“Say it. Say the words, sugar. I need to hear it.”
He knew this was crucial. He kept eye contact with her. “I love you.”
She threw her arms around his neck. His disgust was replaced with anxiety because she still had the gun in her hand.
*******
Harry, Officer Ballstic, Trish, and Teddy walked on the dirt path to Westback Mill. They parked their vehicles a few feet away, just in case they were inside. Harry and Teddy wanted to sneak up on them.
“Lieutenant,” Ballstic said.
“What?” Harry said.
“Don’t you think that brush and snow over there looks suspicious? You know I’m a hunter.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, I know when brush is set in a certain way. Like if another hunter sets a trap for large prey,” Ballstic said and walked to the large brush.
Harry rolled his eyes. “Just hurry.”
Ballstic picked up a couple of branches and wiped away some snow. “It’s a car,” he announced.
Trish, Teddy, and Harry rushed over. Trish saw the black paint and the beamer logo. “This is David’s car.”
“Are you sure?” Harry asked.
Teddy knelt down and wiped away more snow and pushed aside a couple of more branches. He revealed the license plate. “Yep, this is David’s car.”
“Okay, the car is here, but it doesn’t mean he still is.” Harry scratched his dark stringy hair.
Teddy and Trish gave Harry a dirty look.
“I just don’t want you two to get your hopes up,” he explained.
They continued walking up the dirt path. They reached the back of the warehouse, and there was a large window that was dirty from the season’s elements. The four peeked inside. Trish gasped when she saw Heather holding and kissing a bloodied David on his cheek.
Teddy grabbed Trish’s coat sleeve and pulled her down – from the window view. Harry and Ballstic huddled beside them.
“Go a few steps away, use your radio- call for back up,” Harry whispered.
Ballstic followed the lieutenant’s orders.
“Ted, you and Trish go back to the car and wait,” Harry whispered.
“No,” Teddy said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Trish whispered.
“You two will just be in harm’s way if something goes wrong.”
“I got a gun,” Teddy said.
“You’re a P.I. not a cop,” Harry said.
“I went to the academy, too, remember?” Teddy said.
“What about her?”
“Trish, go back to the car,” Teddy said.
“Forget it. I’ll stay here even if you two go in,” Trish said.
“Not far enough away. If David finds out I had you anywhere close to danger he’d skin me alive. And I wouldn’t blame him,” Teddy said.
“Shhh. Look,” Harry said as he peeked through the window.
Trish and Teddy raised their heads.
Chapter 43
Heather released David. She still had the gun in her hand. “Oh, sugar, everything is going to be all right. Once we’re out of this city, we can head for the coast. I have a boat…well, more like a yacht. I know how to drive it, so we won’t need a crew.”
“That’s great. We should leave, now. Time is of the essence,” David said.
She nodded her head in agreement.
*******
“Lieutenant,” Ballstic said as he creeped back up in a squat. “A white sedan pulled up. A big guy with brown hair got out.”
The four peeked through the window again.
“He put something in his back pocket. It looked like a gun.”
“Damnit, Harry, we can’t wait for back up,” Teddy whispered with desperation.
*******
Heather was untying the ropes behind David’s back. He heard her put the gun on the floor behind him. David could feel the tightness relieving in his wrist. His hands had fallen asleep. Don came into the warehouse.
“Good, you’re back. Change in plans,” Heather said and stopped untying David. She stood up.
“Yes, I know,” Don said and pulled a gun out of his rear pocket. He pointed it at Heather “Where’s the rest of my money?”
“Oh for Pete’s sake. It’s in my purse on the floor,” Heather said with irritation.
Don kept the gun pointed at Heather as he walked to the purse. He picked it up and opened it with one hand. He glanced inside.
The ropes were loose enough around David’s wrists that he was able to slip his hands out.
“See,” Heather said and placed her hands on her hips. “Now, put that thing down and help me get him up. I’m taking him with me. We need forged papers for David. I’ll pay you another two grand for the forger.”
Don tucked Heather’s purse under his arm. David was then startled by a loud bang that echoed in the warehouse. He heard Heather scream. Don had a stone cold look on his face. David turned his head towards Heather. She was on the floor. Blood seeped through her sweater from the hole in her chest.
“Why did you shoot her?” David exclaimed.
“Oh please, we both know you didn’t want to go anywhere with her,” Don said as he pointed the gun at him.
David started pawing for the gun that was behind him without being obvious that his hands were free. “Yeah, but you didn’t have to shoot her.”
“Are you kidding me? She was crazy. She wasn’t like that when I met her a couple of years ago. It’s a shame, Heather was a good lay, but I’m not going to let some woman drag me to jail because she was good in bed.”
David found the gun. “So, do I get the same?”
“Unfortunately. You’ve seen my face. Got to do the deed. It’s a shame really, you’re one tough guy.”
“Freeze!” Harry yelled from the back of the warehouse.
Don pointed the gun at Harry, but the lieutenant fired two shots before Don got a round off. Don stumbled backwards from the two rounds to his chest. He fell to the floor.
Harry pulled his radio out of his pocket and called for an ambulance as Teddy and Trish ran from the back of the warehouse. Ballstic appeared from the side entrance.
Teddy untied David’s legs and Trish threw her arms around David.
“What are you doing here?” David asked. “You could have gotten hurt.”
Trish pulled back an inch from his face. “Nice to see you, too.” She hugged him again, and he put his arms around her.
Chapter 44
David opened his eyes, and looking over, he saw Trish sitting next to his bed, reading a magazine.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he whispered.
She looked up, smiled, and closed the magazine. “Hey, you dozed off.”
“How long was I out? The last thing I remember was riding in the ambulance- with you.”
“You passed out in the ambulance. The EMTs said you were exhausted and dehydrated. You got a cracked rib, a split lip, a bump on the back of your head, a broken nose, and a black eye.”
David grunted. “Thank you, Dr. Truman.”
“That’s not all you have.”
“Oh, what else?”
“You have a very stubborn lady on your hands that is crazy about you. David, I never should have doubted you New Year’s Eve. I should have stayed and talked to you. If I had, this would never have happened.”
“Shh, this wasn’t your fault. Heather was bound and determined to have me abducted. I’m glad we got separated last night. If we weren’t, you could have been hurt or killed.”
“About Heather - she didn’t make it. She died before they could do surgery to remove the bullet. The doctor said she lost too much blood.”
A wave of mixed emotions stirred in him. The Heather he met was fun and vivacious. He loved her, but she died the day he caught her in bed with George Young. The one who came to Clary was manipulative, mean, and dangerous- that one he wouldn’t miss.
“Are you okay? It’s okay if you feel bad about it. After all, you did love her - once,” Trish said.<
br />
“Yeah, once. I take it Don is dead, too?”
“You’re not going to believe this, but he was wearing a bullet proof vest,” Trish said and pressed her lips together.
David sat up. He winced with pain.
“Easy, your rib.”
“You’re right. I don’t believe it.”
“He was. He just got the wind knocked out of him. Harry figured it out when he couldn’t find blood on Don’s shirt. I never seen anyone that was knocked out get cuffs put on him so fast.”
“I don’t blame Harry. Don didn’t mess around. My current condition is proof of that.”
She gave off a small smile. “David, before your parents come back in, I want to tell you something.”
“No, I need to tell you something. Let me go first. If I said this sooner, you wouldn’t have thought I wanted Heather back.”
“No, David, I’ve been thinking-”
“Trish, I think I’ve earned the right to say what I want to say first,” he said with determination.
“This is not the time for us to fight.”
“Then, close that beautiful mouth and listen.”
“Uh,” she breathed out and crossed her arms. She looked at him with a sly smile.
He smiled. “Ready?”
Her smile widened. “Yes.”
“I love you,” he said.
“And I love you,” she admitted with a smile. She kissed him on the cheek. “So, now that we got that out of our systems, what do we do now?”
David leaned his head back on the pillow. He was still looking at her. “Once I’m better, I’m going to take you away on a vacation and make love to you every day and night.”
She giggled. “That sounds like heaven.”
“So, where would you like to go to find heaven?”
“You know, my attorney got me this beautiful beach house in the Bahamas.”
Epilogue
Clary, PA
The Clover Club
May 1995
Trish and David sat in a booth necking when Darlene, Phillip, and Marcus approached them.
“Geez, the newness hasn’t worn off, yet?” Phillip asked as he smiled and turned up his nose.
The love birds looked up.
“Tell me about it. You two are just sickening, now,” Marcus said.
“Don’t mind these two. They’ve never seen true love before,” Darlene said with a smile. “But, it is my going away party. It would be nice if my best friend was free to hang out with me. I’ll be gone for the whole summer.”
“I’m sorry, Darlene,” Trish said with a sorrowful look.
“You two can talk on the phone,” David teased.
“Yeah, but we won’t be able to see each other when she’s here and I’m in Paris,” Darlene said.
“At least free her up long enough to tell the rest of the story,” Marcus said. “I missed all the action.”
“What action?” Trish asked.
“David’s abduction and imprisonment by a mobster,” Marcus said. “These two told me everything except what happened to the mobster.”
David suppressed the urge to groan. He hoped people would have stopped asking about the ordeal by now.
“He pleaded guilty. Don got ten years for kidnapping, possibility of parole in seven years,” Trish said.
“So, did the wife really kill her husband?” Marcus asked.
“Yep, Heather confessed to me while I was tied up. The NYPD said George’s son contacted them the day after his father died. But, Heather had George’s body cremated the next day. They couldn’t do an autopsy,” David said and sipped his scotch.
“They couldn’t test the ashes for poisons?” Phillip asked.
“Nope. She already spread them in the Hudson River,” David answered.
“It’s all over now, and David is all right and with the woman he loves. Just like it should be,” Darlene said.
“Yes, after all was said and done. Things are exactly the way they should be,” David said and looked down at Trish.
She was looking back at him with a smile, and he kissed her forehead.
“Ugh, there they go again,” Marcus said as he jerked his head away from the scene as everyone laughed.
Thank you
Thank you for reading my book. I hope you have enjoyed Trish and David’s journey.
Olivia
Saxton
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The Lawyer Page 25