Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
Kennedy liked being in front of the camera because it helped her tell stories. She didn't like being in front of the camera to be the center of attention.
Being in the hospital as a patient?
As someone who'd been shot?
Yeah. No thanks.
She really didn't like the feeling of people worrying over her.
And once she'd finally sent Walker out to check in with the precinct, she'd let out a breath of relief.
There was one exception.
The soft knock on the door turned her head and she was greeted with two of the most beautiful faces in the world. "John! Donna!"
Kennedy's joy sank when she saw that John was pushing his wife in a wheelchair.
"Oh my god, Donna."
Kennedy swept her blanket back and started to swing her legs off of the bed to get to her, but the stab of pain in her side reminded her why she was in the hospital in the first place.
John moved to her side and helped her settle back into bed. "Ken. What are you doing?"
"Showing my goldfish brain." She groaned and laid back in bed with a sad little laugh. She turned her head back to Donna. "What's going on?"
John moved his wife closer to Kennedy's bedside as Kennedy picked up the controls for her bed and lowered it down as far as it could go before she held out her hand to Donna Baxter.
"John told me you weren't feeling well."
As she spoke, she saw Donna and John share a look that was as somber as she'd ever seen the couple. Her heart clenched in her chest. "John?"
John pulled up a chair beside Donna and took his wife's hand in his.
The two almost seemed to breathe together before John began to speak. "Ken. As soon as we heard that you were in here, Donna insisted on coming down to see you and you know Donna."
Kennedy smiled at Donna and nodded. "She's a force of nature."
"Just like you, Kennedy." She smiled, but she looked tired.
Exhausted really.
"And on the way down here we talked and while I thought we should wait to tell you, Donna knew that if we didn't, you'd sniff it out anyway."
Kennedy shared a knowing look with Donna, the woman she saw as a friend and almost a mother.
Donna smiled at her and sniffled, but there was a determined look in her eyes.
Kennedy nodded and waited for them to tell her what they'd learned at the hospital.
Donna opened her mouth to speak. "I've been... tired and struggling with my health for a bit. Thinking it was just menopause or something, but it got really bad last night and earlier today."
Kennedy watched as John leaned in toward Donna and the two shared another look.
They were so perfect together. Everything she wanted in a relationship.
"So after the testing today, we had a visit with a specialist and I'm going to start treatment for thyroid cancer."
Kennedy struggled to take in a breath after hearing her words.
"Donna? John?"
She didn't know who to talk to.
Who to comfort.
And how to do it from a stupid hospital bed.
"What did the doctor say?"
Donna looked at John and he lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, his eyes fixed on her face. She nodded at John, and he turned back to Kennedy.
"They need to do a few more tests before they settle on the treatment, but I'm not sure exactly how that's going to affect work."
Kennedy shook her head. "We'll figure that out, John. You and me... and Donna. Okay?"
She felt like her heart was breaking in her chest, but the last thing she was going to do was look like it, if she could help it.
She wanted to put on a strong front for them because they deserved nothing less.
"We'll figure it out. We'll make it work." Kennedy repeated the words, making it into a mantra and a promise.
Kennedy took in another breath, and she knew she was on the verge of bursting into tears, but something odd saved her from losing her composure in front of them both.
Two nurses appeared in the doorway, Baldwin and Thuy.
Thuy was the first one to reach her side and Baldwin crouched down beside Donna.
Kennedy stammered an apology. "I'm so sorry."
Thuy checked the heart monitor and turned off the alert. "What's going on?"
Donna was already apologizing. Kennedy wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks to dash away the tears.
"It's my fault. I'm a mess."
Thuy took out a tissue and handed it to Kennedy. "It's going to be okay."
Kennedy looked at Donna and the two shared a look. "It is, Donna. It's going to be okay."
Donna smiled at her. "It will, Kennedy. Between the two of us, we're going to be okay."
John gave his wife a kiss on her temple and looked at Kennedy with a nod. "Heaven help anyone who tries to say otherwise."
Thuy gave Kennedy a reassuring smile. "I'm going to go and get you a box of tissues. Do you think that you can keep that heart monitor from going a little crazy?"
Kennedy nodded. "I'll do my best."
John got up and sighed, reaching out to the shelf and picking up the tissue box. "I'll make sure they stay calm."
He set the box of tissues on the side of Kennedy's bed as his wife spoke.
Baldwin stood, shaking his head. "I think you've got your hands full."
Kennedy saw the way John looked between herself and Donna.
He shook his head and sighed. "You know, I think you're right."
Donna laughed at that, and Kennedy found herself believing that things would be all right.
They just had to be.
As the nurses left the room, Donna leaned forward and gave Kennedy a slightly saucy look. "Now," she waved a hand at John, "you should go and get some coffee. Kenny and I are going to talk about her hot boyfriend."
Kennedy saw her lean in with a smile.
"Now, dish..."
John sighed again, but he was smiling. "I know when I've been dismissed."
He'd been halfway to the precinct when his sister dialed him up to let him know that they'd found the man who'd shot Kennedy.
"Before I have to tell you that you will not go hunt this man down and kill him, you should know he's already dead."
That had shaken him, more than he cared to think about.
She'd given him the address before he'd had to ask for it, but it was accompanied by some rather colorful language to put him in his place. "You will not touch a damn thing, Walker. You will stand outside the tape. You will not fuck this up."
He'd heard his sister's words, but he was also that annoying brother who liked to poke the bear even though she was capable of ripping off his hand at will.
"You know I'm a detective and you don't really have power over me, right?"
He heard her hard intake of breath.
"Love you, Kate."
Then he hung up the call and considered himself lucky that she couldn't reach through the phone and choke him dead.
The scene was taped off when he drove up and Walker saw his friend, Detective Jacob Rafferty standing over the scene.
Before he'd even closed his door behind him, Jacob moved to meet him halfway. Filling him in as they walked to the scene together. "The car is the one from the drive by. I'm sure the footage that Irish is putting together for us is going to show that he was the shooter. And the other man in the car was the driver." Jacob looked up and pointed his pen at the walls surrounding them. "No cameras. Not here. Not anywhere that will show us who came here to meet with him."
Walker's back teeth ground together.
"No witnesses. No footage."
"Yeah. That's what we've got." Jacob whistled between his teeth. "A whole lot of nothing."
"Crime Scene Investigation? And the Coroner's office?"
Jacob gave him a nod. "On the way."
With a crook of his finger, Jacob walked off to the side, away from anywhere that curious ears could hear.
"How is Kennedy?"
Walker felt his jaw tense up and almost lock. He had to concentrate to speak from that moment on.
"She's okay. Stitched up and under observation up at Cole."
Jacob nodded at him. "I bet you'd feel better if your brother was on shift right now."
Walker shook his head. "Kay was there. I know Webb was around, too. I don't think Roan would be able to work on her at the moment if he was here."
Jacob's eyes widened a little at that, lifting his brows above the rim of his glasses. It gave him a bit of an owlish look.
It was that little bit of humor that helped to keep Walker on an even keel.
It was obvious from the scene that this wasn't just some random shit.
The fact that someone felt the need to 'clean things up,' meant that there was more going on.
"This is some heavy-handed shit, man."
Walker cast another look at the scene where a couple of beat cops were keeping an eye on the bodies. "It's either someone who is lax or someone who is trying too damn hard."
"Yeah. I don't like it one bit."
"I know it should make me feel better that they're not a danger to Kennedy anymore, but I don't like that we can't interrogate them. I'm sure if we could, we'd get a good story and maybe some facts."
Jacob agreed. "Again, the fact that someone decided to 'clean this up' makes me think that there's a bigger story here."
A white van showed up and Walker shifted from one foot to the other. "They're trying to avoid an investigation."
"Well, this is my case now." Jacob looked over at the techs who were unpacking the van from the back doors. "We'll get to the bottom of it. I'm not going to let this fade into the woodwork."
Walker nodded, but his gaze wasn't on his friend. "I know you won't. You're the one I wanted on this case."
Headlights swung across the scene and Walker heard Jacob grumble under his breath. "Great."
Walker didn't have to ask Jacob what he meant. Walker completely agreed with him. Jerzek was on scene.
He slammed his door shut and grabbed a hold of the knot of his tie as he tried to right his clothing when he got out of his car.
"Stay here."
Walker heard Jacob's words and didn't give him shit about it.
They both knew how important this was.
Still in the shadows of his surroundings, Walker watched as Jerzek moved up to the edge of the scene. The tape caught on a shirt button and Walker narrowed his gaze on the older man. He was surprised that the man even showed up to the scene. He might be the most senior detective at the precinct, but that didn't mean much as he rarely showed up.
He watched as Jerzek lifted the tape and started toward the car.
Jacob cut him off, likely coming up with any excuse to talk to the man.
Walker would have done the same. He wouldn't want Jerzek anywhere near a scene that he was investigating. And if he had to come close for a reason, he'd find a way to mitigate his involvement.
His retirement couldn't come soon enough.
Walker knew that he shouldn't stay much longer. If Jerzek saw him there, there was going to be an issue. He didn't want to make it difficult for Jacob. That wasn't going to help.
Just as he was about to push away from the wall and walk back to his car, Jerzek walked away.
Narrowing his gaze at the other man, Walker watched as he got back in his car and pulled away from the curb.
Jacob moved back to his side, casting looks toward the techs who were working their way through the crime scene.
Walker rubbed at his temples and waited for Jacob to talk.
The other detective looked like he had the world on his shoulders.
"What do you want to bet that we're not going to find any fingerprints other than the two men’s?"
The two looked at each other and Jacob shook his head. "I'm not betting a damn penny because I think you're right."
Walker felt a muscle tick in his jaw and barely managed to ground out the words in his head. "Why do I feel like I know where this is all leading?"
"Because we both have some damn good bullshit meters and this is some Grade A bullshit."
Walker nodded. "I have to get back to the hospital and tell Kennedy what we know."
Jacob nodded and reached out a hand, clapping it down on his shoulder. "You think this is going to change what she does?"
"You mean as a reporter?"
Jacob nodded. "I'm going to look into it, but the only reason I can see that someone would take shots at Kennedy would have to be because of a story she must be working on or a story she did recently."
"You want me to talk to her about it?" Walker waited, his eyebrow raised, waiting for his say so.
Jacob hesitated and then shook his head. "I think it's better if we keep things separate." He jerked a thumb in the direction of Jerzek's exit. "He came in to tell me that he'll be waiting on my report."
"Yeah?"
"He told me that I'd better make sure that my i's are dotted."
Walker sighed. "When was the last time he turned in a report that didn't involve crayons?"
Jacob grinned at him. "You said it, not me."
"I could say more, but I'm going to head back to the hospital and see Kennedy." He paused for a minute, thinking about Kennedy and her work. "I never would have thought about it before I got to know her, but I really don't think it would stop her if it had something to do with her work. She's pretty dedicated to what she does."
"It is her job."
Walker almost laughed at that. "It's like us, Jake. She's driven. This is her cause. Her calling. We talked before about her taking a seat at a news desk. Being safe inside a studio. She'd be good at it. Great, in fact. But she really likes the people she meets on the job. I think she likes listening to them as much as she likes telling their stories. If it turns out that the... the shooting was because of a story, it's only going to make her more determined to tell that story."
Walker saw Jacob look him in the eye and nod. "Maybe that's why the two of you work together."
Walker narrowed his gaze at his friend. "Because she's damn good at what she does?"
Jacob coughed and raised a brow. "If that was the case, she'd be with me." He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm not saying I'd toss my hat in the ring, Walker. I've got... I'm just saying that the two of you are driven to do the work you're doing. Neither of you would take a warning like a drive-by shooting and decide to back down. You two are more alike than I think either of you realize."
"Detective?"
They both turned their heads toward the CSI tech, and she had to clarify. "Detective Rafferty?"
Walker slugged him on the shoulder. "I'm headed back to the hospital. Let me know what you find out."
"Sure." Jacob nodded. "Just make sure I get an invite to the wedding, okay?"
Before, Walker would have flipped him the bird and walked off.
But that was then.
Now?
Well, things were different.
He was different.
He took a step back and pointed at Jacob. "I'll do you one better. You're going to be a groomsman."
He left while Jacob grumbled about a tux rental, making Walker even more sure that he was headed in that very direction.
Crazy.
But true.