel come through the door. She was dressed in a cream-colored suit with a pencil skirt, silk blouse, and matching jacket. She stood almost as tall as both of the detectives in her five-inch heels, and her long hair was pulled up into a professional-looking bun. She had a leather briefcase in her hand.
“He doesn’t have to ask for one,” Angel said. She looked at David and asked, “Are you okay?” David nodded. “Is he under arrest?” she asked one of the detectives.
“No.”
“So he’s free to leave?”
“He came here voluntarily.”
“Oh, really? Is that what you call coercing him with a threat to arrest him if he didn’t? And where is his peer counselor? Have you called his division and spoken to his sergeant? He’s a police officer—you know that, right?”
“Yes, we know.”
“I’m surprised then at how he’s being treated. We’re going now. If you’d like to talk to my client again, you can call me for an appointment.” Angel threw her card down on the table.
“What about the fact that he left the scene?” the detective with the most attitude asked.
“Did you ask him why he left?”
“Yes. He said to go to the hospital with his girlfriend.”
“Then you have your answer.”
“It’s against protocol.”
“Are you going to arrest him for it?”
“No,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Good. His sergeant can and will deal with that issue.”
“And there’s the gun.”
Angel sighed. “His brother turned the gun over to the desk sergeant as soon as they came in. Why do you not know that?”
“Because we’ve been in here with the suspect…”
Angel slammed her briefcase down on the table. “Suspect? This man is a respected member of the Boston Police Department. Just because he works in the lab and not on the streets doesn’t make him less of a cop than either one of you. I’m appalled at the lack of empathy I’ve seen here. This man walked in on his girlfriend being strangled. Would either of you not have done the same thing he did? Are you seriously going to try to make a case other than self-defense against him?” When they didn’t answer her, she picked up her briefcase. One of the detectives reached for her card. He was looking at it when she said, “We’re leaving.”
“Angel Marshall…Dax Marshall’s old lady?”
David saw the fire in his sister’s eyes as she spun around on the cop. “It’s Mrs. Marshall to you. I am a board-certified attorney for the state of Massachusetts. Who I am married to is of no concern of yours at all. But, despite that, I’ll answer your intrusive question. Yes, I am Dax Marshall’s ‘old lady’ and I’m proud as hell of it. Come on, David, let’s get out of here.” David suppressed a smile until they got outside and found Kyle waiting for them.
“Our sister is a badass,” he told Kyle with a grin.
“You’re not just now figuring that out, are you?”
David put his arm around Angel. “Nope. I always knew you were a badass. Thanks, sis.” He turned to Kyle then and said, “And thank you. I appreciate the hell out of both of you being here. I have to get back to the hospital now.”
“It’s what family is for,” Kyle said.
“You’ll get my bill in three to five days,” Angel told him with a wink. David left the police station smiling. He loved his family no matter how dysfunctional they could be.
41
Two Weeks Later
“Hey, girl, how are you feeling?” Kat was taking a batch of cookies out of the oven when Dax walked in. She smiled at him and set the cookies down.
“Good as new. I’m ready to make some money. I haven’t gotten any calls from the posters we put up in town; have you?”
Dax went over to the coffee pot, took a mug off the tree, and poured himself a cup. “Sit with me?”
“Not a promising answer.” Dax had paid for Kat to make a full-color poster for her new business, and between her and the prospects, they’d plastered them all over Dorchester. Kat was planning a trip into downtown Boston with David over the coming weekend and she planned on putting more up there as well.
He grinned at her and sat down at the table. “Sit. I just want to talk.”
Kat wiped her hands on the cup towel and went over and sat across from Dax. She suddenly remembered what David was doing earlier that day before going into work. “Oh, no! Is David okay?” He had asked Dax to teach him to ride a motorcycle. He was thinking of buying a Harley. Kat thought it was sweet and a little bit hilarious. Suddenly she was worried, though.
“He’s fine. We had a good lesson today. He only dumped it once.”
Kat smiled. “That’s my boy. Okay, so what’s up?”
Dax took a sip of his coffee and sighed. “Vinnie Tucci.”
“What the fuck? Is there anything you don’t know?”
Smiling again he said, “Not if it happens in my town.”
“Seriously, who told you?”
“I’ve been doing my own research. Kat, we all know you couldn’t afford that surgery for Dillon—even Dillon knows. He asked me to look into it after I already had people on it. You made a trip out to California. That was easy enough to find out. From there…well, I had to get creative, but once I traced the cash to Tucci, he was more than happy to talk to me.”
“That fucker. Why was he happy to talk to you about me?”
“He’s funding an HBO show. It’s called ‘Rebel Hearts.’ Have you heard of it?”
“That biker show? I heard it sucks balls.”
Dax laughed. “Yeah, I watched an episode of it at his request. It may as well be made by Disney.”
“So what does any of that have to do with me and my agreement with him?”
“He needs a consultant. He’s offered the job to me.”
“Wow, well…that’s cool, I guess. Tucci is kind of a bastard to work for, though.”
Dax chuckled. “So am I. He wants me on set for the filming of this entire season. It’s filmed in upstate New York so it would be a lot of traveling for me. Angel could come with me sometimes, and Susie, so we could turn it into a family thing.”
“Cool, so is he paying you good money?”
“Well, there’s the part that involves you. I told him I’d only do it if he wiped ou
t your debt.”
“What the hell? No way! Dax, I owe that man a quarter of a million dollars!”
“I know. By the time you paid it back, if you ever could, you’d owe him half a mill. Kat, he would own you and frankly, I would’ve thought you’d know better.”
“I do know better. But Dillon was going to die, Dax. What was I supposed to do?”
“Come to me?”
She shook her head. “You have over a hundred people to look out for, not to mention a family. I wasn’t going to come to you over that kind of cash.”
“I would have figured out a way to help you.”
“I don’t doubt that. You always figure out a way.” And look fucking fine doing it, she thought. “But this was my problem—it still is. Take Tucci’s cash for your work and don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“You’ve been saying that since you were thirteen years old, Kat. All this time and you haven’t figured out that you’re our family too. Family is what it’s all about, and I won’t turn my back on you even if you beg me to. I’ve already talked to Angel. I’m taking Tucci’s job. Shooting doesn’t start for a few months and that will give me time to take care of…something I’m working on here. But he had one other stipulation before he’d agree to wipe the slate clean between you.”
“What was that? My father’s balls on a platter? My ovaries fried for his lunch?”
Dax chuckled and shook his head at her. “No. He wants you to work with the stunt crew. He said you don’t have to do the stunts, unless you want to. He wants you to make them look like…and these are his words…‘they’re riding a fucking motorcycle and not their mother’s ass.’”
