Jayce & Emma

by Barbara Winkes

  “You can start here,” she told Keisha, handing her a box with colourful cards displaying best wishes to the brides and grooms that needed to go on the shelf. “We have a bigger selection this year, so we give it a little more space.”

  “It’s great that you do that,” Keisha said. “I have to tell my moms to come here. They’re already married, but you have some cool stuff here.”

  “True. And you can always use your employee pricing. Oh, if someone comes in, just push that box out of the way a little. Give them some time to look around, and ask if you can help them. I’ll be over there.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  If that was at all possible, Emma was even giddier than earlier this morning, and she had to remind herself to remain professional in front of her younger trainee. It made her happy and hopeful that there was a younger generation growing up, rejecting the stereotypes that their parents still had to live with. It was more than her personal micro-cosmos changing to the better.

  She settled behind the counter to do some paperwork while Keisha continued to work on the display.

  Sure enough, a few minutes later the first customer arrived, walking past the marriage display—LGBT and otherwise. Keisha proved to have excellent timing, giving the middle-aged woman some space before she approached her, friendly, professionally.

  “May I help you?”

  “Yes, please. You have cards for…condolences?” From her vantage point, Emma could see the woman’s eyes well up, while Keisha’s face fell until she caught herself a second later.

  “Yes, of course. They’re over here. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Thank you.” The woman chose quickly and went to pay at the cash register.

  “I’m sorry,” Emma said to Keisha when she was gone. “I promise you the happy occasions are the majority.”

  “That’s okay. It just caught me off guard. My Grandma died two months ago.”

  “I’m sorry about that—” The ring of the bell above the door interrupted Emma, and a young mother walked in with a baby and a toddler in a stroller. Keisha jumped to open the door for her, and the customer in search for a children’s birthday card immediately struck a conversation.

  Emma was happy to see Keisha interact with customers, quickly developing a sense for who needed assistance, and who just wanted to browse the display, maybe buying something, maybe coming back later.

  When she had finished her papers, she went into the small kitchen to make some coffee, and put cookies on a plate. She wasn’t sure if the teenager liked coffee, but she’d give it a try. After her own late breakfast, she hadn’t brought anything for lunch. She’d meet with Jayce, Kitty and her husband Daniel for dinner.

  She was about to ask Keisha if she wanted to take a few minutes, but the young employee was currently engaged in a conversation with two elderly ladies who were admiring the marriage display. Keisha seemed in awe of them.

  “Emma, meet Mildred and Carol,” she said, smiling brightly. “Their grandsons are getting married next month.”

  “That’s great, congratulations. Are you finding everything you need?”

  Mildred laughed. “Dear, I’m finding a lot more than I need. Your stationary paper is so beautiful, it makes me want to write letters again.”

  “And she just learned texting,” Carol chimed in. “I’d like you two to take a look. Which one of these cards do you think two young handsome gentlemen would like?” She held up a choice of three.

  “I think this is—” The sound of a police siren close by made Emma flinch. She saw that Keisha had jumped too. Mildred and Carol were patiently waiting her to finish her sentence, which suggested they might not be hearing that well.

  “It depends. Are they into sports? If you’re not sure, I’d go with something like this.” She pointed at the card displaying a cake with two groom cake toppers. “You can always go more neutral…”

  “No,” Carol said. “This is probably the only gay wedding I get to attend, and we want to make sure they know we’re very happy for them. They found love. You can’t beat that, can you?”

  Emma wholeheartedly agreed. “You’re right. Go with the cake, then. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.”

  “Thank you so much, dear. I know that’s not your job, but could you recommend a good place for the wedding cake?” Mildred inquired. “My grandson’s parents are going to pay for it, but they’re so busy, I’m afraid they might forget to make a reservation early enough.”

  The siren sounded again, closer this time. Casting a look past Mildred, out of the store window, she could see the squad car on the other side of the street, with the siren now turned off. She wondered what was going on, and if Jayce knew. She had the weekend off—Emma hoped it would stay that way.

  “There’s an excellent bakery only a block from here. It’s called…”

  “I know,” Keisha said. “Precious Cupcake.”

  “That’s right. You could ask—”

  The doorbell sounded again as the front door was yanked open. Late twenties, all dressed in black, the man who had walked in wasn’t the usual clientele for Kitty’s store. Even more, shockingly, out of place, was the gun in his hand.

  “Stay where you are. Hands up!” he yelled. “Who’s in charge here?”

  Emma didn’t hesitate, not because she felt particularly brave. She was just reacting.

  “I am,” she said, trying to keep her voice firm and calm. She had been threatened before. She’d been scared, and come out alive, and she would again, along with everyone in the store. Never mind the bizarre situation of someone about to rob a store for greeting cards and stationary. They had some expensive pens on display, but she doubted the man was much of an expert.

  Never mind her shaking hands.

  “There’s not a lot of money in the register, but you can take what’s there. Nobody will remember your face. Right?” She turned to the other women behind her who nodded, the fear visible in their faces. Emma wondered if she was showing hers so clearly, hoping it wasn’t the case.

  “No one is going anywhere,” he said menacingly. “Get on the floor. Not you,” he pointed his gun at Emma again. “You come over here.”

  For a brief moment, her body didn’t obey, her feet refusing to move.

  “She can’t,” Keisha said desperately, pointing to Mildred. “She just had a hip replacement.”

  “Keisha, get her the chair then. That’s okay with you, right? She’s not going to do anything.”

  “All right, just the chair. Hurry up.”

  “You,” he said to Emma. “Close the blinds and lock the door.”

  Her heart was beating so loudly she could barely hear him over the rush of blood in her ears, but she managed to follow his order. He pushed one of the displays to cover the door, the light in the store all of a sudden dim. Emma forced herself to take deep breaths. No one was panicking. There was still a chance to turn this around.

  “See? We’re doing everything you say. Excuse me if that sounds strange, but what are you doing here? We’re not a bank. I took this week’s cash there on Friday, so there’s not much of it. Can you tell me your name?”

  “None of your business,” he hissed, looking around frantically. Next, he took aim at the security camera and pulled the trigger. Emma wasn’t sure if the scream had come from her or someone else as pieces of glass and plastic came falling down.

  * * * *

  Jayce was on her way to meet Kitty, her partner’s wife, who had convinced her to come along shopping. It wasn’t her favorite pastime, but they hadn’t spent some time together in a while. They’d pick up Emma at the end of the shift and meet Daniel at the restaurant. Daniel was spending the morning fishing with a few buddies from the department, including their colleagues Ray and Tanya. Jayce wasn’t into fishing much, but she preferred the outdoors to the closed mall. Then again, she might find something nice for Emma.

  “Thanks for coming along even if you didn’t want to,” Kitty said good-naturedly.
“I’ll buy you a coffee. It’s cute, but it’s too long for Emma.” She pointed at the skirt Jayce was holding. “Try something over there. It’s more her style.”

  Jayce took the subtle scolding in stride. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Kitty laughed. “You’re doing fine, you know that, right? Emma is so in love with you. She doesn’t mind that you have no fashion sense.”

  “Come on, that’s harsh.”

  “It’s the truth, but I love you anyway. I’m going to try some things, and then we’ll find something for her.”

  Fortunately, by the time Kitty decided what to buy, Jayce had already found a dress she approved of.

  “You’re getting better at this. Let’s get that coffee now.”

  They were about to sit down with their cups when Jayce’s cell phone rang.

  “Oh no, on a weekend?”

  “Why do you think it has to be work?”

  Kitty’s gaze spoke volumes—from experience. After all, her husband was a detective too.

  Jayce was surprised to find her supervisor, Lieutenant Chomsky, on the phone. She could count the occasions that the woman had called her privately on the weekend, on one hand.

  “Detective Finney. I wanted to talk to you before you hear this from anyone else. There has been a hold-up at the convenience store on Walker.” She spoke fast, not giving Jayce enough time to come up with all the worst case scenarios, given the proximity to… “The two perps fled on foot, one of them holed up in the greeting card store.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Jayce said, the image chilling her. Emma. “Do we know anything about what’s going on inside? Did he take hostages?”

  “I’m afraid so. There’s a tactical team in place. I’ll let you know more when you’re here.”

  “Wait, I have the owner of the store with me.” She saw Kitty’s eyes widen. “I’ll bring her with me. She can give you an idea of the layout—”

  “That would be helpful,” Chomsky said. “Get here as soon as you can.”

  “Is there anything you’re not telling me? You know it’s my partner in there…”

  “I understand that. We know very little at this point. I see you in a few minutes.”

  “What happened?” Kitty asked.

  Jayce was used to reacting to rapidly changing situations, even when it was personal. At this moment, she had trouble moving or even relating the events to Kitty. This was different from the mean girls in the halfway house, or Emma’s unexpected undercover stunt at the psychiatric ward. It was her, the new girl, maybe a few customers, and a man with a gun who was obviously desperate, knowing he wasn’t going anywhere.

  “It’s bad,” she said.

  She had to get herself together. For a brief moment, she considered letting Kitty drive, but she needed to be as fast and efficient as possible right now.

  “You can come with me and describe the layout of the store to the cops on the scene, then I’ll drop you off at home.”

  “Wait. Jayce. Emma is my friend. There is no way I’m going to sit at home and wait for news. I want to be there. I’m sure there’s a yellow tape that tells me how far I can go. Oh God.”

  There was no time to argue, so Jayce accepted. “All right. But whatever happens, you stay in the car. Keep the doors locked. It looks like one of them is still on the run.”

  “I’ll do whatever you say.”

  Twelve minutes later, they were at the scene.

  Jayce reminded Kitty of her promise, and went in search of Lieutenant Chomsky. The storefront was dark, the blinds lowered. There were a few windows in the back, the kitchen, and the apartment above the store that came with a small loft. As far as she knew, there was a connecting door between the apartment and the store…She was brutally jolted out of her thoughts when she heard the words shots fired, and a moment later, Chomsky appeared next to her.

  “What else didn’t you tell me?”

  * * * *

  After the initial panic reaction, an odd kind of calm had settled over their group. Emma wasn’t sure how to interpret it. Hope? Resignation? She had faced too many seemingly insurmountable obstacles to give up now. The beautiful life she’d found, it was worth fighting for, and fight, she would.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the man who was pacing in front of the store window, shielded from outside view by the blinds. Keisha was looking up at her, then quickly averted her gaze. Mildred and Carol were quiet.

  “Since it looks like we’re going to be here for a while,” Emma continued, “why don’t you tell me your name? I’m Emma. I was promoted to manager a few weeks ago.”

  “It’s not your lucky day,” he said, and she shivered.

  “Maybe we can keep it from getting worse for all of us?”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” He had turned to her though, listening.

  “Really? Then why don’t you tell me why you came here in the first place? You weren’t going to rob the store. Nobody robs a greeting card store. What do you want?”

  “What’s it to you?”

  “Hey, you’re the one who’s spoiling the day for me, and Keisha, Mildred and Carol as well. It’s Keisha’s first day, now I’m afraid she’s not going to come back after this experience. Mildred and Carol were picking out a wedding card for their grandsons, and—” Emma broke off her sentence, unsure if she was going in the right direction. What if the man was a homophobe? At best, he didn’t care, but she thought she had to get somewhere…Knowing someone’s name, getting a glimpse of their story, that made it harder to kill them, right? In an ideal world, anyway.

  “Why don’t you shut up?”

  She cringed when he made a quick movement, but he was reaching for his cell phone. “Damn, what is taking you so long?”

  “Someone’s coming to get you? They won’t get in here,” Emma said. “The police will have already surrounded the place. If you give yourself up now—”

  “Could you stop the hell talking? I’m not going back to prison. I’m not.”

  Emma was silent for a moment. That, she could understand, even though their circumstances had been vastly different. She didn’t know what she’d do if there was ever the danger. For sure, she wouldn’t pick up a gun and threaten to hurt anyone else. As much as she hated the entitlement of someone who thought he could, she had to keep trying. For all of them.

  Everyone in the room jumped when the phone rang. It wasn’t his cell phone, but the store. It rang another time…and once more.

  “Should I answer?” Emma asked. “They probably heard the gunshot, and want to know if everyone is okay. We are, right? I could tell them.”

  “You don’t go near that phone!”

  It didn’t stop ringing, the sound getting on all their nerves.

  Finally, he went to pick up.

  “What I want?” He gave an angry laugh. “I tell you what I want. Two million dollars, and a car, with a full tank. You don’t follow me. Otherwise, this is going to end badly.”

  Emma listened intently, to the words and their meaning. He hadn’t threatened to kill anyone. If he wasn’t saying it out loud, that could only be good for them, right? Did it mean that he didn’t want anyone to get hurt? Did it mean anything?

  She was still standing, shaking, but he hadn’t ordered her down on the floor with the others. Maybe she was fooling herself into thinking she could form some sort of connection with him, and he’d shoot her first…She blinked back the tears, reminding herself that there were three other women here with her, depending on her to keep calm. She could do this.

  “Hey, you. Emma,” he said. “Somebody wants to talk to you.”

  She picked up the phone in trembling hands.

  “This is Emma.”

  “Ms. Curtis, can you tell us what the situation is? Is anyone hurt?”

  Someone took the phone from her, and the next moment, her knees nearly buckled when she heard Jayce’s voice. “Emma, are you okay?”

  The tears kept comin
g, beyond her control. Emma knew that he was going to yank the phone from her any moment. She couldn’t afford to waste time.

  “We’re okay,” she said shakily. “There’s four of us here, me, Keisha, two elderly ladies.” She could have sworn Mildred scoffed a little at that description. Emma didn’t feel very creative at the moment, and if that was an ageist comment, she’d apologize for it later. She assumed the police would want to know if there was anyone in the store who might help or hinder their efforts in arresting the hostage taker.

  “And…the guy. He shot the camera, not any of us. He hasn’t hurt anyone and I trust that he won’t.”

  “His name is Tim Marsden,” Jayce supplied. “He and his brother tried to rob the convenience store across the street, the owner activated the alarm, and they bailed. His brother Joe is still at large, but he didn’t get any money.”

  “Wrap it up,” Marsden warned. Emma clutched the phone tighter, all of a sudden terrified of losing this lifeline to the outside, her reality outside of this nightmare.

  “Emma, listen to me. We’ll get you out of there in no time. I promise.”

  “I love you,” she whispered before Tim Marsden took the phone from her. She should have done something with all that information, tried to get through to him, used everything she had.

  All she could think of was the owner of a convenience store lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Maxine, her unpredictable ex, had run after shooting a man for fifteen bucks worth of junk food. No matter how far she got, she could never escape that memory.

  * * * *

  “Okay, what are we going to do? There’s a little balcony on the side to get into the apartment, from there we get into the store…”

  “Finney. Hold it right there. You’re not going anywhere, and by the way, this wasn’t what we agreed on.”

  “I had to talk to her.” Jayce knew she had overstepped a line, but the moment she realized it was Emma on the phone, she couldn’t help herself. Nobody was hurt, which was good. She didn’t want to wait until that changed. Marsden had to know that this was the end of the line.

  “Yeah.” The lieutenant sighed. “Now you have to let your colleagues do their job. Captain Reid is a friend of mine. I would trust him with my life.”