Chapter 40
Zane
An hour later, we were still tied up with LAPD interviews.
The strangler had been unconscious, but still alive when the ambulance crew carted him off to the hospital. It turned out that only two of O’Connor’s shots had hit him.
A dozen of the city’s finest, and three detectives had responded to the scene. Lucas had called Lieutenant Wellbourne about our shootout, and he was here providing some cover for us, but we still had to give statements.
It killed me to be separated from her when Peyton needed me. We’d been isolated as was standard practice for the cops, but at least I could see Peyton in the distance, sitting with a paramedic, my jacket around her shoulders.
Still, it was torture to be separated from Peyton just when she needed comfort. She’d been through hell, and I should be the one tending to her not some anonymous paramedic.
Detective Loman snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Hey. You’re not paying attention. This is serious.”
Peyton must have felt my focus on her when she looked up and sent me a tentative smile.
All I could do at this point was send her back an air kiss.
Loman’s tone turned nasty. “I said pay attention. A man died here.”
“Pardon me,” I snapped. “If I care more about the real victim here than what happened to that asshole.” I motioned to the puddle of blood where the strangler had been.
“The man got shot. That makes him a victim too.” All of Loman’s questions had been about how we ended up here and how the strangler ended up nearly dead. “You guys came here armed to the teeth and wearing Kevlar, but the gunplay is all his fault?”
My gaze returned to Peyton.
Her eyes were down, her shoulders slumped. It wasn’t hard to imagine the toll this had taken on her.
“You guys were itching for a fight,” Loman continued. “Admit it.” The repetitive questioning continued.
The next time I looked up, she was being wheeled out by the paramedics.
From that moment, each of Loman’s questions was like torture. I had to get to Peyton. This episode wouldn’t truly be over until I had her in my arms and away from this place and its memories. Maybe a warm bath. Women liked those, didn’t they?
Peyton had been gone for twenty long minutes when a voice came from behind me. “Detective Loman?”
I pivoted to find Lieutenant Wellbourne.
“I’m sure the Hawk people will be available tomorrow if you need them. In the meantime, why not review your notes to determine if you have any relevant follow-up questions for the next interview?”
Loman nodded. “Yes, sir.”
As I strode toward Lucas on my way to Peyton’s previous location, I overheard him being grilled by another detective.
“There must be a few hundred casings in the other room. How is it that in all that time you, one, didn’t call 9-1-1, and two, nobody got killed?”
“We were a little busy staying alive. Second, I consider the lack of fatalities a good thing. Don’t you?”
“Of course,” his suddenly red-faced interrogator huffed.
Lucas scowled at his clueless detective. “It took a while to get them to expend their ammo. And it took longer lining up shots that only wounded.”
I smiled. This came from the former spec ops warrior, who had trained for years to make every shot a kill shot.
When I reached where Peyton had been, Constance answered my question before I could ask it. “She wanted to wait for you, but they forced her to go to the hospital.”
Yup, my girl was a fighter.
“Hey, before you chase her, give me a hand with the boss.”
I raised a brow. “With what?”
“Check out his left side.”
I squinted and made out the small dark patch of wet material just below the left side of his vest. “Did he get hit? Why didn’t the paramedics treat him?”
She shook her head. “Stubborn coot refused treatment. I need you to keep him from leaving before I can patch him up.”
“Me and what other dozen guys?” I joked. Nobody told Lucas Hawk where he could and couldn’t go.
“You’re a SEAL. He’ll listen to you.”
“No, he won’t. SEALS are Navy. He was Delta, that’s Army.”
She shook her head.
Then it came to me. “Give me a minute. I have an idea.”
Peyton
The cop I’d nicknamed Mr. No jumped in front of me. “No ma’am. You have to stay here.” His words were polite enough, but his demeanor was anything but.
I tried to go around him. After all that had happened, I really needed a long hug from Zane.
Mr. No cut me off. “Sorry, ma’am.”
This was the third time the two police officers had stopped me from walking across the large room. The police officers had replaced Lucifer as my captors.
Mindy, the nice paramedic who was treating me, shooed them away for a moment. For that, she was now one of my favorite people.
Her partner, Syd, was off to the side, engrossed in his phone.
“You really need to go to the hospital,” Mindy said. “To get these cuts looked at and, more importantly, a CT for that head bump.”
“No, thanks,” I said for the hundredth time. I wasn’t going anywhere without Zane. It had been a mistake to admit I’d hit my head when Lucifer threw me down back at the office.
“It’s the protocol,” she urged. “It won’t hurt.”
“I know.”
“Then you’ve had one before?”
I nodded. “About a week ago.”
“Then it’s extra important.”
“I’m not leaving him.” I pointed in Zane’s direction.
A few minutes later, Lieutenant Wellbourne strode up. “What’s going on?”
“She hit her head,” my traitorous paramedic offered. “I’ve recommended a hospital visit for a CT.”
“But I declined,” I cleared up, regretting being honest with her before. “I’m not going anywhere without my man.”
Wellbourne crossed his arms. “Lucas is worried about you, which means that I’m going to insist that you get checked out at the hospital first.”
I knew my rights. “No, thank you. I’ll wait.”
“Hmm.” He shook his head. “That’s not one of the options. Either you go with these paramedics now, or I’ll have Joe.” He motioned toward Mr. No. “and his partner detain you as a material witness and take you downtown for a night of questioning right after a stop at the hospital. Which will it be?”
“Since you asked so politely,” I said in my haughtiest tone, “I choose to go with this nice lady, but can’t I wait until Zane is done?”
Mindy shook her head.
Wellbourne issued his verdict. “You go now.”
Mindy patted the gurney. “Hop on.”
With a huff, I picked up my purse and lay down. I wanted to be with Zane, not hauled off.