“She’s been shot.”
Kevin felt all the breath leave his lungs and he felt like he was about to collapse, but somehow, he was able to make himself sit in the passenger seat of the car just as he felt he was about to faint.
“Is she…is she okay?” He whispered as Atlas started driving, lights and sirens blaring.
“She’s alive. I don’t know her condition, but they have her in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.”
Kevin wasn’t reassured. And he didn’t think he would be until he saw her for himself. The two of them didn’t speak for the rest of the ride.
When they arrived at the hospital, a bigger one than the one that they had brought Vance to a couple weeks ago, Kevin stood as slowly as possible. Taking deep breaths to keep himself calm.
Atlas power walked from his side of the car, almost to the doors already, and motioned for Kevin to follow. His expression was more somber than Kevin had seen before.
They walked to reception, where the emergency room seemed far too quiet for having someone who had just been brought in with a gunshot wound. Kevin didn’t know what he was expecting, but the movies certainly hadn’t prepared him for how normal this all seemed. As if they were just calmly coming to the hospital to visit someone who had gotten a routine surgery, not a life-or-death situation.
Atlas spoke to the receptionist in hushed tones as Kevin stood by. He sent a quick text to Naya’s parents letting them know he was at the hospital now, and the address. He also gave them an update on Naya, hoping it wasn’t too preemptive. Then he slid his phone back in his pocket.
Atlas finished talking to the receptionist and turned to Kevin.
“They brought her in just minutes before we arrived. She’s in surgery now. As soon as the surgeon is done, he will come and speak with us.”
Kevin almost felt angry as he and Atlas both sat down in the chairs in the waiting room, as if this were just another day.
He pulled out his phone and began to mindlessly scroll through social media. Everything seemed so trivial now. He knew he hadn’t known Naya for long, but he didn’t think he could handle losing his love interest and his best friend in the same day.
He had no concept of time as he sat there and ran through every hypothetical scenario that could happen from this point forward. It must’ve passed the time at least, because next thing he knew, a nurse had come over and was leading them back to a private office.
“The surgeon will be right in. Have a seat.” She instructed as she closed the door behind her. Kevin could feel his palms sweating. He was sure his nerves would be shot after this. Atlas seemed unnaturally calm still, and Kevin craved nothing more than to be that calm.
After what was probably about another three years, or so it felt to Kevin, an older man in scrubs entered the room and sat behind the desk.
“Hello gentlemen, I hear you are here on behalf of Ms. Largusa?”
Atlas held up his hand to Kevin before he could speak. “Yes sir, I am her partner, and this is her boyfriend.”
Kevin knew that he and Naya hadn’t started discussing the status of their relationship just yet. But he also knew that Atlas said it on purpose so he could get more information.
“Okay, well, she’s stable,” As the words left the surgeons mouth, Kevin felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders, and he could breathe for the first time all day. “The bullet skimmed her temple. Mostly just superficial damage it seems. She sustained some other injuries as well. But honestly, they were fairly mild. A dislocated shoulder and lacerations to her feet. She’s on some pain medication for the shoulder, but honestly she should be awake any minute and you can go see her.”
Kevin felt a smile spreading across his face. Naya was going to be fine.
“Thank you doctor.” Atlas rose and shook his hand. “Can we go in now?”
“Sure, the nurse will show you the room.”
Kevin followed Atlas back to the hall where the same nurse appeared to lead them down the hall. They stopped in front of a room and the nurse opened the door for them.
Her face was all bandaged, and her arm was in a cast, but the moment he laid eyes on her, Kevin knew everything was going to be okay.
EPILOGUE
NAYA
TWO WEEKS LATER
She stood just a few feet back from the edge. The urn clasped tightly to her chest with her good arm. The other was still in a sling to let the tendons heal from where they had been stretched all too painfully.
They had just finished Vance’s funeral, it had been a beautiful ceremony. Although she had been given her chance to say goodbye, she still cried at the funeral. Actually, she had probably cried more these past two weeks than she had during her entire adult life.
Kevin had been nothing but supportive and understanding. Although Vance had left her the house, Naya had taken up residence at Kevin’s place. She was probably going to sell the house. She couldn’t imagine living in it ever again. In fact, as much as she had loved growing up in the state of Colorado, the recent events had left a sour taste in her mouth and she fully intended to move as soon as she could request a transfer.
She was on an indefinite leave from work. Not that they wouldn’t take her back, but she needed time to heal and work through what had happened.
What had happened in that field still hadn’t quite sunk in. It seemed like another woman in another lifetime, rather than something which had happened to her. And she knew the only way the nightmares would stop is if she could learn to confront what happened. She just wasn’t ready yet. But she knew she would go back eventually. The unsolved cases in her desk drawer wouldn’t let her leave the force for good until they were solved. At least, that’s what she told herself.
She clutched the urn tighter to her chest as she thought about all the details that had emerged about the case over the past two weeks.
Based on a hunch, Atlas had ordered an autopsy for Vance, even though they were ready to attribute his death to the cancer and leave it at that. Although Vance did have highly progressed stage-4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the time of his death, the coroner discovered he had been poisoned with cyanide the night of his death. Likely Trevor trying to make sure he wouldn’t interfere.
Trevor had died at the end of the standoff. Thanks to her quick, but not quite quick enough, ducking skills, he was killed with two shots to the head by the officers on the scene. He had been dead before he even hit the ground.
They never did discover just what scientific experiments Trevor had been planning to run on her, or what he had already done to the other women. He hadn’t left any notes that they could find, and the equipment in his truck had been less than helpful. It seemed like Atlas may have been right and he was just simply ‘crazy’.
They did find out that his real name was Mark Jackson and he had fled the Chicago area after some crazy occurrence with his wife. The police there were re-opening that case.
He had fooled them all. They weren’t sure if Naya had been his intended victim the entire time, or if he had just spent time at her house and found her fascinating. Whichever it was, Naya wasn’t planning to give anyone a key to her house ever again. Well, except maybe Kevin.
Things were going well between them. And while she had been healing these past few weeks, he had been her rock as she mourned the loss of her only sibling. Who’s ashes were in her arms now.
She glanced over her shoulder to see her parents and Kevin watching her patiently. She had asked to be the one to do this and they had obliged. But now she wasn’t so sure.
“Hey Vance.” She whispered quietly as she turned back forward and looked out over the range of the Rocky Mountains. This was such a beautiful place.
“I know you’re not really in this urn, but I feel better holding what is left of you close to me.” She swallowed as the tears streaked paths down her cheeks.
“I know we said goodbye while you were still alive, so I’ll keep this brief. I just want to let you know that you are the best big brother. I know you
were worried about draining my finances. But money is just money. I would give up everything to have you back.” She choked as the words died in her throat. She stood there silently with tears trailing down her face.
“I’m going to let you go now. But first, I just want to let you know that I’m going to be just fine. You made sure of that. You left me with a new home, and new friends. And we will always love you. Enjoy the next life, whatever that may be. And I’ll see you there someday.”
She stood there silently for an immeasurable amount of time before she turned and gave Kevin a slight nod. He walked up next to her and held out his hands.
Naya handed him the urn so he could take the top off and hold it for her as she used her hand to begin releasing his ashes into the wind.
She felt her parents come to stand behind her, her father putting a hand gently on her injured shoulder as they too said goodbye to their only son.
After she was finished, they all went and sat on the bench which was a few feet back from the cliff. They sat in silence, just watching as the mountains changed colors as the sun set behind them. Once they were fully cloaked in darkness, they said their goodbyes and headed to their separate cars. Naya’s parents were headed to their hotel, and she was headed to Kevin’s place with him.
Once they were safely in the car away from her parents Kevin turned to her and placed a hand on her leg. “How are you feeling?”
“As best as can be expected.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Naya looked over at his profile, illuminated by the headlights through the windshield. Kevin knew first-hand the nightmares which had been plaguing her since she had gotten home from the hospital. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was the abduction. She was basically living in a state of chronic sleep deprivation.
She tried not to let her nightmares keep Kevin awake. Often times she would quietly leave bed and go read in the living room after they happened, but if he woke and noticed she wasn’t in bed, which sometimes happened, he would always come join her on the couch, even though she protested for him to go back to sleep.
“Are you avoiding the question?” He asked, making Naya realize she hadn’t answered yet.
“I don’t know.” She responded honestly. “I think I need to talk about what happened, but I don’t feel ready yet.”
“Well, I’m here when you are. You know that, right?” He gently squeezed her thigh.
“I know.” She looked out the window for a minute as the dark scenery passed by, not taking in any of it. Besides making their relationship official over the past couple weeks, they had also discussed what had happened during that last chat with Vance. And Naya knew Kevin was battling a large amount of guilt, which she wanted him to seek help for as well.
She placed her good hand on top of his. She knew they would work it out though. They were both strong individuals. And she was sure they were even stronger together. Whatever lay on the road ahead…
They would face it together.
Benjamin Rodger’s stood on his front porch, looking out over all the land he had acquired over the past few years. Most of it he had purchased, but some of it had come from old Dave, and that other farmer who used to be out here.
Benjamin was glad they had finally caught the culprit who had been killing those women and leaving them on his land. It had brought way too much attention him and events which should have been long buried.
He felt a little bad for the women who had died. But, well, stuff happens.
Benjamin crossed the porch and walked across his driveway, towards the spot where he had told the detectives that he had buried old Dave. And he hadn’t lied about that. No, old Dave had died very peacefully of old age.
Benjamin couldn’t say the same about the rest.
He let his eyes move from the obvious mound of dirt, to those alongside it which were becoming less and less obvious as the years went by. There were seven now.
He had told himself that seven was enough, a nice round number. But after hearing the tales of the recent murders, something within him had stirred. He had thought he was done. He thought he had only murdered to gain more land which was rightfully his to begin with.
But now he had all the land, and the urge had returned.
He was suppressing it for now. Best to let things die down in the county. Especially because he needed to report Old Dave’s death soon. But then…well...
Then he would have to return to the work that he had been designed to do.
If you enjoyed You Can’t Run, please take a moment to leave a rating or review and check out Hope’s other mystery novels, Before Now, The Fate of Ava Miller and Deceptive Perfection!
Now available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
You Can’t Run is Hope’s fourth novel. When she isn’t writing, she is busy traveling the world, trying new foods, or hanging out with friends. A graduate from Metropolitan State University, Hope grew up in Colorado but currently calls the Netherlands her home. To find information about her other novels and be notified of her newest releases, follow Hope on Twitter @thehopeopera, Instagram @hopeedavisauthor, and Amazon Hope E. Davis.
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