He sighed. “Two regrets. I’m gonna die hungry, and the bastards got away.”
“One regret then. Dad is outside. Thanks to Ginger, he caught Carl earlier. I made him promise to kill them both if we didn’t come out.” I shifted, trying to find a comfortable position that didn’t set my insides on fire. “Until that dynamite went off, I thought he might save us. Now, I don’t know. It could take days to dig us out.”
“Did you see dynamite anywhere except around the entrance?” Greg asked.
I shook my head, regretting the action as I suddenly felt woozy. “It was dark, but I don’t think so.”
Greg rose and glanced to Dave. “Most of these old mines had a second entrance. If I can get out, maybe I can find it.”
His voice sounded a long way off. “Smart guy. Cute too,” I whispered as the light around me faded.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
I woke to the sound of hushed voices and beeping machines. A crowd was gathered around the door, talking. We’re alive. At least I think we are.
I moved, which verified the fact I was, indeed, alive. Every part of me hurt. “Hey,” I croaked around a mouth full of cotton. “Hey,” I tried again as a nurse attempted to disperse the crowd with shushing. “You’re going to wake her up. Miss Lang needs rest. You can all visit tomorrow one at a time.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” My father’s deep tone drifted across the room.
“Just try and make me,” Dave said, shifting from foot to foot.
Commander Park glanced at the bed and met my gaze. “She’s awake, and the nurse is right. We’ve got reports to write.” He walked across the room and stood beside the bed. “Good to have you back, Detective.”
I motioned for a drink, and he spooned up ice chips and placed them in my mouth. “You fired me.”
“Don’t talk. I’m sure I’ll get enough of your sass as soon as you’re out of here.”
“You can bank on it, sir.”
“It’s a cross I’ll bear.” He placed my badge in my palm and closed my fingers around it. “Nobody else wants that number or to be paired up with your partners.”
I hoped the movement of my lips passed for a smile, but I wasn’t sure. My father was standing on the opposite side of the bed, holding my hand. “Dad, could I have a moment with Dave alone, please?”
“I’ll be right outside.”
“Five minutes, Mr. Capello.” The nurse was frowning at both of us.
“That’s Detective Capello.” Dave drew up a chair and sat beside the bed. “Old biddy.”
“Tell me what happened?”
“You scared three months’ life out of me. That’s what happened. One minute you were talking about Greg being cute, and the next, you just slumped.”
“Not to me, silly. How did we get out, and where’s Greg?”
A huge, sloppy grin lit up his chubby features. “I know you don’t date cops, honey, but you’re gonna have to give that boy a chance. He was like a madman. Charged up that ladder—in the dark, no less—and how the hell he did it, I’ll never know, but he pushed that metal plate aside and took off. Thirty minutes later, he and your dad came down the ladder and carried you up it.” Dave’s voice turned emotional, and he looked away. “Doc says we got you here just in time. A few more hours and you might not have made it.”
My mouth was drying up again, and I motioned for more ice chips. “Where’s Greg?”
“He and Derek went off to talk to the victims’ families to let them know their daughters’ killers had been apprehended.”
Apprehended. I had mixed emotions about the news. On the one hand, I didn’t have to worry about my father being charged, but on the other, I really wanted him to kill them. “So Dad didn’t kill them.”
“Uh, well, yeah, he sort of did.”
“How do you sort of kill someone, Dave?”
“You give them a gun and make it self-defense.”
“That was dumb.” My eyes were growing weaker, and my voice was fading. “Send Dad in and go home.”
I woke several hours later to find my father, head bowed, holding my hand. His cheeks were wet, and sadness tugged at my heart. “Dad?”
“Hey, how are you feeling?” He rose, placing my hand on the sheet, then pulled the blankets up around me. “Charles, Melanie, and Yoshe stopped by to see you, but the nurse wouldn’t let them in. I bought one of those granny cam things so you could talk to them when you feel up to it.”
“That was a dumb thing you did, letting them have a gun.” He raised an eyebrow, and I smiled. “Dave told me.”
“Dave has a big mouth.” He smiled to take the sting out of his words. “Doing dumb things to protect the people we love runs in the family.” He bent and kissed my forehead. “Your mother would have been proud of you.”
“Don’t do it again. Not with people like that.” I moved, groaned, and sighed. “When do they feed you around this place?”
“How about some ice chips?”
I nodded and chewed slowly, trying to imagine a bite of Arlene’s roast beef. “What’s the prognosis, and when can I get out of here?”
“You had some internal bleeding. They’re going to keep you a few days just to make sure nothing starts up again.”
A few days? Screw that. My eyes were closing, but things seemed right with the world. My father was by my side, Dave and Greg were safe, and I still had my liver. “Tell me about my mother.”
Marcone moved the chair closer to the bed. “The first time I saw her, I knew she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Her smile made me feel ten feet tall, and I knew I could do anything with her by my side.”
My lips lifted as the softness of the bed pulled me down. I didn’t dream of dead bodies and scary places. Instead, my father’s voice carried me to another time and place. I saw my mother and Kyle, standing side by side. They smiled at me.
EPILOGUE
After a month, Park finally let me back inside the station, and then, only on desk duty. Two months later, I was still there, with Dave taking full advantage of the situation by having me type up the reports on the cases he and Greg were working. Dad had moved into the spare bedroom, using the time to research local real estate. I’d enjoyed having him there a lot more than Dave and Greg, and we were finally getting to know one another. I’d misjudged him in more ways than one, but I wasn’t happy to learn he really did provide legal services for the Colombian cartel, even if it was part of a covert CIA operation. Ginger, Janice, and Greta had stopped by before the three left town together. Dad had agreed to pay for Ginger’s schooling if she agreed to get off the streets. With a little urging from Janice and Greta, she’d jumped at the chance. Massachusetts would be a new start for her. I hoped she made it.
Things were finally getting back to normal, and tomorrow, I would be back on the streets, making Dave’s life miserable.
The only remaining problem was Greg. I’d finally had a chance to meet with him alone and explain my problems with relationships. He seemed to understand, but I still felt an uncomfortable awkwardness when we were together. Especially when memories of that kiss crept in. Heat flushed my face, and I left the back porch and headed inside just as the doorbell rang.
“Coming!” I yelled and made my way to the front. “Greg, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. Can I come in?”
I opened the door wide, and he stepped around me, turning his back away. “What have you got behind your back?”
“You said you needed to learn to trust… and love.” He brought his hands to the front. “I think this is the perfect way to start.”
A tiny ball of golden fluff raised its head and sniffed. “I don’t have time for a dog.”
“Sit down, Kacy.”
I flopped on the floor, and he knelt beside me. “He’s a shih tzu like Popcorn, but golden instead of black and white.”
Leaving his hands, the fur ball trotted over to me and climbed into my lap, smiling. �
��What did you name him? Butter?” I picked it up for a quick glance just to be sure. A lot of people used the terms him and her interchangeably when referring to animals.
Greg frowned, and I laughed. “You know, Butter and Popcorn.”
“I’d thought I’d let you name him, and Mom is agreeable to watching them both while we’re at work.”
He rose, and panic set in. “What do I feed him? Is he potty-trained?”
“I’ve got some supplies in the car, and the term is housebroken, not potty-trained. He goes to the door most of the time, but we’ll work with him until he gets it right.” He left me sitting there, and the fur ball started licking my hands.
He really was cute, and Dad had moved out yesterday. I picked him up. “So what do I call you? Fur Ball?”
Deep-brown eyes stared at me.
“Don’t like that, huh? Butter?”
A tiny bark burst forth, and I could swear his lips parted in a grin. “Butter it is then.”
Greg chose that moment to walk back in, and I was pretty sure there was a goofy grin on my face as I snuggled Butter and he licked my face. “Thank you, I think.”
“Have you named him yet?” He headed for the kitchen with two bags.
“He wants to be called Butter.”
“That’s a dumb name for a dog.”
Something was happening deep inside, a warmness I wasn’t used to, and a fierce protectiveness I wasn’t sure I liked. “Look who’s talking. Don’t you pay any attention to him, Butter.” I rose, carrying Butter to the kitchen, where Greg had a full display of items on the table, including two bowls. “So what’s all this?”
“A leash for when you walk him, which you need to do at least twice a day. Let him get to know his neighborhood. That way if he gets lost, he knows how to find his way home. Food and water bowl, enough food for a month, flea and heartworm medicine, vet card, and a bed.” He smiled, and I noticed the worry lines around his eyes. They’d deepened over the past few months. “You’ll figure it all out.”
The awkwardness was setting in, but this time, I pushed it away. “I was getting ready to grill out a steak. Care to join me for dinner?”
“I take mine medium rare with baked potato and salad.”
“Yuck.” I placed Butter on the floor. “You’re manning the grill.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Jesus, don’t call me ma’am.” I removed two steaks from the fridge, only slightly guilty that I had intended to call Dave and invite him over for dinner. “I’m not that old.”
Greg grinned, grabbed the steaks, and headed toward the back porch. “Yes, ma’am.”
THE END
FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for reading Dishonorable Death. If you’ve gotten this far, then I hope that means you enjoyed this book. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a moment of your time to leave a short review on the site you purchased it from or Goodreads. Reviews help a book gain visibility and many times your words are helpful to another reader in choosing a book they will enjoy.
Thank you, again.
Linda S. Prather, Author
Honorable Death - Amazon
Justifiable Death coming soon!
OTHER BOOKS BY
LINDA S PRATHER
Honorable Death
The 13th Victim
48 Hours
The Forgotten
Innocent Blood
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Shadows of Doubt
No Doubt
Bet you can’t…Find Me
Eternal Beauty
The Gifts, A Jacody Ives Mystery
Sacred Secrets
Helena’s Diary
Food to Die Smiling For (short story)
Co-Authored with Best Selling Author,
M. A. Comley
Clever Deception
Tragic Deception
Sinful Deception
Dishonorable Death Page 19