Borrowed Time

by CJ Lyons

  Josh looked in the rearview mirror at the dingy walls of the tenement behind them. “I’m glad I didn’t have to fight all that, just for a chance to grow up.”

  She turned in her seat to stare at him. “You do understand. Most don’t. They only know what they see on TV and in the movies.”

  “When you’ve patched together as many young bodies as I have, it makes you wonder about the future.”

  “Is that why you became a doctor, to try to change the future, one life at a time?” she asked, and Josh was well aware that now her eyes rested solely on him.

  All he could do in answer was shrug. But out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod slowly with a small, serious smile on her face.

  “Knew you were a control freak,” she said as if welcoming him into an elite corps.

  All he could do was smile in return, a warmth spreading through him for reasons he couldn’t quite fathom but that didn’t decrease his enjoyment.

  Kate had Lightner pull into the visitor’s space near the front door of the building that housed the Zone Five station house. She locked her Beretta in the glove compartment, then sat for a moment, looking at the solid brick building that resembled an elementary school more than a bastion of law and order. It was so difficult to accept that this place, a second home to her, was now foreign territory.

  “Better get used to it,” she muttered as she climbed out of the car. Get used to a lot of things losing their meaning once she wasn’t a cop anymore.

  Rolinson had the desk she saw once they passed through the metal detector and into the lobby. A few uniformed officers milled around, either in the process of coming or going, but no one met her eyes. In fact two men, both close friends with Phil Conrad, saw her and made a point of turning their back on her and walking away.

  A chilly silence descended upon the small area. Foreign territory indeed. Seemed like she was definitely persona non gratis. Probably had Turner to thank for that.

  Josh cleared his throat, obviously uncertain what the protocol was. Kate took pity on him and retrieved the visitor pass Rolinson handed her wordlessly. What would Jenn think if word of her father’s accusations got back to her? Kate hoped the task force meeting went quickly so that she could get out of there and go see Jenn.

  A cold voice cut through the commotion. Kate froze. Turner stood outside the door to his office and gestured at her.

  “Officer O’Hern, please come in, I’d like to talk to you now.”

  “Damn,” she murmured. She turned to Turner, met his beady gaze. “Sir, the task force is waiting for us. I don’t want to keep them—”

  “I really don’t think you want to keep me waiting.”

  Kate held her ground. No way she was going in there alone without witnesses. Turner raised an eyebrow at her insubordination and gestured to someone behind him.

  All eyes were now on her as he approached, followed by two men. Internal Affairs detectives, her own personal lynching party.

  “Very well, we’ll do this the hard way,” Turner said, a smirk flitting across his features. “It’s my duty to inform you that pending investigation, you are on inactive duty, Officer O’Hern.”

  “You can’t do that! I want my PBA representative, we’ll file a formal grievance.”

  “If you can find any one to listen to you on a Saturday, be my guest.” This time his smile was mirrored by the two men from IAD. “In the meantime, we’ll continue our investigation, so be sure you’re available for further questioning if we need you.” He held out his hand, palm up. “Your badge, O’Hern.”

  Kate stared at his outstretched hand as if it was a viper. Not a sound was to be heard but the silence was heavy, unfriendly. Slowly, she removed her badge from her jacket. She dropped it into his palm. It was only a piece of metal, had nothing to do with who she really was.

  At least that’s what she told herself.

  “That’s all for now. You may go,” Turner told her in a gracious tone of voice as if thanking her for stopping by for a chat. As if he hadn’t just taken the one thing most important to her.

  Imagining leaving the job was one thing. Actually losing her badge—and to Turner’s filthy lies—Kate was stunned, her cheeks burned as if they had been slapped. She had to get out of there before she hit Turner. Although the idea had some appeal. Her career was already over, how much worse could things get?

  CHAPTER 28

  Josh couldn’t believe what he was watching. Worse than a train wreck in slow motion. Everyone there knew what was going to happen, knew it was going to end badly, but no one intervened. He glanced around at the hard-set faces of the other police officers. They’d already condemned Kate, it appeared.

  As soon as Turner walked away, gloating, he moved to stand beside Kate. “Are you sure you’re up to facing the task force after all this?”

  “Yeah, let’s get it all over with.”

  Despite everything Turner had done to bring her down, she still held her head up high, shoulders drawn back. Josh followed her to the roll call room, watching her walk. No, not walk. Kate strode. Long, confident strides, hips swaying as if used to carrying weight on them, like an Old West gunslinger.

  She turned before opening the door, her guard slipping for one brief instant, revealing the fatigue and stress that weighed upon her. He couldn’t resist, he reached out, touching her arm for a long moment. Josh wasn’t even sure if she noticed. Her eyes went blank as she blew out her breath and inhaled once again. Then she straightened, his hand falling free of her body, and she opened the door.

  Roll call was a large, open room that reminded Josh of a basketball court without the markings on the floor or the bleachers. Instead, there was a large whiteboard on one wall and a long table in the middle of the room surrounded by a bunch of metal chairs. Enlarged photos of bullets and views of the homicide scenes were pinned up on the walls.

  Carter was there with several other police officers and detectives. Everyone was focused on a middle-aged woman in a tailored wool suit the color of autumn leaves. She was speaking, gesturing with her arms while she paced the room. She paused and looked up when they approached.

  Carter stood and held a chair out for Kate. She looked at him in surprise, and Josh surmised from the expression on the detective’s face that he had also heard of Turner’s accusations. Josh couldn’t help but wonder if the task force and the FBI were going to follow Turner’s lead.

  “This must be Officer O’Hern,” the woman said, coming forward and reaching a hand over the table to take Kate’s. “I’m Anne Ramsey, from the FBI. And this,” she indicated a balding young man sitting to one side, “is Special Agent Cohen. It’s good to finally meet you, Officer. I’m hope you’re feeling well after your ordeal.”

  Kate looked ill at ease, but nodded. Josh decided he liked Ramsey; she seemed to be straight forward, but not pushy. He noticed the way Cohen sat on the sidelines, where he could quietly observe everything and everyone and take notes.

  “Officer O’Hern,” Ramsey began. “I would be most interested to hear your account. Your feelings, your thoughts, not just the official version you gave for your report.”

  “I put everything in my report—” Kate protested.

  “I’m not suggesting that you didn’t, but every good cop has impressions, intuitions that are difficult to place into words or put down on paper. It is those insights that I’d like you to share with us.”

  Kate hesitated. How many times would they put her through this? Josh wondered, reaching under the table and wrapping his hand around hers. She gave his hand a quick squeeze, as if he was the one needing encouragement, before pulling away. She lay her hand on top of the table, flat, steady. The hand of a competent, capable police officer. There was nothing of the distraught woman he had comforted last night here, not in this room.

  “We were taking care of a minor traffic accident on Negley when the call came. We both knew the address, that place has been hit before. We pulled up, and Rob took up position in the alley beside
the store.”

  As she told her story in frank, unflinching tones, Josh had to fight to keep his face neutral. It was the first time he had heard the entire story. His mouth went dry as he remembered the chaos in the trauma room that night, straining to focus as he worked to reach the bleeding vessel with the vascular clamp while his other hand held her heart. Brown stains of Betadine and too-dark blood had glistened in the bright lights, gleamed against the whiteness of her skin. At one point, he had turned his head to bark out an order and for one brief, endless instant he had looked at her face, watched the faint blush of color return as her heart resumed beating and the blood they pumped into her began to circulate.

  Josh blinked hard. He’d been so close to losing her...

  The room was silent for a moment, and Ramsey took control again. “Thank you, Officer. You can all see how this fits into our profile.” She pointed to an outline on the whiteboard. “Our man is compulsive, he does his homework, knows police procedures, even uses police equipment. He was probably wearing one, if not two, Kevlar vests that night. The witnesses at the store also confirm that he took his time, didn’t try to stop the silent alarm from being triggered.”

  Ramsey leaned forward, both hands palm down on the table. “He’s been planning this for a long time, down to the last detail. He knew both officers would be wearing vests so he aimed for the head and neck regions and used armor-piercing bullets. He went out that night planning to murder two police officers.”

  “Yeah, but what about everything afterward?” Carter asked. “Did he plan all that? Because I get the feeling that somehow the game changed. What happened to Conrad didn’t seem as well rehearsed, in fact it was only luck that the shooter got out of there at all.”

  “We would’ve had him,” another officer chimed in, “if it hadn’t been for that lady driver going crazy when she saw him running and ramming her car at us.”

  “I think you’re right, Detective. Things did change after that night. Instead of him holding the power of life and death, condemning two cops to death, one of them lived. Think how that must have enraged him, mocked him.”

  “So to gain back his feeling of control, he’s begun his own little war on cops?”

  “Yes. Now he’s controlling us, like pieces in a chess game.”

  “We figured some of this out without your help, you know, but we still couldn’t stop him at Dimeo’s funeral,” Carter said bitterly.

  “I think you’re staking out the wrong target,” Ramsey replied. “The other cops are merely the pawns in the game, so to speak. The whole point is him winning—and his concept of winning is ultimately to gain power, control over death.”

  “You want to translate for us pawns?”

  “We’re all pawns, Detective. All except Officer O’Hern, that is.”

  There was silence in the room, and everyone stared at Kate. For a second Josh was afraid that they would make her into a scapegoat just as Turner had. He saw the corners of her eyes tighten, knew she was also worried, but she returned their stares with a steady gaze.

  “What you’re saying is that he won’t be satisfied until he succeeds in his original goal and kills me,” she said.

  Ramsey nodded. “You cheated him. You mock him by your very existence. You also represent the ultimate goal, you died and were resurrected, so to speak.”

  “Hey, that’s O’Hern, not the Virgin Mary,” someone joked. There was nervous laughter, enough to break the tension.

  Ramsey smiled but didn’t laugh. “We’re talking about primal forces here, life and death, male and female, good and evil. This man sees everything in black and white, no shades of grey. He won’t stop until he’s achieved his goal.”

  All eyes returned to Kate. Then slowly, one by one, the other officers began to look away, to look down, anywhere but at her. Kate shifted in her seat, and suddenly Josh realized what the others were thinking, what they wouldn’t mention until she volunteered.

  He opened his mouth to protest, was ready to break every rule and oath he’d ever taken if it meant protecting her. Carter caught his eye and shook his head, warning him to keep silent. Josh clamped his jaws shut, hoping he could trust Carter.

  “What did you have in mind?” Kate finally broke the silence.

  She didn’t even look his way. Didn’t care what he felt or thought about the prospect of her risking her life. That knowledge burnt, sharper than a slap on the face. This was her job, her life, he had no ties to bind her.

  For the first time Cohen spoke up. “We place you somewhere visible, let the word leak out and—”

  “Let him come to us,” Kate finished for him. It was the same plan Kate had proposed last night, the same one Josh feared would get her killed. There had to be another way. But obviously, even with the help of the FBI, it was the best they had come up with. He stared at Carter, surely they wouldn’t let someone as impaired as Kate play Judas goat?

  “Have you got a better idea, Officer?” Somehow Cohen made her rank sound like an insult. Josh was right, Cohen was the detail man, Ramsey obviously was the “people person”—what a team.

  Kate looked around the table at her colleagues, her friends. Even Carter didn’t meet her eyes, Josh noticed. He reached for her hand, wanting to somehow interrupt this, but she had turned away from him to focus on the others. Leaving him on the outside. Again.

  Kate sighed and nodded. “All right, but I’m not sure how much good I’ll be to you,” she gestured to her arm. “I want to be involved in the details. I don’t want any of my neighbors hurt by mistake.”

  “We’re the FBI, Officer O’Hern, we’re not in the habit of making mistakes,” Cohen informed her. “And we can’t use your apartment, it’s too obvious, he’ll know it’s a set up. In any case, we’re not intending to use you; we’ll use a woman agent as a substitute. As you suggested, your physical condition makes you unreliable.”

  Josh couldn’t control his anger. First Cohen set her up, then insulted her. While Kate’s fellow officers had sat by and watched. What kind of macho trial by fire was this? She had gotten shot for them—she had died, damnit!

  He leaned forward, intending to give Cohen a piece of his mind, but Kate lay a hand on his arm to restrain him. Her touch reminded him that he’d gotten what he wanted—Kate safely out of the picture. He just hated the price they’d made her pay.

  “Tomorrow you’ll drive to your brother’s house, for Sunday lunch,” Cohen went on, “only it won’t be you in the car leaving his house. After that we’ll arrange quarters for you out of town and out of sight.”

  “I’ll need a car to use,” Kate replied. Josh marveled at her calm tone as she analyzed the details. At least Cohen’s plan would keep her safe, out of the line of fire. “Mine’s a straight stick, I can’t drive it with one arm. In fact, it’s still parked out back.”

  “I can drive you,” he put in, happy to be able to contribute something. From the look on Kate and Cohen’s faces, he wished he had kept his mouth shut. But damn it, someone had to watch after her, protect her if she had another spell. He wasn’t about to let her go into danger alone.

  “And you are?” Cohen asked in a condescending voice.

  “Josh Lightner, Doctor Joshua Lightner.”

  Carter spoke up. “Doctor Lightner was kind enough to allow Officer O’Hern to stay with him last night after the attack at her apartment.”

  “Are you here with us today in the capacity of a chauffeur, Mr. Lightner?”

  Josh wanted nothing more than to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off the federal agent’s face. “No, Mr. Cohen,” he replied in a steely tone he usually reserved for residents who needed disciplined. “You invited me.”

  “Dr. Lightner saw our man last night at O’Hern’s apartment,” Carter said.

  “He’s our other eye witness, why didn’t someone say so? He should be going over mug shots, not sitting here holding O’Hern’s hand.” Cohen gestured at the officer beside him who got up and came over to Josh, obviously to guide him. Josh
hesitated, but Kate nodded. He didn’t want to cause her any further embarrassment, so he followed the police officer.

  “Mr. Lightner,” Cohen called out as he reached the door. “I really don’t care what kind of living arrangements you and O’Hern establish after this investigation, but for now I’d appreciate it if you saw her in only an official capacity and certainly not in public. We’re hunting for a murderer here, we don’t need any distractions.”

  Josh said nothing, merely grit his teeth and kept going through the door. He’d just see about that. It was obvious these idiots were so distracted by the prospect of catching their killer that they didn’t care about what happened to Kate. Not like he did.

  That thought stopped him short. The uniformed officer turned to look at him, and Josh found himself following although his mind was far from the confines of the police station.

  He remembered how Kate had looked this morning, the wide smile on her face as she played with Hershey. For one brief moment, it seemed that all thoughts of killers and death had vanished for both of them.

  Josh desperately wanted to make that feeling permanent. He’d welcomed women into his house and bed before—never into his heart. Somehow Kate O’Hern had captured his heart without a battle. Worse yet, she didn’t seem to know that he had surrendered it to her.

  Blake pulled the rolodex card out of his pocket as he left the hospital. He should get himself officially on the payroll. Sure as hell was spending enough time here. He could teach them a thing or two about security. Emergency rooms had every doctor’s address and phone number. Stupid to leave them lying around where anyone could waltz in and grab them.

  He smiled in satisfaction. Doctor Lightner lived not far from the hospital. Not far from O’Hern either. He’d bet a million that O’Hern was staying with him. Why else would the good doctor have been at O’Hern’s apartment yesterday? Oh how romantic, and what would the AMA say about that?