And . . . Scene Theresa
And . . . Scene
Theresa
They’ve kept the television off on purpose. Neither needs to see the aftermath of the carnage at the Lockes’ cottage, having lived through parts of it themselves. But a glance at her watch says the evening news is about to start. It is a big moment.
“Hey, you about ready?” Theresa calls into the bathroom. “They’re about to do the perp walk.”
“Be there in a sec,” Drake replies. The water from the shower cuts off. She hears him whistling, and gratitude fills her. Not unscathed, but alive, both of them.
She leans back into the nest of pillows they’ve made to help keep her torso upright.
Getting shot hurts like hell. Thankfully, Theresa was wearing her vest, and it stopped the bullet from penetrating her skin.
She has a bruise that looks like the petals of an impressively large dahlia, which she has been showing off to Drake.
They’ve been holed up in the hotel room he was staying in, alternately making very careful love and ordering room service.
She could get used to this. Not the pain—the pills the ED doc gave her are helping with that, and it’s lessening every day—but the two of them together in the bed, tangled up in the sheets and each other. He feels like coming home.
There are still some questions about what, exactly, happened in the darkness of the shelter, but the end result was a net positive.
The blond man who’d been stalking them—Aleksey Ivanovich Durov—was dead, killed by a well-aimed shot from Drake’s service weapon.
A shot in the proverbial dark, no less. Drake had thundered down the shelter stairs just as the lights went out, and had seen the muzzle flash when Alex shot Brooklyn.
He aimed for dead center. Took the man down in one.
There were a lot of bullets flying in that moment, but the autopsy showed the kill shot was from Drake’s Glock.
She just wished she’d been the one to put the man down. He hurt so many people.
Brooklyn Locke was recovering under guard in Vanderbilt.
She’d taken a bullet to the neck and another to the leg, and they’d done surgery to remove them.
She had a long road ahead, but with her husband and children by her side, she was going to be fine.
Physically, at least. Emotionally? Theresa didn’t know everything that happened in the dark of the shelter, but she could see the fear in Brooklyn’s eyes whenever they tried to question her.
Andrew Locke’s realization that Eden had poisoned everyone with liquid nicotine saved a lot of lives.
Without that knowledge, there would have been more deaths.
When Theresa heard the truth about that situation, something Chloe and Eden’s parents had hidden from the whole town, she was furious.
She knew Eden had been in and out of psychiatric facilities, but she hadn’t realized just how mentally ill the woman was.
The family had managed to hide the worst of it from everyone.
And then, Chloe was murdered by Durov, and the Barrows died suddenly, so soon after.
There was talk of exhuming the bodies, to see if Eden had poisoned them, too.
It would make sense, how they died so quickly, so close to Chloe’s death.
Captain Armstrong was still debating that with the DA. Theresa was staying out of it.
The case was getting international coverage now, with Roger Bandolier’s death being dragged into the mix.
Brooklyn admitted that Alex Durov had been supplying the whole crew with drugs, and the fentanyl-laced cocaine had come from his own bag.
A lot of people were happy to know Roger hadn’t killed himself with an overdose, that he’d been given something on purpose by a jealous lover.
Interpol was happy to have a resolution to their case, as well.
The Gussins were in FBI custody, the sting conducted by John Baldwin’s group and Andrew Locke running the numbers a smashing success.
They were being charged with a host of crimes, including conspiracy, money laundering, and RICO violations, and they were both going to prison for a very long time.
They were due to be transferred to the federal court system for their initial hearings, which were going to be covered live any minute.
Eden Barrow was on life support two floors away from Brooklyn’s room.
Theresa and Trey were going to meet up later and talk again about what should be done.
Trey had been adamant that if there was even a slight chance at recovery, Eden should be kept on life support.
Theresa was of the mind that they should let her go.
She didn’t know what was best for any of them, but she understood Trey’s desire not to lose the last bit of connection he had to Chloe.
Even though it was a negative, and Eden had done so much to hurt all of them, he was still trying to forgive the woman.
The decision wasn’t one they had to make today. They would probably have to talk it out with Brooklyn, too, when she felt stronger. She should have a say, considering Eden tried to kill her entire family.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Drake asks.
“I’m just running through it all again. Don’t know if I’ll ever not be thinking about this case. Ten years in the making, Drake. It’s good to finally have some closure for Chloe, but so many people have been hurt along the way.”
“Let me take your mind off of it.” He snaps off the television just as the Gussins emerge from the van, wearing orange and shackled, wrist and foot.
He slides a hand up her leg and kisses her deeply.
Yes, she could get used to this.