CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Lance woke to the sound of voices, but it took him a moment to remember where he was.
He blinked several times before he saw Angus lying in the hospital bed and everything came rushing back to him.
He moaned as he slowly sat up and turned his attention to the voices.
"Jeremy?" He rubbed his eyes as he saw the ghost standing near the doorway of the hospital room with another ghost Lance didn't recognize.
"Hey, Lance. Sorry to bother you in the middle of the night." Jeremy floated closer. "How is he?" the ghost who usually hung out at the morgue asked as he approached Angus's bed.
"Stable." Lance went on to explain about the coma. "How are things at the morgue?"
"Busy, but we've got everything under control. Harold's come in to help and Mac's putting in extra hours to help. Everyone's worried about you." Jeremy nodded to the sling on Lance's arm. "How's the shoulder?"
"Sore, but it'll heal. I'll be fine. It's Angus I worry about." Lance stood and went to the bed, gently touching Angus's hand. "Who's your friend?"
Jeremy smiled. "This is Leo. He came into the morgue tonight.
Shot in the head. The thing is that the police were told he killed himself, but that's not true.
Leo says his son shot him. I really didn't want to bother you with this, but I think Franks should know what he's got to say, and I didn't know anyone else I could go to who could contact Franks about this. "
Leo stepped forward. He was an older man, probably in his late forties. "Sorry to bother you this way. Jeremy told me you could help." The man looked uncomfortable as he glanced between Angus and Lance.
"He's right. I can. It's fine that you came here. It's not like I'm doing anything other than sitting around waiting." Lance bent and kissed Angus's hand softly, then turned away from the bed. "How can I help?"
"Earlier tonight, my son shot and killed me and my wife. He called the police and told them that I'd shot her, then myself." Leo sighed. "I debated on leaving it at that, but then I thought about my two girls."
"Slow down. Let's take it one step at a time. Why did your son shoot you?" Lance asked.
"Anna and I were fighting. We were talking about getting a divorce.
" Leo started to pace the small room. "We've both been having affairs.
I found out about her affair earlier today.
It's been bad for a while. Anyway, we were fighting and Avery, my son, heard all of it.
I don't know what we were thinking fighting in front of him.
We hardly ever do that. We're careful not to let the kids know how bad things have gotten.
But this afternoon, we started fighting and it got nasty.
We were talking about divorce. Went as far as talking about how split custody of the kids might work.
The next thing I know, Avery is there with the gun and said something about if we can't be a family together, then we didn't need to be a family at all.
He shot both of us. It all happened so fast."
Lance pulled out a pen and the papers the emergency room had given him upon his release. He flipped them over and started to make notes on the back of them. "When is your autopsy set for?"
Jeremy answered, "Probably get to it tomorrow afternoon. Or I guess that's this afternoon since it's already two in the morning."
Lance nodded. "Sam should be able to tell it wasn't a suicide, but just in case, how were you shot? How far was your son from you?"
"Maybe three feet. He shot me in the head.
I have to admit, looking at the scene, it looked like I could have done what Avery said I did.
I thought about just letting it go. I mean, we're dead.
Arresting him and messing up his life wouldn't do any good, right?
But then I thought about my two daughters.
They're both young and I started to worry that if Avery could kill us when we upset him, what might he do to his sisters if they did something he didn't like?
Or his grandparents? At least I'm guessing that's who the kids will live with now.
" Leo's shoulders slumped. "We never made plans for what would happen to the kids if something happened to us. "
"It's okay. That's stuff that your families will figure out. But you were right to let us know about what your son did. If he can kill once, he could easily do it again. Where were your daughters while all this was happening?"
"I think they were in their room. Honestly, I can't be sure.
We were fighting and I wasn't thinking straight.
God, I made such a mess of things. I should have waited to confront Anna about her affair, but I was so angry when I found out.
" Leo stopped and stared out the window into the darkness beyond.
Lance imagined the injury and nodded. "Suicides are usually done with the gun against the skin.
The damage is different as the distance from the gun barrel and the body increases.
Sam should be able to tell this once he looks at the body.
And the crime scene unit should be able to work out the angles of the shots.
I will contact Franks and let him know what you've told me, but unless he can get your son to admit to shooting you, it's going to be up to the autopsy and evidence at the scene to prove anything. "
Leo nodded. "I can't believe this happened. I can't believe we were stupid enough to fight in front of him."
"Your wife went into the light?" Lance asked.
"I think so. I never saw her once I realized I was dead. Her body was on the floor, but I didn't see her spirit anywhere. Ghost, spirit? What do I call myself?" Leo waved his hand up and down his body.
"I call you a ghost, but I'm not sure there is a proper word. Spirit works if you like that better." Lance glanced at Jeremy. "You've explained things to him? About the light and how things are in the afterlife?"
"Yeah, we've discussed a lot. I wasn't even going to bring him here.
I knew you were distracted with Angus and everything going on, but just in case the autopsy misses something, I wanted to be sure that someone knew the truth.
" Jeremy glanced at Angus again. "How long before you know if he'll be okay? "
"I don't know. I guess until he wakes up.
" Lance didn't want to go into all the details again with Jeremy about how he'd seen Angus leave his body.
He was sure the other ghosts had told him about everything that happened.
The ghosts gossiped as badly as the living did.
Returning his attention to Leo, he asked, "Do you know where your son got the gun? "
"It was mine. I kept it in a lockbox by the side of my bed, but I'm not even sure I'd locked it up the last time Avery and I went to the gun range.
Even if I had, Avery knew where the key was.
I figured he was old enough to know, and I'd taken him shooting.
I wanted him to know how to use a gun responsibly.
I should have never even let him know I had a gun. I messed things up so badly."
"This isn't your fault. Teaching a child gun safety is something all parents should do.
You had no reason to think he'd use it against you.
Owning a gun or knowing how to safely handle one doesn't make someone a killer.
You were being a good parent. If he hadn't found your gun, he might have gotten another.
He might have grabbed a knife from the kitchen.
When someone is intent on killing, they're going to find a way.
" Lance set the pen down. "Are you going to stick around? "
Leo nodded. "I want to know what happens to Avery.
I also want to make sure my girls are okay.
I know my parents will take them in. Hell, so would Anna's parents if they need to.
But I want to be sure they're okay. Jeremy taught me how to get around, so when I leave here, I'll head to my parents' house.
It's where the kids are tonight. Then I guess the police will be back to talk to them tomorrow. "
"I'll let Detective Franks know what you've told me, but remember, he can't use any information he gets from a ghost in the investigation.
All this will do is give him a nudge to dig deeper and maybe change the way he questions your son.
He'll be looking for inconsistencies and things that don't match up with the evidence.
" Lance hoped Franks could handle having ghost leads as well as Angus did when he got them.
Up until now, Franks had always let Angus take lead when they had ghosts feeding them information.
"Thanks. I am sorry about your friend." Leo nodded to the bed. "I hope he makes a full recovery from whatever happened to him."
Lance smiled. "Thanks, me too."
Jeremy stepped closer. "I'll be by later today to update you on things. Do you need anything?"
Lance shook his head. "My brother is taking care of everything for me.
I'm good. Keep an eye on Lizzy. With Betty gone, this has to be so hard on her, and you know she's not going to lean on me because she doesn't want to add to my stress.
I'm worried about her. She's strong, but this is a lot to deal with, and Betty was her best friend. "
"We've already talked about it. Cel and Bethany are dropping by daily to visit with her, and the others will be around too.
I'll let you know if she seems off in any way, but I think she'll be okay as long as he is.
" Jeremy gestured to Angus. "Losing Betty is hard, but losing her son would push her over the edge. "
"Yeah." Lance knew exactly how that would feel.
"Everything okay in here?" A young nurse walked in, nearly walking through Leo as she moved to Angus's bedside.
"All good. Just talking to him." Lance gave Jeremy and Leo a nod as they waved and left the room. "Everything okay?"
"Just fine. I'm just hanging another bag." She held up the I.V. bag. "Just keeping him hydrated."
Lance stood. "When does his next round of antibiotics come?"
"Around six this morning. I'll hang them right before I leave for the day." She punched in some numbers on the machine that would run the fluids through the tube and into Angus's body. "I've ordered some cream for you to rub on the cuts on his legs and arms."
"Thanks." Lance had been given the okay to give Angus a sponge bath as long as he didn't go any higher than his chest and was careful about any movement.
He'd spent over an hour earlier in the night running a warm cloth over Angus's skin, taking in every cut from glass and bruises he had no idea how he'd gotten.
"You need anything?" she asked as she tossed her gloves into the trash.
"I'm good, but thanks. I think I'll try and nap a bit more." Lance eased the chair back a bit and pulled the blanket up.
"I'll see you in a few hours then. Sleep well." She shut the door behind her, but it wasn't as if that made a difference. With the glass wall, the nurses could still see into the room from the nurse's station.
Lance pulled out his phone and sent a detailed text message to Franks about what Jeremy and Leo had told him about the shooting.
He wasn't sure how Franks would respond to getting information from a ghost, but he'd seen enough with Angus to know that the ghosts almost always gave them reliable information.
He hit send, hoping that the alert wouldn't wake Franks, but wanting it to be there when he woke in case Lance fell asleep and forgot to send it.
He also hoped Gretta wasn't lying beside Franks and reading his incoming messages.
The last thing they needed was for Gretta to start asking who Jeremy was.
He smiled, glad Franks had someone in his life.
He wasn't exactly sure how serious things were between Franks and Gretta, but they'd kissed in front of him, so he was sure something was there.
Franks denied that they were in any kind of relationship, but Lance wasn't so sure that was the case.
It didn't matter. Franks was happier than Lance had seen him in a while and Gretta seemed to be content with whatever was going on between them.
As curious as he was, it was none of his business.
Closing his eyes, he tried to shut down his mind. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and he needed to rest while he could. One day, one night at a time. Eventually, Angus would wake up.