Love Against the Law

by Justine Klavon

  Having put the scene together, Eli jumped into action and pulled his girlfriend out of the shower, sitting on the floor with her in his lap. He reached up and grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped it tightly around Sammi’s arm, making sure to apply pressure to the two deep gashes. Sammi still wasn’t responding to him and hadn’t even looked at him.

  Eli, beginning to freak out, stood up with Sammi in his arms and carried her out to the bedroom. He placed her on the bed, keeping her propped up on the pillows, and removed the towel to look at the damage. There were two cuts, one on top of another, horizontal across her wrist. The cut further up her arm was noticeably deeper than the other, but Eli didn’t think that either of them needed medical attention, and he knew that there would be a lot of questions asked at the hospital that he wouldn’t be able to answer. He quickly grabbed some gauze and medical tape from the bathroom and carefully bandaged the wounds.

  Sammi watched Eli’s every move from her throne of pillows, hardly blinking, and still not speaking. As she inspected Eli’s bandage job, Eli continued to ask her if she was okay. She could hear him, but she couldn’t break free from the heavy haze weighing down on her and preventing her from putting words together.

  Eli had never seen this side of Sammi and was starting to question their entire relationship. Frustrated, he finally gave up and slapped his girlfriend as hard as he could across her face. Tears welled up in her already puffy eyes from the sting of his hand. But it worked and Sammi finally snapped out of it, throwing her arms around her boyfriend’s neck, and crying hysterically as she apologized over and over again. Eli held her while she wept and pet her hair to try to calm her down. But he was secretly reveling in this new feeling of control.

  Chapter Five

  Goodbye to the Girl

  Eli was still choking the life out of his girlfriend when there was a loud pounding on the apartment door. He didn’t need to hear the voice calling in to him to know that it was Johnson. If he was going to lose Sammi, he was going to lose her on his own terms. So, he ignored the heavy knocking and continued to squeeze the fragile neck in his hands. Sammi had been unconscious for almost two minutes now and Eli could feel her pulse slowing.

  Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound from the front of the apartment: the apartment door hitting the floor. Eli knew Johnson would be on him any second, but he didn’t need too much longer. As soon as he felt Sammi’s pulse disappear, he released her throat and heard a gun being cocked behind him.

  “Police! Freeze!” Mack Johnson yelled with his gun aimed at the back of Eli’s head. Eli was laughing as he placed his hands behind his head in surrender.

  “Now neither of us can have her.” Eli continued laughing. He stood up, hands still behind his head, and turned around to face the arresting officer.

  When Johnson let his guard down to look at Sammi’s body, Eli dove behind the bed and grabbed his handgun out from under the mattress. He checked the magazine and made sure the Glock 19 was fully loaded. Then he army-crawled under the bed and positioned himself where he could get a clear shot in the direction of the meddlesome detective.

  “Give it up, Eli! You’re under arrest,” Johnson said, his voice shaking with emotion. He held his gun out in front of him as he walked around the bed. Before he could even realize that Eli wasn’t there, Eli fired a shot from under the bed.

  This time, Eli’s aim was spot-on, and Johnson’s left kneecap shattered right in front of his eyes. Johnson hollered in pain as he fell forward but was able to get his right knee under himself to catch his weight. Eli rolled out from under the bed and took off running without looking back. Johnson fired several shots after him, but he was gone.

  Being an on-duty detective, Johnson was wearing black dress pants and a black blazer with a light blue dress shirt and dark blue tie. His badge and his radio were on his belt along with his empty gun holster. He struggled to get his radio free, fighting against the blinding pain in his left leg. When he finally wrestled the radio free from his belt, he radioed for medical help and reported Eliot Krik as a suspect on the run. Then he dragged himself over to Sammi’s unmoving body to check for a pulse. He choked back tears as he examined the extent of her newest injuries. Unable to find a pulse, he began chest compressions on Sammi while waiting for help to arrive.

  When medics finally arrived on the scene, two of them rushed over to Sammi while another two tended to the detective. Unable to detect any vital signs on the female victim, they declared a time of death. Then all hands were on Johnson and his gunshot wound, which was bleeding profusely, and fragments of broken bone were exposed through the flesh of his knee. But Johnson was not cooperating, and was instead trying to continue compressions on Sammi.

  “Officer! You have to let us help you!” one of the paramedics cried out in frustration.

  “It’s Lieutenant! And I need you to help her!” Johnson fired back, hysterical.

  Upon Johnson’s insistence, the EMTs abandoned protocol and treated Sammi’s body as critical condition and rushed her to an ambulance. Two of them remained with Lieutenant Johnson and got him into a second ambulance. They were all concerned about the possibility of him losing part of his leg, but no one verbalized it. Johnson’s one and only care at the moment was Sammi.

  *

  On the other side of the city, a disheveled Eli frantically pounded on an apartment door in a dark hallway. It was the middle of the day and Eli had just come from the sunny streets, so the darkness was manipulating. Eli repeatedly looked to either side of him while he kept his gun tucked under his unbuttoned blue flannel shirt. Eventually the door opened, and Eli threw himself into the apartment, quickly closing the door behind him.

  “I fucked up,” Eli said without prompt, leaning his back against the door as if it were the only thing holding him up. Shay and Howard looked at him in bewilderment. “Sammi’s dead.”

  “What…did you do?” Shay asked, trying to remain calm. She had always known that her brother had a temper, but he had never done anything to hurt anyone he cared about.

  “She was going to leave me for that cop from the other night,” Eli told her, expecting that brief statement to explain everything.

  “How in the hell?” Howard wondered aloud about the entire situation.

  “I don’t understand. How do they even know each other?” Shay asked.

  “They didn’t, not until that night.” Eli now had his hands in his hair that fell forward over his face, trying to wrap his own head around how everything had played out.

  “Oh, you mean after you shot her and left her to die while you ran away?” Howard finally called him out. That night at the mall had been weighing heavy on him.

  “It was an accident! And I didn’t see you sticking around to help her!” Eli yelled.

  “You shot Sammi?” Shay asked her brother, getting louder to match the men’s tones. She was also annoyed that nobody had told her prior to this.

  “I was aiming for the fucking cop! And she lived! She was fine!”

  “Then why did you just tell us she’s dead?” Shay started to get control of the situation again.

  “I…I had my hands around her neck and…I just couldn’t stop,” Eli stuttered through his confession. He slid down the door and sat on the floor with his head in his hands. “I just didn’t want to lose her.”

  While Shay comforted her brother, Howard packed a quick bag with some of his clothes for Eli to take on the run. He was thinner than Eli, so he did his best to gather his baggier items. Then he went into the bottom drawer of his nightstand, grabbed a stack of cash and a fully loaded Berretta pistol, and tucked them carefully into the bag.

  “Here, man, this should be enough to get you to the hideout,” Howard said, dropping the bag in front of Eli. He was angry that Sammi was dead, but Eli was still a part of their team.

  “Call us when you get there,” Shay said as she and Eli stood up and stepped back from the door. “We’ll figure something out.”

  Eli tucked his Gloc
k into his waistband, shouldered the duffel bag of getaway gear, and hugged his sister. Then he quietly slipped out of the apartment and disappeared into the crowded city alone.

  Chapter Six

  Heartbeat

  When Sammi woke up, everything was bright. Her throat was burning, and it pained her to swallow, but she was comfortably propped up on pillows in a warm hospital bed. Mack Johnson was standing in the doorway to her room, talking to a doctor. He was on crutches.

  Sammi remembered the fear of Eli trying to kill her clear as day. And she remembered calling the detective out of desperation. But she couldn’t remember anything after that.

  Feeling embarrassed, Sammi didn’t want to see or talk to anybody. The doctor and the detective had stepped away from the door so Sammi quietly crept out of bed and slid into the small bathroom, closing the door behind her. She took one look in the mirror and suddenly felt small and helpless. Her face was swollen and bruised, and her neck was completely black and purple. She couldn’t bear to look at herself anymore, so she sat on the floor of the bathroom and cried quietly to herself until a doctor came into the room looking for her.

  “Miss Reilly?” the young doctor called through the bathroom door.

  Unable to speak, Sammi emerged from the bathroom without a word and let handsome Dr. Sicar help her back into bed. The doctor updated Sammi’s chart and made sure she was comfortable before leaving her in peace. Almost as soon as he had left, there was a familiar face in the doorway again.

  “Mack?” Sammi questioned quietly. Her throat was dry, and her voice was hoarse.

  “Hey, you’re awake.” Mack smiled as he hobbled over to Sammi’s bedside and offered her a cup of water.

  “Are you okay?” Sammi asked, keeping her voice faint to avoid straining it anymore as she took the tiny plastic cup from Mack and took one small sip. The intruding liquid set her throat on fire and she shoved the cup back into Mack’s hands as tears of pain rolled out of her eyes.

  “I’m on my feet, aren’t I?” Mack chuckled. “You, on the other hand, almost died. Your throat is severely bruised and swollen so you’re going to want to keep this conversation short. But you’re safe now.”

  “I’m so sorry I ever got you involved,” Sammi said, still quiet as she looked down and away from Mack. Mack put his hand over Sammi’s and gave it a quick squeeze.

  “It’s my job, remember? Besides, it’s just my leg. I’ll be fine.”

  “What happened with…?” Sammi couldn’t bring herself to say Eli’s name.

  “He got away after he shot me. But don’t worry, we’ll get him.”

  Sammi nodded and continued to avoid eye contact. She was in too much pain to keep talking and just wanted to rest her eyes. Seeing her eyelids beginning to droop, Mack knew he had to let her sleep.

  “I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so,” Mack said warmly with a smile. Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Sammi’s forehead before leaving the room.

  *

  Sammi was released from the hospital two days later with prescription antibiotics and steroids. It was still difficult for her to swallow but talking was becoming less painful. Mack had hardly left her side, but no one else had come to see her.

  Mack had convinced his Captain to hold off on getting Sammi’s statement until she was released. He wanted to give her time for her throat to heal and time to sort out her thoughts and feelings before bombarding her with personal questions about her relationship with Eli. Besides, they had more than enough to go off of with Mack’s account of what happened, and statements collected from neighbors who had heard the commotion the day Eli had snapped.

  As soon as Sammi’s discharge papers were signed, Mack rolled her in the obligatory wheelchair outside to where his unmarked squad car was parked. He had been pushing through his physical therapy for his leg and this was his first day without crutches, but he was still wearing a boot all the way up to his thigh to keep his reconstructed knee from moving out of place. He helped Sammi into the passenger seat before getting behind the wheel and driving them to his precinct.

  Sammi was silent in the cop car on the drive over. She was nervous about going to a place swarming with cops while having such a strong criminal history. But she looked over at Mack and was somewhat relaxed by his calm, collected composure.

  At the precinct, Mack had Sammi wait at his desk while he went to speak with his Captain. Sammi sat in his chair and looked at the cluttered mess on top of his desk. There were empty cigarette cartons and unorganized paperwork scattered everywhere. For a reason that she couldn’t explain, this made her feel warmth towards Mack. But then she saw the same framed photograph from his bedroom and was reminded that he was a married man. Suddenly she didn’t feel so warm anymore.

  Mack returned a few moments later and led Sammi to his Captain’s office. Sammi sat across from the Captain at his desk while Mack stood guard by the door behind her. Captain Tyler Hobbs was a tall, lean man in his early fifties. He had golden blonde hair, which was the same color as his unfortunate paint-brush mustache. Sammi couldn’t stop staring at the soft bristles on his upper lip as they jumped about when he spoke. He asked her about Eli’s abusive behavior, and she told him as much as she remembered from the attempted homicide.

  “Thank you, Miss Reilly. I’ll get this written up and filed and then a uniform will take you to where you’re staying,” Hobbs said once he was satisfied with Sammi’s statement. “We haven’t found Mr. Krik, but we will.”

  “I don’t have anywhere to go,” Sammi said quietly to Mack as she squirmed nervously to look at him. Mack shot a pleading look at his boss in a hurry.

  “We would actually feel better if you spent the night here tonight. There’s a bed in the officer’s lounge that we use for situations just like this. We have resources here to help you find a place all your own,” Hobbs offered, hinting that he knew a little bit more about Sammi’s situation than she had provided. “A uniform will be available in the morning to escort you to your old apartment to collect your things.”

  “I’m on call tonight,” Mack quickly added, “I’ll keep you company and help with the apartment search.”

  Sammi nodded and stood up, leading Captain Hobbs to do the same. Hobbs and Sammi shook hands before Sammi turned and followed Mack out of the office. Mack led the way up a flight of stairs and into the first room on the left where they spent four hours researching dozens of available apartments. As soon as it got dark outside, Sammi couldn’t focus on anything other than the insides of her eyelids, so they called it a night and retired to the officer’s lounge.

  *

  The officer’s lounge was quite spacious but was hardly being used to its full potential. There was a ratty old couch and an even older television set in the center and a coffee maker and refrigerator along the one wall. And in the far corner was a small cot that looked anything but comfortable.

  Mack put a sign on the door that read “OVERNIGHT” and locked the door to keep his coworkers out while Sammi walked over and sat on the bed. She pushed on the thin mattress, wondering how on earth she was going to be able to sleep. But before she could dwell on it for too long, Mack joined her, sitting next to her on the bed.

  “Here, you need to take these,” Mack said as he pulled two prescription pill bottles out of the pocket of his tan cargo pants. One medication was a steroid for the swelling in her neck and the other was an antibiotic for her now properly treated gunshot wounds.

  “Why are you doing this?” Sammi asked, taking the bottles from him.

  “Doing what?” Mack turned his back to her as he stood up and went to get her a glass of water.

  “Why are you helping me?”

  “Honestly, I feel responsible for everything that has happened since I shot you at the mall.”

  “I’m the only one to blame for my bad decisions. But I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

  Mack handed Sammi the glass of water without saying anything. Taking her medications, Sa
mmi shifted uncomfortably on the bed. Her thoughts returned to trying to figure out how she was going to fall asleep.

  “Come on, let’s get you settled,” Mack said, beginning to unfold the clean sheets at the foot of the bed. There was no longer any warmth in his tone, and he wouldn’t look at Sammi.

  “I’m not going to be able to sleep,” Sammi replied quietly as she helped him finish making the bed. She suddenly felt like a burden under his cold demeanor and was afraid to upset this man any further.

  “Just lie down. One of these is supposed to cause drowsiness,” Mack told her and pretended to read the prescription labels on the bottles he had picked up off the floor where Sammi had left them.

  Sammi did what was asked of her and got into bed, sliding under the blankets. As soon as her head touched the pillow, she realized her eyelids were heavy. Mack sat on the edge of the bed and turned his body toward her.

  “Okay, you win. I’m sleepy,” Sammi said, struggling to keep her eyes open. Mack chuckled, warming back up.

  “I like you,” he said calmly as he reached over and gently pushed a strand of Sammi’s golden hair behind her ear.

  “Will you be here when I wake up?” Sammi asked through a yawn.

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Mack smiled down on the girl that gave him indescribable feelings as she drifted off to sleep. Then he pressed his lips to her forehead before settling in on the couch in front of the television set for a long night of watching over his injured little dove.

  *

  By the time Sammi woke up the next day, the sun had already come up. She sat up to look around the room for Mack and giggled to herself when she saw him. He was passed out on the couch on his back with one arm hanging over the side and his mouth wide open. A steady snoring could be heard across the room.

  Before Sammi could decide whether to wake up Sleeping Beauty or not, there was a knock on the door. Startled, Mack jolted awake and landed on the floor in front of the sofa. Sammi laughed harder as he groaned and picked himself up.