.45 Caliber Jitterbug

by Maxwell Cynn

  The man was prying her hand from Jack's. She panicked, and lashed out at him. She felt a hand on her shoulder, then an arm around her. It was Steve and she fell into his arms sobbing.

  They loaded Jack in the ambulance. There were police cars parked in the yards and along the street. Every police car and motorcycle in Charlotte, Helen imagined. Men were everywhere, some in uniform, some wearing suits and ties.

  "She's riding in with him," she heard Steve say.

  "We can't take her, officer. If she's hurt, she'll have to take another ambulance."

  "I'm ordering you to take her." She'd never heard Steve so emotional, and angry.

  "I'm sorry Officer. No one is allowed to ride with the patient except immediate family."

  "She's his wife, you idiot. Now open the damn door and let her in with him before I arrest you for obstruction."

  Helen looked up at Steve's face. There were tears in his eyes, but angry fire was boiling them dry before they reached his cheeks.

  "Come on, Miss." A hand touched her shoulder. Steve looked down at her.

  "Go, Helen. Take care of Jack. We'll find that bitch."

  She kissed Steve on the cheek and climbed into the ambulance. Jack was strapped to a gurney with a tube in his arm and a mask over his face. The Ambulance lurched forward and she fell to her knees beside him and took hold of his hand.

  "Hold on, Jack. I'm not losing you now." She kissed his hand.

  * * *

  “Hey, Jack,” Steve said, walking in the hospital room. His wife Darla was at his side and he was carrying a bag from the bakery.

  “Steve, Darla, thanks for coming by,” Jack said with a wide smile.

  Helen was sitting on the edge of the bed, Jack's hand in her's.

  "So you're finally awake," Steve said. “How ya doing, buddy?”

  “Broken leg, a few stitches. The bullet grazed the bone and cracked it, but it didn't hit anything vital. I'll be up in no time.”

  “You're lucky that cannon didn't blow your leg off.”

  “The doctor said the bullet impacted the femur,” Helen said looking at Steve, “breaking it and wrenching both his knee and hip joints, then veered to the outside of his thigh. If it had been two inches to the left it would have blown out his inner thigh and he would have bled to death in seconds.”

  “But it didn't and I'm fine, Helen.”

  “So what did I miss?” he asked, turning back to Steve.

  “I chased Miss Burkeheimer across Biddleville and thought I had her treed over near the Water Works, but she gave me the slip. It's amazing how fast that little woman can run. The G-men took Greer, but they gave me credit for the arrest. They also arrested the Sheriff and the Chief on Federal warrants. Mechum turned over evidence on the mobsters and lists of the bad cops. We've been busy rounding people up. I've made more arrests in the last twenty-four hours, while you laid on your back, than I have since I've been on the force.”

  "But you still haven't found Miss Burkeheimer?"

  "No. But she won't get away. Cops all over the state are on the lookout, and there's a Federal warrant out on her."

  "How about Hall?"

  "Mechum told me they picked him up in Virginia last night. He was on the train to New York."

  “How's Greer?”

  “He'll be up and ready to stand trial in no time. You did pretty good for a civilian.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Are you working on the story yet? What paper will it be in?”

  “My agent will be handling that,” Jack said, reaching up and caressing Helen's cheek. “Helen will have the Observer and the News bidding against each other for first print rights and it'll run in papers all over the country through syndication after that. I could retire on this one article if she gets her way. But actually, I'm thinking the whole story is going to take a book. I'm going to finish the one I started about Daniel.”

  “How long are they going to keep you in here?” Steve asked. “If you need a ride...”

  “Helen has Jeff's car. She can give me a lift back to Catherine's when the doc lets me go. We're just waiting on him now, to give me the green light. I'll be on crutches for awhile, but we'll manage.”

  “Well, you call me if you need anything,” Steve patted Jack on the shoulder. “I'm going to go home and sleep for awhile.”

  "You behave, Jack," Darla ordered. She bent down and kissed his cheek and smiled at Helen. "Thanks for taking care of him, Helen."

  Helen smiled.

  Steve and Darla walked out and left Jack and Helen alone again. Jack looked up at her. The last twenty-four hours had moved pretty fast for them as well. Helen looked tired. He knew she hadn't left his side. She still wore the same suit, wrinkled and dirty, she'd had when they'd found her.

  "You need to get some rest."

  “Why didn't you tell him you still might lose your leg, Jack?”

  “I didn't want to worry him.”

  Helen kissed him gently on the forehead. “You have to let your friends take care of you, Jack.”

  “I'll be fine, Helen. Stop worrying.”

  “Case in point,” she said dryly. Jack smiled.

  There was a knock at the door and a man cleared his throat. Helen rose up and they looked toward the doorway. The doctor was standing there, smiling, holding a metal clipboard in his hand.

  “How are you feeling, Mr. Spaulding?”

  “I'm feeling great, Doc.”

  “You are a lucky man.” The doctor walked to the bed. He checked the dressing on Jack's leg. Helen backed away to give him room, but Jack held tight to her hand.

  “We had to place a metal splint on the broken bone, but it will heal nicely I think. Our main concern now is with infection.”

  The doctor walked to the end of the bed and checked the tension on the apparatus connected to Jack's ankle. “We'll need to keep you in traction for a couple of days and give you some antibiotics as a precaution, but then I think we can put you in a cast and let you go home. I would prefer that you use a wheelchair for a week or two and keep stress off your leg." He turned to Helen. "Mrs. Spaulding, I'll help you arrange a loaner from the hospital." He turned back to Jack. "After that you should be able to move around on crutches, as long as you don't over-do it.”

  The doctor made some notes on the clipboard. “I won't lie to you, Jack. It's going to be a hard, painful road. You may need to use a cane, even after the wound is healed and the cast is removed. But you are a strong young man. You should be able to regain full use of that leg in time.”

  “Thank you doctor,” Jack said.

  “I'll be back in to check on you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep.” He turned again to Helen. “Goodnight Mrs. Spaulding. You should try to sleep as well. Jack will need your strength until his own returns.”

  The doctor walked out and hung the clipboard by the door.

  “Mrs. Spaulding?” Jack asked.

  “They weren't going to let me ride in the ambulance with you, so Steve told the medic I was your wife. When we got to the hospital they needed a relative to fill out your paperwork, so I stuck with the story.”

  “You could have said you were my lawyer,” Jack said with a chuckle.

  “I kinda liked being Mrs. Spaulding.” Her cheeks blushed.

  "It meant a lot having you with me, Helen."

  Helen met his gaze, and he saw such warmth in her eyes.

  "You want me to bring you anything when I come back in the morning?”

  “Just yourself,” he said and pulled her close. “Oh, you can bring me some paper and pencils so I can start writing this story you're selling. You'll need to type it up for me. It'll be hard to use my typewriter until they remove the traction and I can sit up.”

  “Get some rest, Jack,” Helen said, sternly, then smiled.

  Helen kissed Jack's forehead.

  Jack watched her walk out the door. "Mrs. Spaulding," he mused.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Catherine is moving you downstairs.” Helen sa
t on the edge of the bed. Jack sipped coffee with a straw, still unable to sit up. “We thought that would be easier than carrying you up and down the steps.”

  “But then we won't be sharing a bathroom.” Jack was surprised by his own disappointment. Helen smiled.

  “The downstairs room is larger and has a private bath. It's a really nice room.”

  “It's big enough for two,” Jack said. “We could still share a bathroom.”

  “Jack!” She blushed. “Are you suggesting that I share a room with you?”

  “I would get on my knee.” Jack grasped her hand. “But that would be difficult in the current circumstance.” He slipped out a small velvet covered box from under his left leg and offered it to her.

  Helen's eyes lit up in a hundred emotions Jack couldn't begin to interpret. She took the small box and was completely speechless. She opened it.

  “Miss Jameson,” Jack said formally. “Will you grant me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

  Inside the box was a thin silver band, very simple yet elegant. Tears streamed down her face and she lifted the ring carefully and turned it in her fingers.

  “It was my mother's,” Jack said, as she studied the simple ring.

  “Jack?” Confusion, joy, and even a twinge of panic filled her voice.

  “You don't have to answer right away.” Jack tried to read the myriad of expressions washing across her face. “You can take your time and think it through if you want.”

  “Yes, Jack, yes!” Tears filled her eyes. “I don't need another second to think. Yes.”

  Helen quickly slid the ring on her finger and fell on top of Jack, burying her lips into his. After a long deep kiss that left Jack breathless and bleary-eyed, Helen drew back.

  “Where did you get this?” she held up the ring on her finger.

  “I told you, it was my mother's. My father had it made for her.”

  “No, I mean how did you get it in here?”

  Jack laughed. “Steve brought it.”

  "When?"

  "I called him last night after you left. He slipped by and brought it to me."

  “This is so sudden. Are you sure? I mean, you've been through a lot in the last few days."

  “When the bullet hit me, and I was blacking out, I wasn't afraid that I might die, I was afraid that I might not get to you before I died. That's all that mattered in that moment. I had to see you again. I had to make sure you were safe. I had to tell you, before I died, how I felt.”

  Jack reached up and caressed her cheek.

  “I love you, Helen Jameson. From the first moment I saw you standing in the parlor with Catherine, I've loved you. When I walked in our bathroom and saw your stockings hanging in the shower, I wanted that for the rest of my life. I wanted to be surrounded by you, have my life centered on you. I wanted to belong to you, body and soul. I want to be your husband, and your lover, and your best friend.”

  “I love you, Jack Spaulding." Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “I have since I was that annoying little girl getting under your feet. I've dreamed of this moment most of my life. When I saw you at Steve's wedding I wanted to just grab you and take you for my own. When you caught Darla's garter my heart stopped and I couldn't stand the thought of you belonging to anyone else. I have to confess, I came to Catherine's knowing you lived there, hoping there was an open room. When I got Daniel's old room I couldn't believe it. You have no idea how hard it was not to slip through that bathroom in the middle of the night and into your bed.”

  “Yes, I do,” Jack said. “I sat awake at night thinking of you sleeping in the next room and wanting to go to you, wanting you to come to me.”

  “I'll get the downstairs room ready for both of us,” she said, rubbing her hand on his chest.

  “What will Catherine say?”

  “We'll get Jasper to marry us before you leave the hospital. I'll arrange it.”

  “You don't want a church wedding?”

  “I just want you, Jack. I don't want to wait months while we plan a wedding. We've wasted enough time already. I want to take you home to our room as your wife.”

  She leaned down and kissed him again and it was the most tender and most passionate moment he could imagine. Her body felt so perfect nestled in his arms as they melded into one. He was enveloped by her firm body, her soft lips, her silken hair brushing over his brow, the scent of her, the taste...

  Jack heard the door open. He didn't care who it was. The doctor, or anyone else, could just wait.

  "Touching." The irritating voice was unmistakable.

  Helen pulled away, and Jack instinctively tried to push her behind him, but he couldn't lift himself from the bed. She was standing and he could see Patty by the door, that very large gun in her hand. Jack struggled to sit up and release the traction that held him.

  "Don't get up, Jack." Patty lifted the barrel of the gun. It wasn't a sight Jack had wanted to see again.

  "What do you want, Patty?"

  "Just tying up loose ends, doll. I didn't want to leave town without settling the score with you first."

  "You're not going to get away," Helen said.

  Patty looked toward Helen. Jack wanted her attention back. He didn't want that gun aimed at Helen.

  "They have your boyfriend," he said, baiting her. "I hear he is singing like a bird."

  "He'll shut up soon enough." The gun was pointing at him again.

  "How are you going to get him in jail? Mechum fingered all of your friends on the force."

  "I should have whacked him when I did your friend Daniel."

  Jack's heart pumped, fueled by his anger. He contained it. He needed to keep her talking, and keep her attention on him.

  "Big talk. You need me to roll over so you can shoot me in the back?"

  Her eyes flashed rage. The barrel of the gun shook slightly. Maybe he had overdone it. Maybe just a little more.

  "Some people might have trouble shooting a man lying in a hospital bed. But that's just your style. Took a lot of guts to pull the trigger on a girl laying face down in the ditch, raped and beaten."

  She took a step closer. Jack's coffee cup came into his peripheral vision, airborne. It caught her gun hand and splashed scalding hot liquid up her arm. She squalled and the gun fell to the floor. Helen vaulted over the bed and onto her like a big cat rolling its prey. The two tumbled to the floor, out of Jack's view.

  Jack struggled to sit up, hindered by the traction apparatus. Pain ripped through his leg like another gunshot. Helen grappled with Patty beside the bed. The little woman was a wildcat, snarling and clawing at Helen, but she held her own. Helen gave pretty well herself. Jack stretched. A hot bolt of pain in his hip almost knocked him unconscious, and slammed his fist into the nurse-call button on the wall.

  Patty scrambled for the gun, but Helen kicked it away and crashed her knee into the woman's chest. The expelled air came out in a painful grunt. Jack slammed the call button again. Patty clawed at Helen's face. Helen countered with an arm lock executed as smoothly as a collegiate wrestler. There was a sickening crack. Patty's left elbow was broken and Helen was on top pinning the smaller woman to the floor. Jack hammered at the call button. The door opened.

  "Oh, my lord!" The nurse stood wide-eyed in the doorway.

  Patty pulled over the IV tree onto Helen's back. The needles ripped out of Jack's arm in a burst of pain and blood. Helen toppled from atop Patty and the little woman swung the metal tree wildly with her good arm. There was a dull thud of metal pounding flesh and bone as the tree connected with Helen's shoulder. She had covered like a prizefighter and taken the blow.

  Helen reacted quickly and grabbed the bar of the tree before Patty could draw back for another swing. The two women were on their knees in the floor facing off. The nurse ran from the doorway back into the hall. Helen pulled at the metal bar she held, the bags had burst spilling sticky liquid and blood all over her dress. Her jerk pulled the two women toward each other and Helen swung a hard right into Patty's
jaw. Patty released the IV stand and it clanged to the floor. Helen was on her again, wrestling her to the floor.

  Patty fought like a wild animal, biting, scratching, and howling. Helen showed the practiced precision of a skilled fighter. She maneuvered Patty onto her belly, her right arm twisted behind her back.

  "I'll kill you, bitch!" Patty snarled, but she was beaten.

  The door slammed open again and Steve ran in, the doctor close behind. Steve went straight to Helen, the doctor to Jack.

  "I've got her," Steve said. The ratcheting click of handcuffs said it was over.

  The doctor pressed a pad against Jack's arm and forced him to lie down. The pain had his head spinning and his mind numbed. He felt sick.

  "Helen?" Jack called, unable to see her.

  "I'm okay, Jack. Steve's here."

  "We got it, Jack. Let the doc do his job."

  Steve's voice calmed him, but he needed to see Helen. He struggled. Her hand touched his cheek and he relaxed.

  "It's okay, Jack. Let the doctor take care of you."

  He looked up into her eyes and the pain drifted away. There was blood all over her face and in her hair. He didn't know if it was hers or the IV bag. He reached up and wiped her cheek with his thumb.

  "Are you hurt?"

  "I'm alright."

  "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

  "I have three brothers." She smiled and Jack's heart warmed.

  A pinch in his arm and the room grew dark. He tried to speak but couldn't find the words. Helen kissed his forehead and he drifted into unconsciousness.

  Chapter Twenty

  "It's been quite an adventure." Steve rolled Jack out of the hospital in a wheelchair. "Have you written any of the story yet?"

  "A little. I wrote a feature article on the arrests. It'll be in the News this evening."

  "I wrote a little article myself. Your editor liked it."

  Jack looked back at Steve. He was surprised, but pleased. They had worked on the school paper at Central High, but Steve didn't want to make a career of it.

  "You? What about?"

  "Jack Spaulding. Carolina Hero."

  "They're not going to run it."

  Steve dropped a paper in his lap. "Already did."