Vision Of Love (Cold Case Detective Book 0)

by Pandora Pine

  “Is he okay, Doctor? Is he…?” He couldn’t bear to finish the sentence or say the last word that was sitting on the tip of his tongue. Truman could feel his entire body trembling. If Carson died, he would never know how much Truman still loved him.

  “He’s still in surgery. What’s important right now is tending to you, okay?” The doctor’s eyes were kind.

  Truman nodded his head. He patiently obeyed all of the doctor’s commands to take his clothes off and put them in evidence bags. He was allowed to dress in blue hospital scrubs, once the doctor collected evidence from his hair and from under his fingernails.

  He hadn’t even realized his hands were covered in Carson’s blood. Truman had to wash them three times before he’d gotten it all off and out from under his fingernails after the doctor was done scraping potential evidence out from under them.

  The police officer who had led him back to this room escorted him to a private waiting area where Cassie was sitting alone. She was also dressed in hospital scrubs.

  “Tru!” She ran to him and hugged him. “What about Carson? They won’t tell me anything about him.”

  “The doctor who did my forensic exam said he’s still in surgery. I don’t think we’ll hear anything more until Cole gets here. He’s Carson’s emergency contact. The doctor’s won’t be able to give me any information since I’m just his ex-boyfriend.”

  Cassie wrapped her arm around Truman and led him to one of the couches in the room. “Here, sit.” She helped him get settled and then took the empty seat next to him. “Carson took a bullet for you tonight. I’d guess that still means he’s your boyfriend.”

  Truman felt tears start in his eyes. “Why did he do that, Cassie? I was so awful to him. I told him his visions were bullshit. I didn’t answer his texts. The last one he sent me said, ‘I love you.’ I didn’t write back to him. I thought this morning that I’d write back to him after Christmas. You know, after I’d punished him enough for lying to me. Now he’s in an operating room with a bullet in his chest. A bullet that should have killed me.”

  Cassie wrapped her arms around Truman and held him as he cried.

  “Cassie! Truman! Oh, my God, is Carson…?” Cole was panting when he ran into the room.

  Cassie popped up and grabbed Cole’s hand, pulling him to sit down between them. “We don’t know anything.”

  “The last we heard, he was in surgery,” Truman said. “Jesus, Cole. I’m so sorry. I don’t have words for this.”

  Cole turned to Truman. “He loves you so much. All he wanted to do was save you. Here.” Cole pulled a sealed envelope out of his coat pocket. “He wanted you to have that in case he doesn’t make it.”

  Truman pulled back like he’d been burned. Cassie reached around and took the letter. She folded it in half before tucking it into the front pocket of her scrub top. She linked her hand with Cole’s. “He’s going to be okay, Cole. I can feel it.”

  He turned to look at her. “I can too, but this shouldn’t have happened. He wouldn’t let me come with him tonight. If there had been two of us there, then we could have both tried to keep each of you safe.”

  “What do you mean each of us?” Truman asked.

  “Why do you care, man?’ Cole turned back to Truman. “You don’t believe in Carson’s visions anyway.” He pulled his hand away from Cassie to stand up and pace around the room. “You don’t give much of a fuck about your friends either. Cassie was in the room when you fired that asshole. Did it ever cross your mind that Mike might have wanted to hurt her too? Did you ever think I could have lost my soulmate in the violence tonight as well? Just because Carson saw you die doesn’t mean you were going to be the only victim.”

  Truman felt the blood drain out of his face. Was Cole saying that he and Cassie were meant to be together and that she was also going to be a victim tonight? “I don’t understand.”

  “No, you don’t. But you had a week to come to either me or Carson and ask about it!” Cole shouted. He turned away from Truman and braced his hands on the wall. His chest rose and fell as he took deep breaths. “Carson is all I have in this world. He isn’t just my brother. He raised me to be the man I am today. I can’t lose him, Truman.”

  “You might not believe me, but I don’t want to lose him either.” Truman’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  “You have a hell of a way of showing it,” Cole snarled.

  “We aren’t losing him tonight,” Cassie said firmly. She reached her hand out to Cole who stared at it for a minute before he took it and sat on the other side of her, away from Truman.

  “Was anyone else hurt tonight?” Cole asked softly.

  “No, Truman shoved me out of the way when Mike approached us and pulled the gun. Then, I was questioned by the police after the ambulance left to bring Carson to the hospital. That’s why it took so long for me to get here.” She looked over at Truman. “After Mike shot Carson, he was tackled by our boss, who is a former football linebacker. Mark always came off as such a pussy to me, but he came through when we needed him most. He managed to hold Mike down until a few of the other guys from sales could help subdue him.”

  “What do you mean ‘subdue?’” Cole asked with the beginnings of a grin on his face.

  “Off the record, they may have bashed his skull on the marble floor a few times until Mike was out cold, but neither of you heard that from me.” Cassie shrugged.

  Cole made a motion with his right hand like he was zipping his lips shut.

  Good, Truman thought. At least no one else was hurt and his actions might have saved Cassie. Although if he hadn’t been such a god-damned asshole and stayed home tonight, none of this would have happened.

  “Mr. Craig?” a doctor dressed in green surgical scrubs asked as he walked into the waiting room.

  “I’m Cole Craig.” He stood up and walked toward the doctor.

  “I’m Doctor Greer Danforth. I’m the surgeon who operated on your brother. He’s out of surgery and being moved to the ICU. The bullet missed his heart by about half an inch and the care he received while waiting for the ambulance to arrive kept him alive long enough to get to my operating room. Your brother is a very lucky man. He’s got a long road to recovery, but he’s going to be all right.”

  Truman watched Cole shake hands with the surgeon and then hug Cassie. No matter what happened next, at the very least, Carson was going to be okay. He buried his face in his hands and wept.

  41

  Carson

  Carson could hear Truman’s soft snores. He knew he was dreaming because Truman broke up with him and there was no way they were sharing a room, let alone the same bed. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy a few more minutes of Dream Truman snoring.

  As his senses slowly came back to him, he realized Truman’s snores weren’t the only thing he could hear. There was a machine beeping, slow and steady, like the kind you’d hear on a hospital drama on television. Only when you heard them on TV, the machine was usually one monotonous tone as the patient flatlined.

  He opened his eyes slowly and could see he was in a small hospital room with a lot of machines. Thanks to his endless fascination with shows like ER and Chicago Hope, he had a feeling he was in the ICU.

  Turning his head to the left he was able to see Dream Truman wasn’t a dream at all. His ex was sleeping on a small hospital sofa, curled up on his right side, still snoring softly. His hair was a mess and he looked like he was wearing hospital scrubs.

  As for his own body, he felt like he’d been run over by an eighteen-wheeler. He could wiggle his toes and fingers, thank Christ. His legs moved too, but that was about as far as he got when Truman shifted.

  “Carson? Are you awake?” He got quickly to his feet and hovered over the bed.

  “Hi,” Carson managed to whisper. His voice sounded harsh and almost all of his energy was gone from uttering that one syllable.

  “Oh, thank God.” Truman breathed an audible sigh of relief. “The doctor said you’d wake up o
n your own, but it’s been so long and I didn’t know when you’d wake up.”

  “Why?” Carson was trying to ask why Truman was here, but couldn’t seem to form the rest of the words.

  “You were shot. The doctor said you might not remember that either. You came to my Christmas party because I’m a stupid, stubborn asshole who refused to listen to reason. Mike Davenport showed up with a gun and tried to shoot me, but you shoved me out of the way and the bullet hit you instead. The doctor said the bullet missed your heart by half an inch.”

  That’s what his mother must have meant by him needing to fight. Christ, it really had been a close call, but Truman hadn’t answered the question he’d been trying to ask. “Why?” he repeated, pointing a shaky finger at Truman.

  “Oh. Why am I here with you?” Truman’s green eyes lost a bit of their shine.

  Carson managed a brief nod.

  “Cole went home to shower about an hour ago and last night was Cassie’s night to sleep in her own bed. We’ve all been taking turns staying with you so you wouldn’t wake up alone.” Truman paused. “Well, they’ve been taking turns. I haven’t left your side since they let us in to see you. I’ve been sleeping here on this couch. What little sleep I get and I’ve been taking sponge baths in your bathroom sink, since you’re not using the bathroom.” Truman huffed a rough laugh.

  “How long?” Christ, if Truman was talking about them taking turns staying with him then he must have been out of it for a few days.

  “It’s Christmas Eve, Carson. Only a few hours to go until it’s Christmas.” Truman looked behind him. “I had Cassie pick up your presents from my house and we brought in a little fake tree.” Truman pointed across the room.

  Carson squinted. He could barely make out a tree with colored lights and a few packages sitting near it. “Thanks.” He took a breath. Truman still hadn’t answered his question. “Why, here?”

  Truman pointed to the edge of Carson’s bed. “May I?”

  Carson nodded. Shit, he sure hoped Truman spit out what he was going to say. He didn’t think he had the strength to stay awake much longer.

  “I was a complete and total asshole. I promised you that there was nothing I couldn’t forgive you for and then I went back on my word. You could have just walked away from me like I did to you, but you showed up at that party and saved my life, Carson. How can I ever thank you for that?” Truman swiped at the tears that started to gather in his eyes.

  Carson had no idea what was going to come out of Truman’s mouth once he started to speak, but those words and this penitent Truman were a surprise.

  “I’m so sorry, Carson. I’m sorry for not believing you and for not giving you a chance to explain. I’m sorry for not forgiving you and for thinking you deserved to be punished for lying to me about the visions and about how and why we met. I’m so stupid. Do you think you can ever forgive me for that?”

  Reaching out his fingers to Truman, Carson managed to nod. He could forgive Truman for the way he acted. Being able to forget and move on? Well, that would be a different story.

  “I know you have a long road to recovery ahead of you. If you’ll let me, I want to be there for you and for Cole. The owner of Gemtronics has been all over the news offering to pay all of your medical bills thanks to Cole and me telling your story.”

  Carson shot Truman a confused look. What the hell was he talking about?

  Truman grinned. “We did interviews with local television stations. Cole explained how you had no health insurance and how you’d taken a bullet for the man that you loved. I told the same story and then the media started asking more questions when I let it accidentally-on purpose slip that attendance at the Christmas party was mandatory to get our bonus checks. Then Cassie and I told the owner how magnanimous he’d appear, especially during the season of giving, if he offered to pay your hospital bills and that includes physical therapy. We got him to cut a check then and there. He also put me and Cassie on paid administrative leave because there was no security measures in place to protect us against Mike Davenport. We’re in negotiations for a fat settlement as we speak. Neither one of us are going back to work there again.”

  Carson’s head was spinning. Medical bills. Settlements. Truman and Cassie no longer working for Gemtronics. The one part of Truman’s story that stood out to him was that Truman wanted to be there for his recovery.

  “You’re tired. I should let you rest.” Truman went to get up.

  Carson remembered what his mother said about not forgiving too quickly. Now that he was on the other side of the equation, he could finally see why his mother kept forgiving Corny time after time. He’d keep his mother’s words in mind, but it wouldn’t hurt to let Truman know he wanted the man to stay. He reached out his fingers to the man he loved enough to take a bullet for.

  42

  Truman

  Truman looked over at Cassie and Cole who were sitting side-by-side on the ICU couch holding hands. It was Christmas night and they’d brought the celebration to Carson. The only problem was, Carson was still asleep.

  Cassie had baked a batch of Truman’s favorite chocolate chunk cookies. Cole had brought their mother’s crystal ball and for some reason he hadn’t been able to explain to anyone, his mother’s deck of tarot cards. He’d also brought the small stack of gifts Carson had wrapped for everyone.

  For his part, Truman had decorated Carson’s room a few days ago. Cole had been kind enough to tell all of the ICU nurses and doctors to give Truman and Cassie any information about Carson that they wanted to know. They hadn’t had a lot of chance to talk over the last few days, but at least there was no more hostility between them.

  “Cole?” Truman asked carefully.

  “Yeah, Truman.” Cole looked up from where his eyes had been focused on his brother.

  “Did Carson tell you about that vision?”

  Cole frowned. “Which one? There were several.”

  “The one about our babies?” He’d been a complete fool not to listen to Carson about the visions that warned about him dying. He’d been a complete and total asshole for cutting Carson off when he’d been about to tell him about the vision he’d seen about their future family.

  Cole nodded. “Yeah, he told me about that one.”

  “Can you tell me? I was such a fool not to listen. I didn’t want to hear him tell me about our children because…” Truman trailed off, embarrassed.

  “Because if you believed him about your kids then you had to believe that a crazed gunman was going to shoot and kill you,” Cassie finished for him.

  Truman nodded. “I never claimed to be the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.”

  “I’ll second that,” Cole added with a smile. “No, Truman. I’m not going to tell you about that vision. That’s Carson’s story to tell.”

  “What’s Carson’s story to tell?” Carson asked, his voice sounding groggy.

  “Hey, big brother!” Cole got up and pressed a kiss to his messy head. “Merry Christmas.”

  “Is it Christmas? Shit, feels like I’ve been sleeping for a month.” Carson yawned and looked around. “Merry Christmas little brother, Cassie.” He looked across the room and smiled. “Truman.”

  “Merry Christmas, Carson.” Truman wasn’t sure he’d ever get to say those words to the man he loved. The man who’d almost given his life to save Truman’s.

  “What’s all this?” Carson pointed to the bedside table loaded with presents.

  “We knew you wouldn’t be home for Christmas, so we brought Christmas to you.” Cassie grinned before she wrapped an arm around Cole.

  “Well this happened faster than I thought.” Carson raised an eyebrow.

  “Let’s just say you’re not the only one getting messages from Mom.” Cole grinned.

  “Her tarot cards?”

  Cole looked stunned. “How did you know?”

  “I saw Mom when I died in the ambulance and she had a message for you about her cards.”

  Truman felt his
knees go out from under him. He managed to grab Carson’s bed before he hit the floor. “How did you know you died? Who told you?”

  “What are you talking about? He didn’t die.” Cole looked back and forth between his brother and Truman with a confused look on his face. “Did he?”

  “He flatlined in the ambulance, Cole,” Truman said quietly. “They lost him for ninety-three seconds.”

  “Wow, it seemed like I talked to Mom for a lot longer than that.” Carson gave his head a little shake.

  “What happened?” Cassie asked.

  “In my second to last vision, I saw red and white flashing lights and heard the wail of an ambulance siren. That’s what I could see and hear after I was shot, only Mom was there. She told me that Truman would be safe now and that I needed to fight harder than I’d ever fought in my life to make it through this. She told me that your gift had been hiding in her cards all along, Cole, and that I shouldn’t forgive Truman as easily as she always forgave Corny.”

  Cole burst out laughing. “That’s our Mom. Especially if she’s talking about Corny from the afterlife.” He shook his head. “Well, she’s right about the cards. I’ve been working with them for a week or so and I’m starting to see things.”

  “Mom said that you’re coming into your gift, Cole. She also said that I’d get to keep my gifts too.”

  “Speaking of gifts, it’s Christmas. How about we open some presents?” Cassie asked.

  Cole walked around the room handing out presents to everyone, saving the last one he was holding for Cassie. She ripped off the paper to see a hand-drawn sketch of the two of them together.

  “Cole, I love it. You’re amazing!” She pressed a kiss to his lips.

  “Truman, what do you think?” Cole asked excitedly.

  He’d torn the paper off his package to see a picture of Sadie. The dog had her head tilted and she was wearing a pink bow. He recognized the image as a picture Carson had taken of Sadie the first night he’d ever spent the night there. “I love it, Cole. Thank you so much.”