Chapter 5 Lee #3
She laughed again, but my heart rate, which had started to calm down as we’d talked, started racing again when she mentioned her husband was a cop.
I was so screwed.
“So, uh, how do you know Mason?” I asked, fidgeting in my seat as I tried to figure my way out of this.
“He saved my granddaughter’s life,” she said simply, looking back at Mason’s still form.
“Your granddaughter?” I asked, surprised.
She nodded, smiling gently. “Her name is Zem. Zemtira, actually. She said she was named after me.” Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke.
“She’s such a sweet little girl,” she continued. “Nothing like her mother. Nina, my daughter, was a wild child. So lively, so crazy. She could lighten up a room just by walking in the door. But she got mixed up with a bad crowd,” Tira sighed.
“We raised Nina well, taught her right from wrong. She knew better than to touch drugs. All it took was one bad choice and she was hooked on crack before her sixteenth birthday.
“We tried to get her help, but nothing seemed to get through to her. We tried. Lord knows, we tried! She ran away from the last rehab center we got her into. That was almost ten years ago. The only thing she took with her was a stuffed wolf she’d had since she was a baby.
We…” she paused, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears, and sighed. “We didn’t even know she got pregnant.”
“T-they found her a few weeks ago, in a tiny little apartment in Milwaukee. It kills me she was so close this whole time… Her landlord had stopped in because she hadn’t paid the rent. Apparently, she had o-overdosed,” she stuttered for a moment, her voice thick with emotion.
After a while she continued. “Her fingerprints were matched to the missing person’s report that her daddy and I had filed when she disappeared from rehab,” she sighed.
“The detective was very sweet, the one working her missing person’s case. He knew his news was a blow to me, but it just about killed me when he asked if I knew what had happened to her daughter. A daughter I didn’t even know she had.”
I swallowed hard. The thought of a child in the clutches of men like Ricky and Dreyven made me physically ill.
She smiled gently at Mason, idly brushing a stray hair out of his eyes, then, continued her story.
“The detectives had found evidence of a little girl living in the house, and her neighbors confirmed she had a daughter, but no one knew what had happened to her after her mama died. Or at least, no one who would talk to the police. Then, out of the blue, I got this… this phone call, in the middle of the night, from a terrified young man telling me my grandbaby was on a bus on her way to Solon Springs,” she sighed.
“That’s where we live, Solon Springs. He sounded so…
so frightened… terrified, really, but so determined, like he was going to make damn sure this little girl was going to get back to me, no matter what. ”
Tira rummaged around in her purse, pulling out a new-looking photo of a gorgeous little girl around nine or ten years old. She had the same hair and startlingly blue eyes as her grandmother, and clutched a tattered stuffed animal in her arms that vaguely resembled a wolf.
“Zem told us Mason snuck her out of the apartment, past the man who was holding both of them. She said he told her stories about being superheroes and escaping the evil troll.” She patted Mason’s arm absently as she spoke.
“Zem didn’t say it, she may not have even known, but from what the detective was able to find out, it sounds like the boy used all his money to buy her a ticket to get back to me.” She sighed. “The ticket agent we talked to told us that two men came through a day later asking about him and Zem.”
Tears welled up in her eyes.
“They think that’s who did this to him. He gave me back a granddaughter I didn’t even know I had, and this is what those monsters did to him.” Tears began to slide down her wrinkled cheeks.
The urge to comfort her was overwhelming, but I wasn’t sure how.
Finally, I did what I would have done if it had been my own grandmother.
I stood and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, squeezing gently and patting her back awkwardly.
After a few minutes I felt her gather herself, so I released her and sat back down.
“That same detective, Detective Jarreau, found out about this young man being brought in to the hospital after the attack. He was ‘officially’ a John Doe at first, I suppose, until you identified him, but they sent us a picture of him and Zem recognized him, even though… even though he was so hurt.” She glanced at Mason, his face still showing the signs of the beating he’d taken.
“The doctors told me what was done to him. The damage…” she sighed, shuddering at the thought of what Mason’s life had been like.
“They said it wasn’t just recent. He has so many older injuries.
He’s been… abused… his whole life, the doctors said.
We think… we think that’s what those men planned to do to Zem. ”
Tears began to well up in her eyes again and I couldn’t stop myself from taking her hand.
“Tira,” I whispered, waiting for her eyes to meet my own as I comforted her. “The S.O.B. that hurt him… he won’t touch Mason, or anyone else, ever again.”
She looked up at me and nodded, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
“The police told me the man who hurt him, the one who had taken Zem, was killed at the motel. Zem insists there were two men, but no one else saw anything,” she said, peering at me over her glasses as I stepped back, sudden consideration in her eyes.
I couldn’t help but back away from her scrutiny.
Shit shit shit shit shit! I had to remember that this woman was not my friend. And good god, I hoped she didn’t think I was the other man!
She must have seen my reaction, either that or she read my mind. She waved dismissively at me.
“No, no, dear. The description Zem gave wasn’t great. She’s just a child after all, but she said the other man was short and fat.”
I almost laughed in relief. At least that much was clear, I was neither short, nor fat.
“Well, whoever shot him did everyone a favor, I guess,” she said, picking up Mason’s hand again.
“And I don’t know how I could ever repay the favor Mason has done me by saving Zem, but I intend to try.
My husband, rest his soul, never got to meet her, but I know he would want me to help this young man build a new life, if he’ll let me. ”
A knock sounded at the door and panic swelled in my chest and blood drained from my face as I saw a man in grey dress pants and a light blue button down in the doorway. A badge hung at his belt and a revolver in a holster at his side.
“Tira? Am I interrupting?” The officer asked, his shrewd eyes glancing from her to me.
Fuck. I was so screwed.
“Detective Jarreau! Of course not! Please come in!” she said, waving him into the room.
The detective walked in and shook her hand, but never turned his back fully on me.
“It’s good to see you again, ma’am. And you are…?” he asked, turning to look at me, his eyes narrowing.
“I’m Lee, sir. I’m a medic who worked on Mason the night he was brought in,” I lied. Okay, so it wasn’t the whole truth, but it was close enough. His gaze held mine.
“What brings you here this evening, Detective?” Tira asked.
“Just thought I’d check in on our mystery man, ma’am. You know me and loose ends,” he said smiling, his eyes flitting toward me.
“Of course! Would you like some coffee, Detective? I was just going to step out to the cafeteria to get some,” she offered.
“That would be wonderful, if it’s not too much trouble?” he said.
Tira stood and excused herself, Detective Jarreau taking her vacated seat. For a few moments after she left, awkward silence filled the room.
“Lee, eh?” Jarreau finally asked as we sat together, Mason in the bed between us.
“Yes, sir,” I said, nodding, and struggling not to fidget, trying to figure out how I could escape.
“That’s odd… I don’t remember there being a ‘Lee’ listed on the EMS report,” he said, looking at me suspiciously. I just kept my mouth shut, for once.
“Okay, Lee,” he continued, “That young man there seems to be in some trouble,” he continued. I just nodded silently this time. “Maybe you can help clear some things up for me about that night?”
Oh, fuck.
“I… don’t know what else I can add that isn’t in the report…” I said, trying desperately not to show how nervous I was.
“Oh, maybe just a few details…” he said, reaching into a back pocket and pulling a small notepad and pen out. As he did so, his suit jacket fell back, again displaying his weapon, and giving him easy access to it. He flipped through the pages for a few minutes before speaking again.
“Did he say anything to you? Tell you anything about how he came to be there, or why? Did he happen to mention who the man was he was with?” the detective asked, his questions coming rapid fire.
“No, sir. He wasn’t in much of a state to say, well, anything, when I got there,” I lied. “Um, other than his name, that is.”
“Right. His name. Weird that the other medics didn’t catch that. They usually write that down first thing. They brought him in as a John Doe,” Jarreau said, flipping through his notes.
I coughed and nodded nervously in agreement. Yep, odd all right. Shit.
“So, what do you think happened that night, Lee?” he asked.
“Me, sir?” I asked, my thoughts racing.
“Yes, you. You said you were the first medic on site, right?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at me.
Did I? I couldn’t remember. Which was probably exactly what he’d hoped.
“Um…” I glanced around the room, wondering if I’d be able to outrun the detective if I had to. I tensed, and saw the detective’s finger tap gently on his weapon and our eyes locked. Fuck.