“Please?” Replacement begged.
Jack stopped and just looked at her. He could make out little gold flecks among the emerald green in her eyes. His eyes started to close but he forced them open and drew in a ragged breath.
Replacement turned and bolted. Her legs were a blur as she raced away. Her arms pumped, her feet kicked up, and he knew she was giving everything she had trying to save him. He knew she couldn’t. She never looked back.
“I love you,” Jack whispered.
His breathing became shallower. He looked over at Kiku, and she had her gun in her hand; it shook.
“Are you suffering, Officer?” Tears hung off her long lashes.
She can end this. End me.
He looked over at Jennifer’s body.
I’m not afraid to die. I’m going to. It would be quick. Painless.
“I’m good.” He managed a wink.
“You’re in pain.”
Pain. I’m suffocating. I can’t feel half my body, and the parts I can I wish I couldn’t.
“Pain and me, we’re old friends.” Jack coughed.
“Shall I tell Alice?”
“If I die.”
Kiku nodded.
“Take care…of her…” Jack coughed, “from a distance.”
Kiku started to weep.
Jack Stratton closed his eyes.
Very good hands
Jack’s eyes fluttered open, but he couldn’t see. The light was so bright he had to shut his eyes again to let them adjust. He listened and heard a faint beep from some machine on his left. He felt sheets underneath him. The smell of antiseptics and medicines reached his nose, and his stomach churned.
Hospital.
Slowly, he opened his right eye. Marisa was asleep in the chair next to the bed. Her hand lay on the rail of his bed. Her cheeks were much thinner, but…
She’s alive.
Jack gave up on thinking. There was a dull pain behind his eyes, and he could only imagine what it would feel like if he wasn’t on whatever pain-killer they’d used to numb him.
He was covered in tubes and wires. When he tried to open his mouth, he realized some tube was even down his throat. The realization brought a quick panic, but his fatigue overrode his pain.
With considerable effort, he slid his hand over to bump Marisa’s. Her eyes lifted like a sunrise, and her chest rose as she inhaled. Her lips pressed together, and the corners curled up as she closed her eyes again and settled back into the chair. Jack lifted his finger and rubbed it against hers. She gasped and sat bolt upright. He tried to smile, but the movement hurt his throat.
“JACK.” Marisa jumped up and leaned close to him. “Don’t move. Don’t move. Doctor! Doctor!” She ran out into the hallway. He heard a crash in the corridor and running feet.
“Is he awake? JACK.” Replacement sprinted into the room.
She ran so fast she didn’t stop in time, and slammed into his bed. If it wasn’t for the pain medication, Jack was certain he’d be crying like a baby as he felt a numbed ripple course through his body.
“Alice,” Marisa snapped.
“Get the doctor,” Replacement ordered. “Jack. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Her face was right next to his. “GET THE DOCTOR,” she screamed right into his face.
“DOCTOR,” Marisa yelled as she stood in the doorway. “I’ve been calling, but no one’s coming.” She slapped her hand against her leg.
Replacement raced back out of the room. A minute later, several people—including one orderly, three nurses, and one doctor—were herded into the room by Replacement. He wondered what she’d said to get them there so fast.
She and Marisa ran to one side of the bed while the doctor approached from the other.
“Officer Stratton.” The older man smiled and looked up at Marisa and Replacement. “It would appear you’re in very good hands.” He winked, and Jack closed his eyes again.
Marisa
Marisa stood at the window in the hospital room and looked back at the man lying in the bed.
Jack Stratton.
He was covered in tubes and wires. The mask hid his pale face but not his shallow breathing.
She closed her eyes tightly as the separate memories of two gunshots rang in her ears. Marisa’s hand went to her mouth and she fought the urge to run to his side. She turned back to the window and exhaled. Everyone had finally left. The parade of people who love him had been long. Marisa had remained out of sight in the waiting room across the way, but she sat there and watched them.
Alice, Cindy, Mrs. Stevens, Aunt Haddie.
Flowers now filled the room and Marisa inhaled deeply.
He’d hate it. Hate the attention. But, he loves them. He loves this town. Being a policeman.
She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself. A shiver rippled along her body as the realization of what she needed to do sunk in. The sound of heels on the linoleum brought her head up. It wasn’t a nurse who stood in the doorway. It was a beautiful Japanese woman. She carried a vase filled with red chrysanthemums. Marisa tilted her head as she tried to remember where she’d seen her before. Her eyes rounded.
The cabin.
Kiku set down her vase and walked over to the side of the bed. She gazed down at Jack. Reaching out, she placed a hand on the side of his face and bowed her head. After a moment, she straightened up and walked over to Marisa.
“I saw you at the cabin.” Marisa’s voice was just above a whisper. “I want to thank you.”
Kiku nodded. “That is not necessary.” She looked back at Jack. “I was merely an accessory.”
Marisa swallowed as she watched Jack’s chest rise and fall. “I’m sure he wouldn’t agree.”
“He would give Alice and me all the credit. He is a good man.”
Marisa’s chest tightened. She walked over to the hospital bed. Jack’s monitors beeped and clicked. Marisa pulled up the corner of his blanket so she could cover more of his arm.
“It is no longer safe for you in Darrington,” Kiku whispered. “Now that people know where you are, they will be tempted to use you.”
I know.
Marisa touched Jack’s shoulder.
His skin feels better. Not as hot.
Marisa inhaled deeply before she looked at Kiku and sighed. “Thank you.”
“I mean no offense, Ms. Vitagliano.” Kiku leaned down, kissed Jack’s cheek, and then walked to the door. She didn’t look back when she spoke. “But I did it for Jack.”
Marisa closed her eyes for a moment and then nodded at the now empty doorway.
**********
Jack lay on his back and looked at the vase of wilting chrysanthemums. Another petal gently fell down to land on the shelf. He picked the letter back up.
Jack,
Words could never convey how much you meant to me before this happened. Now…
I saw you right before the impact of the car accident. I saw your face. I saw your eyes. You were willing to sacrifice your life for mine. You offered it, my love. I had no choice then, but now, that’s something I can’t let you do.
I have to go. I don’t know where right now but I have to leave Darrington, and I can’t ask you to go with me. I know you would, but I can’t let you. You have so much here. So many who love you. You have a life.
You asked me that day to live and I’ll try. I ask the same of you.
Tu sei il bello mio: You are my beautiful one.
Marisa
At the bottom of the letter was a sketch of the girl in the field. As Jack looked at it now, he was sure the little girl was smiling.
Beneath the picture, Marisa had written: “The original is hanging in your living room.”
Jack let the paper fall from his hand as another chrysanthemum petal gently floated down to the floor.
A dog in a sled
Jack sat propped up while two FBI agents and his union delegate stood on either side of the bed. Both of the FBI agents wore dark black suits, white shirts, black shoes, Marine haircuts, and serious
expressions. The taller one was Dan Haney, but he couldn’t remember the other guy’s name.
Jack’s union delegate was Peter Bruff. He was dressed in ski pants and a red shirt screen-printed with a dog in a sled being pulled by six humans. Jack smirked. He didn’t blame Peter for the way he was dressed. He’d come the second Replacement called and told him.
“We’re not re-interviewing him,” Haney explained again. “We just have two additional questions.”
Peter turned to look at Jack, and his snow pants squeakily swished.
Jack tried not to laugh at the odd sound. He nodded his head. “Ask away.”
“We appreciate your help, Officer Stratton, but we just need you to answer a few—”
“Two,” Peter interjected.
“We need you to answer two additional questions. Now, you’ve stated that your recollection of the events are hazy because of your head injury?”
“We’ve been over that a thousand times,” Peter blurted out. “Anything he says gets a little asterisk next to it saying, ‘may not be accurate due to short-term memory loss caused by head trauma.’”
Haney exhaled. “Duly noted. Now, we are wrapping up our investigation and want to confirm you drove Agent Rivers to the cabin, is that correct?”
Jack opened his mouth, but Peter spoke, “He assumes he did because it’s his car, but that statement ‘may not be accurate due to short-term memory loss caused by head trauma.’”
“When you were in the cabin, you can’t recall who fired the shots or if anyone else was with you and Agent Rivers at the time?”
Jack nodded, but when Peter opened his mouth, Haney spoke. “But that statement ‘may not be accurate due to short-term memory loss caused by head trauma.’”
Jack noticed the corner of Haney’s mouth turn up.
“I understand. Thank you for your time, Officer.”
Jack nodded, and the two men turned to walk out.
“Thanks for coming, Peter.”
“It’s what I’m here for.” He smiled. “Listen, Jack, Cindy thinks there’s a chance of you getting reinstated but, between you and me, no. If you want to, you can apply in another county.”
“I don’t know how you fixed it so I can. Are you sure that email isn’t going on my record?”
“It won’t. You apply someplace else, and your record’s clean. Don’t thank me. You have to be the luckiest guy in the world. The whole email database crashed, and the only account they can’t recover is yours? What are the chances?”
Zero, unless you factor in Replacement.
“Thanks, Peter.”
“I gotta run. Cindy is waiting in the hall to talk to you. Are you good for a visit?”
Jack nodded.
Peter’s snow pants swished as he walked out of the room, and Cindy breezed in.
Jack’s face lit up. You couldn’t help but smile when Cindy was around.
“Hi, Jack.” She walked over and kissed his cheek. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine. Cindy, I really appreciate you coming, but you didn’t have to come again.”
She held her hand up. “I most certainly did. Poor Alice won’t leave your side. This is the first day she’s away, and that’s because she’s doing something for you, too.”
Jack rolled his eyes.
“I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, but that’s how it is. Don’t go getting all down. You’ll be out of here in another week.”
“Why a week? Doesn’t someone else need this bed?”
“Those doctors must be a bunch of nitwits wanting to keep you here. After all that happened, you nearly died…oh, I forgot. Technically, you were dead when they brought you in. Collapsed lung, shot—what on earth can they be thinking?”
“You’re laying it on a little thick.”
“Am I? Jack, if Marisa’s brother wasn’t on Big Blue, you wouldn’t be here. Even with his help, you—” She stopped as her eyes welled up, and her lip quivered.
“Cindy. I’m good now.”
“Sorry,” she muttered. “It’s just…that was horrible.”
She dabbed at her eyes, blew her nose, and then reached down and pulled a book from her bag.
“Hold on. Show me the cover.” Jack lifted his hand.
She frowned and flipped the paperback around so he could see it. On the cover was a shirtless man with six-pack abs holding a beautiful girl in a flowery dress.
Jack’s lip curled up.
“You liked the last one.” Cindy grinned.
“I didn’t.”
“You did, too. Besides, I promised Alice I’d spend the afternoon with you, and I will.”
“I should have known she put you up to this.”
Jack slowly drifted off as Cindy began to read to him.
She didn’t make it
Replacement wheeled Jack to the exit of the hospital, but when they reached the door, he shook his head and stopped the wheelchair.
“I can walk from here.” He stood up, and Replacement frowned.
“You heard the doctors; you need to take it easy.”
“I’ve been taking it easy for four weeks. I don’t want ‘easy’ anymore.”
They walked through the big double doors, and Jack looked for Replacement’s Bug.
“Where’s your car?”
She shrugged. “I parked around the corner. I’ll go get it.”
“I can walk.”
Her eyes narrowed as she looked him up and down. “Okay.” She slid her arm around his waist.
“Have you talked to Marisa?”
“Umm…yeah.”
That can’t be good.
“Can you elaborate?”
“Well, she said she needed to move.”
Jack looked at the sidewalk as they slowly walked.
She’s gone.
He inhaled slowly and nodded. “She might let us know when she gets settled.”
Replacement wrinkled her nose and closed one eye. “I sorta already know.”
Jack sighed. “If she didn’t tell you, I don’t want to know.”
“But she did.” She let out a little whistle. “I kinda took her there.”
“Where?”
“Hope Falls.”
Jack’s mouth fell open. “You took her to Hope Falls? Really?”
“You’re not mad?”
Jack stopped to think for a second. “No. No, I think that’s a great idea. Maybe we can call Kristine and see if she can stay there until she finds a place.”
“I did. She put Marisa up at the inn. She even let her set up an easel in the widow’s walk.”
Jack could picture Marisa up there at sunset, painting.
She’ll be happy.
“Good job, kid.”
Replacement beamed. She took his hand and they continued to walk.
“I haven’t asked yet but, how’s my car?”
Replacement stopped.
Damn.
“Did they tow her to Sully’s?”
She nodded but didn’t look at him.
“What did he say?”
She looked up, and he knew his Impala hadn’t made it.
“Sully said everything was gone. Engine, frame, just everything. The driver’s side was the only thing that made it. It was the most protected…” She looked away.
He put his hand on her shoulder, and she spun around and hugged him. Jack’s eyes rolled back from the pain, but he tried to mask it. He softly touched her hair.
“You were so hurt. I remembered you told Ilario to go to the drop at the base of Big Blue, so I ran there as fast as I could. Ilario made a hole in your chest, and there was so much blood. I…they took you to the hospital but you…” She buried her face in his chest and cried.
A couple walking by gave him a pitying look, and he nodded as he awkwardly smiled. Jack stroked her back as she tried to get hold of herself.
She straightened up and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” Jack smiled lopsidedly.
“T
hanks?” Replacement lifted an eyebrow.
“What am I supposed to say? I’m sorry I almost died and freaked you out?”
She nodded. “Yeah. That would be better than thanks.”
Jack laughed. He put his arm around her shoulder and started to walk again. When they reached the end of the block, he stumbled slightly.
“Are you okay?” Replacement put her hand on his chest.
“I’m fine. I got distracted.” He pointed to the curb where a jet-black Charger was parked.
Replacement smiled from ear to ear, crossed her hands behind her back, and raised herself up on her toes. “Do you like it?”
“Like it? It’s my favorite…” His voice trailed off when she held out her hand and let a set of keys dangle from her fingers.
No way. No way.
As his mouth fell open, she squealed. He grabbed her around the waist.
“Don’t pick me up. Don’t. Don’t,” she protested.
He picked her up and spun her around anyway. Jack knew he’d be sore that night, but he didn’t care.
“Thank you.” He looked at her with amazement, and she pushed him toward the driver’s side.
“Get in. Start her up.”
She ran over to the passenger side as he slid into the driver’s seat. He rolled his fingers around the steering wheel, curled his lip, and looked over the dashboard.
“Wait a second. This is…this is my Charger. It’s my police car?”
“Is that okay?” She knelt on the seat, gazed up at him, and held her breath.
His mouth twitched into a smile as he nodded. “But, how?”
Replacement clapped and wiggled in the seat. “I begged Sully to fix the Impala and, when he couldn’t, I knew how bummed out you’d be, and I knew you loved this car. Well, they sent this one to Sully’s. I only had a little money, but Sully called in some markers. He knew a mechanic and a body guy, so we went there and he said, ‘I never ask for nothing, but I’m askin’ for a favor now.’” She laughed as she imitated him. “They said it wasn’t as bad as it looked, and Sully got the parts from another Charger.”
Jack turned around and started the car. The engine’s roar turned into a purr. Jack rubbed the dashboard, and Replacement laughed.
JACKS ARE WILD Page 28