Saint or Sinner

by Jolie Day

  Then another thought came into her mind. How had Connor known that she hadn’t just lied to him? She slowed down a little, just to delay their return.

  “Why did you kill my father?”

  This time it was he who stopped in his tracks for a split second, but he caught himself very quickly and kept on dancing. Mira knew that she had hit a nerve right there and then, because his grip around her waist had tightened significantly, even though he still held her right hand very loosely. He pulled her closer to him than would be deemed appropriate for a dance at a public event and for a moment she thought she could feel her heart beating against his.

  Which was obviously utter nonsense, she reminded herself.

  “I did not kill Jack.” He made her turn around in a twirl and there was nothing she could do.

  “You are lying. I saw it with my own eyes.” Her voice sounded high pitched, almost like that of a child. Connor loosened his grip on her and for a split-second, Mira thought that he would put his hand to her neck and pull her towards his chest, like he had done that night.

  “What exactly did you see back then, Mira? You were eight years old.”

  “Even a child can testify before the court about what it saw.”

  The color had drained from his face. “I wish they had allowed you to do exactly that back then. But your family had been way too busy shipping you off to Europe before anybody actually had the idea to ask you some important questions.”

  “That is not true,” she disagreed, but it was said without real conviction. Why would Russell and Suzanne want to prevent her from testifying? She shook her head. The memories of that night and also of the following days were often blurred and fuzzy. She couldn’t really recall every single second of that evening fully and clearly, up to the moment when Connor had tucked her back into bed. After that… “I saw you. I saw my dad. It must have been you.”

  “Then why did they release me?” His words were much louder than the music, which suddenly subsided into the background, until Mira couldn’t hear anything else other than Connor’s insisting voice. “Your testimony could have put me behind bars or it could have cleared my name completely, Mira. Why did your sister send you away? Did you never ask yourself why they didn’t have any evidence against me? They couldn’t even find gunpowder residue on my hands, which they would have, if I had pulled the trigger on the gun that killed your father.”

  Gloves. He must have worn gloves.

  “And then there is something else…” They had reached the edge of the dance floor. Mira only noticed that the music had ended, when Luke and Suzanne came to a stop right next to them and Luke grabbed Connor by his arm.

  “That’s enough,” Luke said with a deep grumble in his voice. For a split-second Mira thought that both men would attack each other, but Connor simply shook off Luke’s hand with one swift move. A move that was so very elegant and effortless that Mira felt a hysterical laugh brewing inside her chest. As he led her back to the table, she felt a strong tingling in her chest and her hysteria only subsided when she finally sat down in her chair.

  She only noticed how much she was shivering when she saw the champagne in her glass starting to shake as she went to take a sip to calm her nerves. Suzanne kneeled next to her. “Is everything alright, sweetie?” This time, the term of endearment missed its usual target. Nothing was alright, and it wouldn’t be, until Mira could disperse the sudden thoughts of doubt that Connor had so skillfully cast into her mind.

  “Yes,” she reassured her sister, even though Suzanne would probably know that that was a lie. “Just give me a moment, okay?” She finally managed to take a sip from her glass. The champagne had lost its fizz and was no longer cold, but at this point Mira didn’t care. As long as she could wet her dry throat with something and make that sour taste in her mouth disappear, it would do.

  Next to her, Connor hadn’t even sat down. Instead, he had nodded towards Tatjana, who immediately got up from her chair and obediently pulled her arm under his. What was it about this woman that Connor liked so much, given the fact that she hadn’t spoken one word the entire evening – not with him or anybody else?

  He turned around without saying a word and walked towards the exit.

  Mira watched him leave. If she let him go now, then she would never find out what he had meant with all those suggestions. Why did your sister send you away? Have you never asked yourself why they did not have any evidence against me? His questions kept repeating in her head and a part of her wondered why it had never occurred to her to ask those questions herself. Despite this sudden realization, however, Mira was still sure that Connor was hiding something from her. Why didn’t he simply tell the truth about what had happened back then? She half-heartedly excused herself, got up, and then went to follow him.

  Where was Connor? She didn’t even really know what she was going to say to him, but she was well aware that she couldn’t let him go just like that. Her eyes scanned her surroundings and she was pretty sure that she saw him at the coatroom. He was just putting his girlfriend’s weird piece of fur over her shoulders. Then they walked through the almost empty foyer straight towards the exit. Everybody else had remained in the main hall, where they danced and drank and celebrated themselves and their generosity. She didn’t belong there, just like Connor did not. Her sister’s efforts to convict Connor with her help, Russell’s despicable behavior, and even Luke with all his politeness and care about her wellbeing – all of that seemed to literally suffocate her. Mira started to almost run to catch Connor. One of those men at the doors opened one of them for Connor and Tatjana. He bowed in front of them.

  She was completely out of breath and wasn’t even able to call after him to wait. Where had this urgent desire to stop and talk to him again, suddenly come from? It was absurdly powerful and there was no rational explanation for it.

  She ran past the man, who had kept the door open for her also. As she passed him, Mira noticed a stern and blank look on the man’s face. Outside, she shivered in the cold as the wind hit her naked arms. Then she saw Connor standing there. Tatjana stood a few steps away from him and stared in an extremely bored way, into the night. He seemed all the more aware of his surroundings, and then he turned towards her, as if he had expected… Mira didn’t know what. Surely not his car, which arrived that very minute. Everything about him seemed very tense, as if he was waiting for an invisible, but palpable imminent danger. His shoulders in the immaculate tuxedo, were stiff. His head moved slowly and systematically from one side to the other. His eyes scanned his surroundings.

  Then he finally saw her.

  Without thinking about it, she ran towards him. He seemed to shake his head and his lips formed words she didn’t understand. Suddenly, his head jerked to the left and he immediately started to move. Mira had no idea how he managed to eliminate the considerable distance between them so quickly, but he did.

  Then she felt a glaring pain shoot through her shoulder. Someone — no, it was Connor — threw her to the ground and shielded her body with his. She saw how his lips mouthed her name and she wondered why she wasn’t able to hear his voice. The last thing she saw were his eyes, looking at her, terrified. Then darkness fell over her.

  Chapter 8

  Mira couldn’t have been unconscious for very long, because she saw Connor kneel next to her and press something onto her shoulder, as she tried to make out her surroundings. The incredible pain was so intense that she almost wished she had remained in that darkness for a little while longer. Her shoulder seemed to be on fire and the pain radiated into her entire upper body. Even in that condition, though, she noticed that Connor was still vigilantly scanning everything around them, while trying to remain calm. “Stay down,” he ordered her calmly. “The bullet only grazed you, but I know how much it hurts.” Mira suppressed a whimper as he pressed the fabric deeper into her wound. “The ambulance is on its way. I think I can see the flashing lights. Not even two minutes and your wound will be taken care of and you will be
as good as new in less than a week. Trust me.”

  She laughed and then winced when the movement sent yet another wave of insane pain through her shoulder, which seemed even stronger than before. “I am supposed to trust you?” Connor was busy sending a bunch of onlookers on their way with some harsh words, so he didn’t hear her quietly spoken question. Maybe that was a good thing, because right now she did not feel strong enough to have a full-blown conversation about trust with him. She was also pretty sure that her injury was just one of the reasons why.

  He kept talking, but Mira only really heard half of it. “That’s right,” he said as he tried to see through the now larger group of people surrounding them, before continuing with whatever he was saying. It took a while, but Mira suddenly realized that he was actually talking to her so that she wouldn’t lose consciousness again. Were things much more serious than Connor wanted her to believe, or was he simply trying to distract her?

  Finally, the paramedics arrived and cut a line through all the onlookers that had gathered. A middle-aged man kneeled next to them and carefully but firmly removed Connor’s hand from Mira’s shoulder. Connor reluctantly obliged. “What happened here?”

  Connor answered quickly, but with only a few words. As much as he had been talking to Mira non-stop before, he now seemed reluctant to say anything about what had happened. Mira listened with only half an ear as the paramedic examined her wound and kept asking her the weirdest questions. She told him her name, her age, today’s date, and even who the current American president was. She only realized that Connor had disappeared, when the man asked about him. “Where did your friend go,” asked Mr. Johnson — Mira had seen his name tag on the uniform — and he now helped her to sit up carefully.

  “He is… not my friend,” replied Mira who wanted to touch her head, because she was so dizzy. Someone put a blanket around her shoulders after the paramedic had finished applying a temporary bandage. That definitely helped her a little, because she felt cold and was shivering. Mira looked around and tried to find Connor, but he had disappeared. As had his rather silent female guest.

  “Do you feel okay to walk to the ambulance,” the paramedic asked. “It is just a graze wound,” he confirmed Connor’s original assessment, “but we will need to run a few more tests on you in the hospital to make sure that you don’t have a concussion.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Mira replied, but she did let the man help her get to her feet and walk her to the ambulance, which made her feel extremely dizzy once more. It was definitely much more comfortable to lie on the stretcher than on the cold floor.

  “That’s protocol, Ma’am. You have been shot. You don’t have a choice but to come with us to the emergency room,” Mr. Johnson explained patiently and started to pack everything away, so they would be able to leave as soon as possible.

  Suzanne!

  She must be beside herself with worry about her sister. How long had she been out here? Did the hotel even know that someone had been shot out here?

  Mira felt nauseous. Someone had shot at her.

  That was the moment when the full extent of what had happened, hit her with full force. She started to shake uncontrollably, and she almost regretted that Connor wasn’t there to hold her. Mr. Johnson stood in front of the ambulance and spoke to a police detective, who kept looking at her every now and again.

  “Can I ask you a few questions, Miss?”

  Of course, Suzanne had chosen this particular moment to appear at the scene, followed closely by her husband and Luke. While Suzanne had run outside in only her thin dress and Luke had followed her in just his tuxedo, Russell had actually taken the time to pick up his coat from the coatroom. Mira had no idea why this detail was the one thing she noticed, given how lightheaded she felt.

  “Sweetie,” Suzanne screeched and even attempted to push the police detective aside, so she could get to her sister. Her face was as white as a sheet and she was shivering too. Russell just managed at the last second to grab her by her arm and pull her aside. Luke took the opportunity to stand close to the open door of the ambulance and ask Mira if she was okay.

  “Yes, it was just a graze shot,” she repeated Connor’s words without realizing the effect they would have on her sister. Mira seemed miles away as she watched how her sister tried to escape Russell’s tight grip. Only when the detective’s look seemed to rest on his hand, did he release his wife. Suzanne turned her back on him, ignoring him, and instead started talking to the police, gesturing wildly and speaking with a very demanding voice. The man listened to her intently and then obviously gave her permission to climb into the ambulance. Mr. Johnson had strapped Mira onto her stretcher with some belts, so she wouldn’t fall off the stretcher during the drive to the hospital, and he now stepped outside to close the ambulance doors for them to be able to leave. That was also the moment when Mira passed out again.

  The next time she woke up, she was on a hospital bed. Suzanne sat next to her on her left side and Russell, Luke, and the police detective she had seen earlier, stood at the foot of the bed.

  “What happened, sweetie,” Suzanne asked breathlessly as she clutched her sister’s hand.

  “That’s what I would like to know,” said the police detective immediately. “I would like to ask you a couple of questions, Miss Dumont. The quicker we get this investigation going, the faster we will be able to catch the person who shot you. Would that be okay?”

  That was the moment when Mira noticed the man properly for the first time. She thought that he had been young, maybe even younger than herself, but now she realized that she had been wrong about that. He was in his early thirties and Latin American. He reminded her of Zorro from the old movies she used to watch with Suzanne. Obviously, this man didn’t wear a mask and had no sword, but he had fiery eyes, the dark brushed back hair, and a slim mustache on his upper lip, which made him look very much like her former childhood hero. He introduced himself to Mira as Detective Santiago. She wondered about his questioning look, but then she remembered that Suzanne hadn’t yet answered his question.

  “Yes, yes of course,” she replied quickly and tried to smile, which wasn’t easy for her. Whatever the doctors had given her for the pain was working like a treat. If her arm hadn’t been restricted by a sling, she was sure that she could have moved it.

  “Don’t you think you should wait until tomorrow with your questioning? Someone shot at my sister and she is still in shock.” Suzanne didn’t seem too thrilled about the idea of draining her little sister with even more stress, given the unpleasant situation she was in.

  “I am aware of the circumstances, Ma’am, but that is the exact reason why I need to talk to her now, to find out what Miss Dumont remembers. The more she tells me, the sooner we will be able to solve this crime. Isn’t that what you want?” This time, her sister had definitely been put in her place, Mira thought.

  “Please ask. I am ready.” That wasn’t exactly correct. Mira would have loved to go back to the hotel and hide in her warm bed, but he obviously had a valid point.

  “Did you attend the benefit gala here at the Royal?”

  “Yes, together with my sister, my brother-in-law, and Mr. Bishop.”

  “What was the reason for you leaving the hotel? Were you alone?” He jotted down some notes in a small booklet, just as you would expect from a detective.

  “I wanted to ask Mr. Carmichael something.”

  “Is Mr. Carmichael the man who tended to you until the ambulance arrived?”

  “That’s right,” confirmed Mira. “He sat at the same table as us and he had already left, when I remembered something that I had forgotten to ask him.” Mira avoided looking at her sister and pulled her hand away from her grip when Suzanne pressed it hard. Detective Santiago also noticed this gesture and Mira almost expected him to write his observation down in his booklet: Sisters are extremely tense when C.C. is mentioned.

  “Was he with you when you were shot? Did you see who shot you?” Now they started
talking about the really important details. Despite his earlier declaration that he wanted to catch the suspect quickly, he now seemed to take his time with his questions.

  “Yes, Mr. Carmichael was with me. And no, I did not see the man who shot me.” She closed her eyes and tried to remember exactly what had happened, where she had stood, and where the shot had come from. All she could remember was Connor’s face, pale and terrified, before he had held her close to him. Oh no, that wasn’t true. Mira swallowed hard. She felt nauseous. Today, he had not picked her up and he had not pressed her against his chest. He had done that seventeen years ago.

  “But you know that it was a man?” The question came so quickly that she immediately reacted without thinking and shook her head.

  “No, I just assumed that it was a man.” She opened her eyes and looked the detective straight in the face.

  “Do you have any idea where we could find Mr. Carmichael?”

  “No, I don’t,” she answered honestly. Suzanne slid impatiently back and forth on her chair, but before she could say anything, Detective Santiago had already closed his booklet.

  “That’s enough for now. Where will I be able to reach you?” At least, he didn’t tell her that she wasn’t allowed to leave town until further notice. Mira told him that she was staying at the Hyborn hotel and then tried to stand up.

  “Thank you,” she said as he offered her his hand. His fingers were warm, and his grip was strong. He turned to leave, just as a nurse entered the room and took Mira’s vitals again — her blood pressure and her temperature. Then she handed Mira a small orange container with some pills and expressly told her how she should spend the next 24 hours after her release from the hospital — in bed — including all the things she should avoid. She handed Mira her after care instructions and then left the room.