Chapter Thirty-nine – The Day I Die #2
Luca got to his feet and ran to a drawer by the sink. He grabbed a bunch of towels and raced back just as Freeborn entered the room with his weapon drawn.
One look at the scene, and he holstered his gun before pressing his radio mic and requesting the ambulance.
“Keep the bitch from bleeding out,” I ordered. “I need her to pay for what she did, and dying from blood loss isn’t nearly payment enough.”
Freeborn checked on Muirgen first before grabbing a couple of the towels from Luca and heading for Misty. She howled, jerking away from him, cradling her arm, and rocking back and forth.
I turned my attention back to Andie, using a towel to softly wipe at the bullet wound. The pressure inside me eased ever so slightly as the damage became visible.
Thank God. Thank God. It didn’t appear as if the shot had gone through. It had just grazed her—a long slice along her upper arm. It was deep enough to bleed like a sieve, but not enough to do serious injury to muscle and bone.
I put pressure on it, and Andie groaned, eyelids flashing open.
Her gaze met mine. Fear and pain and panic. “Luca!”
“I’m here, Andie. I’m here. I’m okay,” my son said, voice shaky as he grabbed her opposite hand and squeezed.
“Marla?” Andie asked, turning her head to where Freeborn was struggling to keep the woman calm enough to help her.
Akela had plopped his ass on the floor next to Misty-Marla with his teeth still bared.
The dog had done more to defend Andie than I had.
Disgust, all self-directed, piled in on top of the roller coaster of emotions already cartwheeling through me.
The blare of a siren broke in over Marla’s gibberish.
Bugsy and another EMT hustled into the kitchen, hauling a gurney. Bugsy met my gaze and squatted down beside us first while sending her partner to Marla.
“What do we got?” she asked.
“Bullet swiped her.”
Bugsy pulled the towel away and nodded at what she saw. “She’ll need a few stitches and some antibiotics, but I think she’ll be fine.”
She cleaned it out and put a bandage over it while Andie just bit her lip and didn’t even let out a whimper.
When Bugsy left to go help Wexley with Marla, Andie’s stormy, tear-filled eyes turned to Luca.
“God, Luca… I thought…” Her body convulsed, and she squeezed my son’s hand tight.
“I love you, Luca. I’m so proud of you and the brave kid you are.
The day you broke my window was the luckiest day of my life because it brought you into it.
” She glanced from Luca to me and then to the dog and back. “All of you.”
The huge lump in my throat grew. My eyes filled. Fuck.
Luca choked out a sob, tears traveling over his cheeks, but his words and the tease in his tone contradicted them. “What’s with the death-bed speech? You’re not dying, Andie. It’s just a scratch. Don’t go all teen-girl on me and be overly dramatic.”
Andie let out a pained laugh. “Don’t let Wysteria hear you say something like that.”
My son gave her a watery smile. “Yeah. Truth is, half the boys in my class are way more dramatic than the girls.”
“Boss.” Freeborn strode over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “They’re ready to take Misty. You want Andie to go with them?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t want Andie anywhere near that woman. I’ll bring her to the hospital in my rig. Follow the ambulance and then sit on Misty until I can get there.”
He turned and jogged after the gurney, where a sedated Marla had finally fucking gone silent.
They’d barely made it out the door when my mom came running into the house, fear etched into every groove of her face. I didn’t have it in me to tell her to leave an active crime scene. Not when I’d just experienced every emotion that was running through her.
“Oh, my dear God.” Mom put her hand to her chest, eyes landing first on the three of us and then the dead woman on the kitchen floor. “Someone at the Emporium said they heard gunshots. And then the ambulance went by…and I knew Luca was here…”
She shook her head, eyes turning watery.
“I’m okay, Grams. It’s Andie who got shot.”
Mom rushed over, searching and assessing all of us before settling on the bandage on Andie’s arm. “What is she doing here? Why isn’t she going in the ambulance?”
“According to your son and grandson, I’d be a big baby to make anything much of a surface scrape,” Andie said.
The twinkle in Andie’s eye helped ease the pressure in my chest another notch.
Mom smacked me on the back of the head, and I huffed out a half-assed chuckle.
“I’m taking her there now,” I admitted.
My radio beeped in a succession of calls.
Suzanne explained that Randy was punching walls and demanding a lawyer.
Deputy Cleaver threatened to shut his brother up permanently.
Sandy demanded to know when I’d be back at the cabin and when she'd be getting help.
And finally, Freeborn requested a coroner at our address, which only set off another flurry of calls demanding to know if I was okay.
It was a shitstorm that all demanded my attention at once.
But all I cared about were the people in front of me. About ensuring they were safe and healthy. About telling Andie once again how much I loved her and hoped she could forgive me for my two seconds of doubt.
When I met her eyes, I saw a resigned sadness in them I wanted to wipe away. We may have her stalker in custody, but she still expected to be arrested. To be locked up like a criminal when the reality was she was a victim, just like Dawson had insisted.
No. Fuck that, she wasn’t a victim—she was a survivor. And I’d do everything in my power to make sure she walked away from this free and clear.
If I couldn’t make that happen, I’d toss my badge away and run with Luca and her at my side. We’d leave the U.S., go to a non-extradition country, and make a life for ourselves.
My mom’s hand landed on my shoulder, concern radiating from her as she glanced over at the woman with the hole in her chest. “Is that Muirgen?”
“Yes.”
That single word held every mix of emotion I was feeling.
Disgust with myself. Fury at Marla and Muirgen.
Fear for Andie. Relief and pride for Luca.
And at the center of it, the love I felt for Andie and Luca and my family.
A feeling so large, so wide and endless, it threatened to consume me like a black hole.
A hole I’d gladly give myself over to if it meant having Andie, having all of them, in my life every single day from here to eternity.
Mom looked straight into my soul, reading me in that way mothers are good at.
Her voice was gentle when she spoke. “I guess there’s a huge story here that I may never know, just like when your dad worked a crime.
But you can’t walk away from a murder scene, Cooper.
You can’t leave that body unattended. I’ll take Andie to the hospital.
You stay. We’ll be there, or at our house, when you need to get Andie’s and Luca’s statements.
Do what you need to do so you can come home with a clear head and a full heart. ”
Luca ran over to Akela and hugged him. “Good boy, Akela. Good boy. You’re going to get a shi—boatload of T.R.E.A.T.S. as soon as we get more.”
“They’re in the cookie jar,” Andie said. She sounded tired. Drained. She was still pale, and her hand shook as she brushed her hair back with her uninjured arm.
“You said—” Luca met her gaze and then shook his head. “You were just trying to get me out of here. I knew something was off. That’s why I stuck around. It was hell to keep Akela quiet, but once I saw her shoot that woman…” His eyes cut to Muirgen. “And then she pointed it at you…”
God. He’d come into a shootout, knowing what he was going to face.
My heart nearly gave out.
“You shouldn’t have come in,” Andie scolded softly. “You should have just gotten help. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if you’d gotten hurt, Luca.” Her voice cracked. “I love you too much.”
Luca shrugged, cheeks reddening.
It hit me that I was going to have to tell Eden about this. That our unsupervised son had thrown himself into the middle of a shootout and could have died.
My gut fell, a new pain searing me. She’d take me back to court.
But that was a situation for later. For after.
I helped Andie into Mom’s car, and when Luca whistled for Akela, I stopped the dog from climbing in after them. “No. He needs to stay with me. I need to swab him. Collect evidence.”
Luca’s face fell. The dog looked forlorn when the car door shut in his face.
I understood the feeling as I watched my mother drive away with everything I loved most. I fought the urge to chase after them. It took more control than I’d ever had to muster before to turn and walk back up the steps to wait for the coroner.