[Piper Anderson 01.0] Three Seconds to Rush

by Danielle Stewart

  “No way he’s just some nut job,” Willow dissented in a low voice. “It has to be bigger than this. Something with TJ, some kind of vendetta or something. Did TJ owe anyone money?”

  A spooky look washed over Tara’s face. “Money,” she said, using her uninjured hand to wipe her eyes, gingerly avoiding the stitches. “He said he didn’t need money. That he wasn’t there for money, he had plenty. I figured as a drug dealer he must.”

  “No,” Willow said firmly. “Dealers with a business mentality have money. Users like Yule, who also happen to sell, are broke. They use up half the product themselves. They can never turn a profit.”

  Tara nodded. “He said something about screwing over TJ for a lot of money. Like he did something to backstab TJ, and that got him a lot of money or something.”

  “Good,” the doctor said as he shined a tiny flashlight into Tara’s eyes. “Follow the light.” He turned toward them and the smile on his face slid away. “One more minute in here then you need to go.”

  “What else do you remember?” Reid asked, afraid of the answer. Not ready to hear her articulate the fear and terror she must have been enduring.

  “Nothing,” she admitted. “I just fought. I couldn’t make it to the door, so I went to the kitchen. He was going to kill me. He had this rag, and he said that’s how he did it the first time.”

  “Chloroform,” Reid nodded. “He must have grabbed you in the parking lot of the grocery store and drove you to the alley.”

  “That’s why there was no record of you on any surveillance cameras.” Willow drew in a breath. “Reid, I need to talk to you outside.” She tugged his arm.

  “I just want to see if she remembers anything else,” Reid snapped.

  “Now,” Willow insisted, tugging him again. “Before you say anything else.”

  “What?” Reid barked as they made their way to a quiet corner of the hospital.

  “How far ahead of the police did you arrive?” Willow asked in a whisper. “One minute? Two? Were they out front when you got there?”

  “No,” Reid answered, annoyed. “I was there maybe two minutes before them. I heard the screams and I kicked in the door. I looked around and called Tara’s name. There was some more commotion and then I heard her call me to the kitchen.”

  “Have you given a formal statement yet?” Willow asked, the importance of this written all over her face.

  “No.”

  “And she hasn’t, right? Just what we heard in front of the detective?”

  “Yes, as far as I know. Why? I told Olly that Tara had been drugged and I thought Yule was responsible. What are you getting at?”

  “Even with him attacking her, it’s still her word against Yule’s. She says he admitted to drugging her. But what evidence do you have right now that you didn’t have before this? She stabbed him. This could easily be spun into a dispute about drugs. It’s still her saying it.”

  “But he was waiting in her apartment with chloroform,” Reid argued angrily. “You know she’s telling the truth, why are you saying this?”

  “Because you know damn well someone else will pitch it too at some point. There is only one way around it. You have to say when you got there you heard Yule admit to drugging her.”

  “What?” Reid asked through a breathy laugh. “Your whole philosophy is built on finding justice and the truth and you want me to lie, presumably under oath when it comes to it?”

  “That’s not my philosophy, it’s my damn business slogan. It’s what makes what I do possible because people need to believe it. But you know better. My life is built on family and loyalty to it. That girl is the closest thing to family you have, and she needs you right now. Sometimes that gets messy. Loving people, taking care of them in a real way, it’s not easy. You want to run; I know that about you. But you need to do this.” She was thumping her small finger into his chest and glaring at him.

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “You’re right. It’s the only way. I need to say I heard him say it. Otherwise there’s a chance no one will believe her. We’d be right back where we started. I’ll tell Olly I want to make a formal statement about what I heard Yule say before she stabbed him. I told him I didn’t know shit, but he’ll let me say I was in shock.”

  “Good. Get your story straight with her first and make it quick. Don’t let the doctors or nurses hear you. I’ll distract the detective.”

  “Willow,” Reid said, catching her arm before she could jog off, “I’m not going to run.”

  “I know,” she smiled, “because I will literally handcuff you to a chair before I let that happen. I will super glue your ass to your desk. I will—”

  “I get it.” He laughed, letting her go. “Love’s messy.”

  Chapter 30

  The room was quiet now. Everything had been done the way Willow had instructed and now the only thing left to do was wait and rest. Tara had been sleeping for about an hour, but Reid didn’t have any intention of moving. He’d be one with the hard wooden chair by her bed for as long as he needed to. For as long as she needed him.

  “Why were you there?” her voice asked through the darkness. He didn’t realize she was awake, and he jumped at the sound of it.

  “I’m just sitting with you,” he said, quietly clearing his throat.

  “No, at my apartment. Why were you there?” She was easing herself to a sitting position but stopped when something seemed to hurt her.

  “Be still,” he begged, his hand falling to her shoulder. “You went through hell.”

  “You were coming over?” she asked again.

  “I was,” he admitted, knowing her well enough to realize she wouldn’t stop asking the question until he answered it. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  “To yell some more?” she asked, with a long blown out breath.

  “I left my house with the intention of apologizing, then on the way over, I thought of more things to yell at you about. Then on my way up the stairs I was back to the apologizing. Then I heard you scream.”

  “I’m not sure I believe you,” Tara admitted, sniffling in the dark. “I mean you weren’t completely wrong. I could have reacted better and—”

  “Tara please,” he pushed back her hair and let the pleading in his voice come through. “Don’t let me off the hook. You shouldn’t. Especially after all of this. You begged me to believe you, and if I had maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “There was no way to know it was Yule, or that he’d come after me again. You went to bat for me and told the detective you heard Yule incriminate himself. I’m sorry you had to do that. I wish you wouldn’t have compromised yourself like that.”

  “No,” he said, brushing the idea off. “I won’t lose a minute of sleep over that. You shouldn’t have to be in this alone. You won’t be anymore. I swear it.” He crossed his heart in that simple way they used to when they were children.

  “I believe you,” she said, smiling until the change in her face must have pulled the stitches and her grin melted away. “I should have done a better job with Wylie. I should have asked for help. You weren’t wrong about my pride getting in the way. I thought a lot about what you said, and I think maybe the Oldens do deserve a chance to be in Wylie’s life. If they’ll help me I would welcome that.”

  “You’ll have me, too. And I know Willow and Josh will help in any way they can. Now that we’ve made formal statements to the police, I’ll be able to get the federal charges against you dropped. I talked to Kay, and under the circumstances she agreed to represent you. I think she felt like you’d been through enough, and you deserved the best shot possible. If you go in with a reasonable agreement with the Oldens I’m sure, once they see what happened here, they’ll be willing to come to some kind of agreement. Things are looking up, kid.” His hand was still resting on the top of her head, occasionally sweeping the wispy strands of hair back.

  “Is Yule going to live?” Tara asked, closing her eyes and looking like she might be reliving the moment she p
lunged a knife into his neck.

  “Yes. He’s out of surgery. They expect him to be fine. I am going down to his room soon to see if he’s awake. I know he won’t be able to speak, but I want to see him for myself.” Reid knew it would take all his willpower not to smother the guy with a pillow. But there was some kind of closure he’d get from looking at the helpless guy strapped to the bed.

  “I just don’t understand why he’d want me dead,” she blurted.

  “I intend to find out. When he’s well he’ll go through psychiatric evaluations and the cops will grill him. He might have lost it, or maybe there was an old feud between him and TJ that he wanted to settle. There’s a chance he saw you one day, knew who you were, and decided now was the time to get revenge. We’ll figure it out. I know it’ll be important to have answers, to get some peace.”

  “Where did Willow and Josh go? I feel terrible that they have had to run around and do so much for me. I’m sure they want to go home.”

  “They’re at my house,” Reid said, feeling timid. He’d taken a leap, and he wasn’t sure he’d be landing softly once he told Tara the news. “They’re moving you in to my place. Your apartment was a mess after the attack, and I figured you wouldn’t want to go back there. My place is a little . . .” He searched for the word but couldn’t come up with it, going instead with an awkward shrug. “But I figured you and Wylie could stay until you get back on your feet. You can both take the spare bedroom. It’s kind of small, but it’s better than nothing. Willow is kid-proofing my house as we speak. She keeps texting me, saying how much of a pathetic disaster my apartment is, but that she’s improving it by the second.” He rambled on, afraid to see her reaction to his presumptive behavior.

  “Reid,” she sighed. “If you’d have asked me, I would have begged you not to do that.”

  “It’s not too late to move things back.”

  “No,” she smiled, less expressively now to accommodate the stitches. “I just mean, I’m glad you didn’t ask. Maybe for a while you don’t have to give me a chance to say no.”

  “Everything is going to work out, Tara. You get some rest, and I’m going to get a few things straightened out. I won’t be far.”

  His phone was vibrating in his pocket as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. Her freezing cold hand settled on the back of his neck and slid down to his cheek. He dropped himself lower and pushed his forehead to hers, looking straight into her eyes. “You’re safe now. A long time ago I was too young to help you. Then I was too caught up in myself to be there for you. But all that’s done. You’re not alone anymore. Never again. I promise.”

  She tipped her head up and kissed his lips. For the first time since they were teens he felt the electricity he’d been without for all those years. He hadn’t even known that was what had been missing from his life until it was back. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, and it lasted only a beat. Maybe she’d meant it just as a thank you.

  “I’ll be back,” he whispered as a promise, his lips still hovering over hers.

  Chapter 31

  “Hey Willow,” Reid said, expecting to be bombarded with more complaints about how many liquor bottles she had to get rid of just to see the counter.

  “Something’s not right,” Willow said, skipping the greetings. “I just can’t figure out why Yule would come back after all this time. It’s driving me crazy.”

  “I’m heading to Yule’s room now. If he’s conscious, I’m going to try to get more out of him. I’ll pass on anything I find out so you can let it roll around in that magic brain of yours for a while and maybe make sense of it. Call you in a bit.” He pulled the phone away to hang up but she was still talking.

  “It’s not like he has a bank account or anything,” Willow said in that manic way she always did when she was trying to work something out. “I still have the information on the burner phone. I can see where some of the other calls were coming from. I don’t know what else to do. I’m just—” her voice caught and suddenly Reid understood. “I didn’t see it, Reid. I thought he might lead us to something, but I never thought he was a danger to her. I was with her all afternoon. He was probably lurking around and waiting. I should have spotted this.”

  “Willow,” Reid asserted loudly, “you did everything you could. And I’m glad you weren’t here. I wouldn’t want you both in the hospital or worse.”

  “Reid,” she laughed. “I’d have killed him.”

  He thought about arguing how much bigger Yule was. How he was brandishing a knife and rag covered with chloroform, but then he remembered the time he saw Willow take a guy’s knees out from under him with a baseball bat when they were trying to chase down a witness from an old case in bad area. The guy had not been expecting the small-framed woman to be capable of swinging a bat that hard.

  “You’re probably right.” He sighed in agreement. “But she’s going to be fine. And nothing is going to happen to her again. I won’t let it.”

  “Me either,” Willow whispered through some emotion then recovered quickly. “But keep me posted.”

  Just like the call had begun, it ended, no formalities, no goodbyes. And that was fine by Reid. Willow was an outstandingly loyal, brilliant woman and they didn’t need all the fillers that came with superficial friendships.

  There were two uniformed officers outside Yule’s room as Reid approached. “Is he up?” he asked, cocking his chin toward the door.

  “Yeah,” the shorter, wider of the two officers replied casually. Reid recognized him from a case or two he’d handled, though his name was escaping him. “Olly is in there. He said if you came by to let you in.” They both stepped a few inches away from the door and let him in. The room was bright, even though the sun had already set. Every light was on.

  “Oh good,” Olly said, taking a few steps back from Yule, whose forehead was beading with sweat. “You remember that prominent defense attorney who made a formal statement against you? Here he is now.”

  Yule was intubated, unable to speak but he shook his head vehemently.

  “Oh now you have something to say? Feel free to use that pad I gave you,” Olly said smugly.

  Yule wrote feverishly and spun it around. Liar. Wasn’t even there.

  “He wasn’t there when you admitted to drugging the girl?” Olly asked, looking only mildly concerned.

  Yule scratched down another word. Exactly.

  “God, you’re stupid,” Olly laughed. “I’ll be honest; I don’t give a shit if he was there or not. I know you did it, and you just admitted to it. So I’d really like you to drop this bullshit arrogant act you have going on.”

  Yule raised his middle finger up as high as he could, until the handcuff attached to the metal bed frame held him back.

  “See, something must be making him this bold,” Olly said, turning toward Reid.

  Reid grunted and nodded his agreement.

  “I think it’s whoever has been helping him out all these years. That’s what’s making him be such a son of a bitch right now. But I’ve done my research.” Olly paused, rubbing his stubbled chin thoughtfully.

  Reid watched as Yule’s lashes fluttered nervously.

  “Whoever has been pulling the strings for your freedom over the years, I can assure you they aren’t showing up this time.” Olly had this snickering laugh as he spoke that Reid was sure he must have honed to perfection over the years.

  Yule closed his eyes as though he didn’t care about these threats at all. His confidence might have faltered for a moment, but if Olly wasn’t naming names he wasn’t worried.

  “We’ve been to your apartment, Yule,” Olly said, sternly now. “Not that walk-up on Wilmington Ave you say you stay in. I mean your real apartment. The one you stay in with that girl, Cherry.”

  Now there was something, Reid realized. Even the machines attached to Yule agreed. His heart rate increased significantly.

  “And in that apartment,” Olly continued, sounding excited to relay the information, “we found a bottle of ch
loroform. Along with stashes of drugs and some needles matching the one found on the victim in the alley that night.” Olly’s combover was bouncing up and down as he paced the room, his hand tucked respectfully behind his back as he moved.

  Reid appreciated him not using Tara’s name. This bastard didn’t need to hear her sweet name ever again. He didn’t deserve to.

  “There were loads of other things too. But you already know that. So we’ve got good testimony and some solid evidence. This isn’t some drug bust where whoever you normally run to can bail you out. Whoever they are, they aren’t going to be able to help you now. I doubt they’ll care.”

  He grunted and wrote again turning the page around. You don’t know shit.

  “I don’t need to. You know who needs to know? The district attorney’s office. Because they are the ones who are going to file the charges. Now, I am a curious man though. This slippery little game you’ve been playing the last couple of years, it’s intriguing me. And I don’t like not knowing. It keeps me up at night. So if you tell me how exactly you’ve been getting out of all this shit over the years I might be willing to talk to the DA on your behalf.”

  “Wait,” Reid said, tossing a hand up. “This guy doesn’t get a deal. He would have killed if he’d had the chance. Who knows who else he’s killed with this bullshit about trying to cleanse the earth of scum.”

  The words were like a trigger to Yule, who tried to sit up a little straighter.

  “That’s what it is, right?” Reid asked, tuning into the reaction it had gotten. “You were cleaning up all the dirty things in this world, but how does that make sense when you’re scum yourself? Who made you this great power equalizer in the world?”

  Yule writhed and his eyes shot open wide. He wrote again, this time sloppy and sideways but Reid could still make it out. The church.