by Ronica Black
Chapter Six
“Vander. Vander?” Kat felt her heavy eyes flutter open. The room was bright, harsh. She brought her arm up to shade her sensitive vision, but she found it difficult. A cord of some sort was connected to her hand.
“Easy,” a familiar voice said. She felt a warm hand cover hers.
“Murph?”
“In the flesh.”
She turned her head and found him smiling beneath the bill of a worn camouflage Tarheel hat. His shirt matched his hat in different shades of green, but his pants were thick denim, mud smeared on one knee. He wasn’t wearing his firearm.
She couldn’t yet make sense of any of it. “Where—”
“You’re in the emergency room.”
“What?” She tried to sit up, but he eased her down. She closed her eyes in frustration, and suddenly, the noise all around her penetrated. A baby crying, beeps, coughs, loud orders, soft, soothing talk. She lifted her tethered hand and found an IV. “Why?”
He sat slowly, carefully, as if she’d fly out of the bed at any moment. “Your wound was bleeding and infected. And you were very weak. You’re lucky you got here when you did.”
“Brynn?” She stared directly into his brown eyes. His face fell in a microsecond and then recovered, but she had seen it; it was too late. “Where, Murph?”
“We took her in.”
“She brought me here and you took her in? Did you arrest her?”
He looked down and stared at his hands. “We had no choice. Had no answers. And you, you had disappeared, and then she shows with you near death and covered in dirt. What were we supposed to do?”
She tensed, but it caused pain up in her shoulder. She was still in a sling. “Damn it, get this thing off me.”
Again, Murph stood and eased her busy hands. He did so firmly yet gently. He shushed her quietly as if soothing a fussy babe. “You have to relax and be still. That antibiotic needs to get into your body.”
She jerked away from him, so frustrated she could scream. It caused a huge stab of pain to course through her, but she didn’t care. Her anger was winning out. “Can’t they give me a shot? Two shots? I need to get to Brynn.”
“So you’re on a first-name basis with her now?”
Her mind raced right over his question. First, the cabin, Brynn’s nude body, the argument with Bea and then the drive ho—“Fucking shit, where’s Gunner? He’s not in the car is he?”
Murph shook his head and tried to grip her hand. “Williams said you two dropped him off at your house.”
Kat leaned back and took a big breath. She could remember nothing after leaving the cabin. Brynn could’ve taken her anywhere, done anything. But once again, she’d brought her to where she needed to be. Even if it wasn’t what she currently wanted.
Murph tugged on the bill of his cap and rubbed his stubble. He still had a baby face no matter how hard he tried to hide it.
“You been fishing?” she asked. He was dirty, black under his nails and in his nail beds. He’d been digging for worms.
“Yeah.”
“They called you in?”
“We were all worried sick when you disappeared, Vander. Captain Bowman insisted I take the day off instead of pacing the floors looking for you.”
“I had something I had to do.”
“Like go get the Williams girl. You know how much shit you’re in?”
Kat looked away. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
He rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am. Now when can I get out of here?”
The curtain scraped as a woman entered wearing creased khakis, a maroon button-up blouse, and a lab coat. She carried a metal clipboard and a stern look. “Kat Vander, I presume?”
Kat didn’t speak, just squared off with her with her steady, steely gaze.
“You’re either very stubborn or very brave,” she said. “I can’t decide which one. Luckily, it’s not my job to figure you out. It’s my job to fix you up.”
“When can I go?” Kat asked, in no mood for lectures.
The woman laughed and set down the clipboard. She placed her hands in her pockets and looked to Murph.
“I’m going to go with stubborn,” she said.
Murph laughed. “You have no idea.”
“Hello, I can hear you. I’m sitting right here.”
The woman, whose name was Dr. Sands according to her lab coat, took a hand out of her pocket to rest it on Kat’s.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that you had quite a worried crowd here and they’ve all filled me in on your…”
“Stubbornness.”
“Yes.”
“Great.” Kat glared at Murph who reddened. “Now when can I leave?”
Sands squeezed her hand. “We cleaned out your wound. Re-bandaged. And now we’re giving you a strong antibiotic.”
“And…”
“And you can go home when it’s finished. But only if you promise to stay on bed rest for the next few days. And if that wound gets worse in any way, your behind better get back in here pronto.”
“I’m good with that,” Kat said.
“But I have to admit, I have my doubts about you being able to do that, Ms. Vander. Based on your recent behavior and that stubbornness your fellow officers have told me about, I’m going out on a limb here and trusting you.”
“I can do it.” She looked to Murph and gave him a look that caused him to straighten and speak.
“I can see that she does.”
Dr. Sands raised an eyebrow. “An infection like this is very serious. You understand that don’t you?”
Kat nodded and resisted rolling her eyes.
Dr. Sands patted her hand. “Very well. I’ll start your discharge papers and get you a script for more antibiotics. You have to take them twice a day. Understood?”
“Yes.”
Dr. Sands looked at Murph. “Keep a close eye on her the next week or so.”
“You got it.”
Kat groaned. She hated being treated like a child. She could take care of herself. She didn’t need Murph and Margie in her home, jumping every time she stumbled or sneezed. She had Gunner and a phone, and that was all she needed.
Dr. Sands left the curtained room and Kat turned on Murph. “I don’t need you up my ass twenty-four seven. Got it?”
Murph smiled. “Doctor’s orders.”
“Fucking shit, Murph, I’m fine. Tell everyone I’m fine.”
“But you’re not.”
“Murph. Hooker. Diamond.” The words sank in slowly. She could almost see them penetrate.
He yanked off his hat and rubbed his hair in frustration. “She won’t believe it, Vander. I haven’t done anything wrong.” He shook his head. “I’ll call your bluff, Vander. I will.”
Kat smiled. “No, you won’t.”
He stood and smacked his cap against his thigh. “Mother fuck, Vander.”
He was cursing. This was a good sign. She had gotten to him. He was putty in her hands now. “You know they say that even the thought of cheating can be considered cheating.”
“Enough. Just stop. You win.”
“Great. Thanks, Murph. Now, I believe that IV is empty. Help me get dressed and get the hell out of here.”
* * *
“Vander, we shouldn’t be here,” Murph said, desperation high in his voice. He scrambled after her and opened the door to the station for her.
“I have to make things right,” she said. “I know you know what I mean, Murph.” She looked him in the eye. “We do what’s right, don’t we? Brynn is innocent. She saved my life and Damien’s. Then she even went and got Gunner to care for him. Why? Because I asked her to. Now what do you call that, Murph? A crime?”
She entered the station when Murph didn’t respond and walked straight ahead and eyed Johnnie Madison on the right behind the counter.
“Christ on a cracker,” he said when he saw her. “Vander, you okay?” He brushed
crumbs off his broad chest and stared at her. He began swatting George Marks who was sitting and typing at the computer. Mads and Marks. It was damn good to see them.
“I’m well, Mads, thanks for asking.” She stopped at the locked door. Marks looked up and his face went ashen. He stood at attention. “Ma’am,” he said. “Welcome back.”
“She’s not back,” Murph said.
“Not yet,” she corrected him.
Madison buzzed her in, and they walked into the inner workings of her police station.
Phones rang, the strong smell of coffee permeated the air. The gray industrial carpet was worn into a trail, leading the way to each section. When they came to homicide, she smelled microwave popcorn and found the detectives at their desks, heads in files and computers. When she came to her captain’s desk, he was busy thumbing through papers and talking softly to another colleague, Lenny Tanner. When they sensed a presence, they looked up then did a double take. Captain Bowman stood.
“Vander, what in the hell are you doing here?”
But she was busy looking around, walking to look in on the interrogation room. “Where is she? Where’s Brynn Williams?”
“She’s in holding, why?”
“You got her locked up?”
He nodded. “For the time being, yes.”
“Get her out. Get her in here.”
Captain Bowman looked to Murph who threw up his hands. Tanner moved quickly and pulled up a chair for Kat, and she knew she must still look like death warmed over with her pale pallor and dirt coated hiking clothes. Her shirt had a big bloodstain on it.
“Sit, sit,” Tanner said, easing her down.
“I’m okay. Really. Thanks.”
“Cap, I need to clear some things up,” she said. “Brynn Williams has done nothing wrong. You can’t lock her up.”
He cleared his throat and leaned against the front of his desk, hefty arms crossed.
“Vander, you’re in no condition to be discussing this right now. You need to be home—”
“No. I’m giving a statement. Now.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“The sooner I get it out, the sooner I can get home.”
His eyebrows rose, as if confirming she might be right. He looked to Tanner. “Get the recorder, the camera.” He stared at Kat. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I do.”
“This is just a statement. You know there will be an investigation and most likely a hearing.”
“I’m well aware.”
He looked to the ceiling and sighed. “All right, Vander. We’re all ears.”
Tanner set up the equipment in the interrogation room, and the four of them entered with Murph sitting next to her. He squeezed her good shoulder for support.
Captain Bowman started, and she relayed her name and badge number. They discussed the incident, which Captain Bowman knew something about based on her earlier comments. She confirmed what she said before, about Brynn and Bea coming on the scene in innocence and helping. She reaffirmed that they had saved her life, along with Damien’s, by reporting the situation.
“Why did they run?” Captain Bowman asked. “Why didn’t they stay?”
“Brynn did stay. She stayed by my side until they took me away for surgery. And she said she left because she knew the car they had been in was stolen, and she was worried about the guns. She had literally just stepped out of prison. She didn’t want to go back.”
Captain Bowman again cleared his throat and crossed thick fingers as his arms rested on the table.
“See, that’s the problem, Vander. The vehicle they were in was stolen. And as for the guns, we’re not sure because we can’t locate them. But word on the street is Bea bought them off Robbie Kinnison, so we can bet they were stolen. We can’t erase these infractions because they helped you.”
Kat licked her lips and nodded. “I know, Cap. But what if I told you it was solely Bea who stole the car and bought the guns? Brynn was just a bystander. She was in prison a mere thirty minutes before the shootout. Bea picked her up in the stolen car and had the weapons already in there. Brynn is innocent. Her only crime is her fear of us assuming and jumping to conclusions because of her name and returning her to prison.”
Captain Bowman again rubbed his forehead. “We need to know how and why you went after them without us.” His voice shook, and she knew the questions had been bothering him. Captain Bowman had been like a father to her, and she felt a wave of guilt smack her in the face. She was the goody-goody—no errors, no infractions, no complaints. She was the exemplary officer. Now she had done something questionable and it wasn’t sitting well with him.
“I, uh, had a hunch as to where they were hiding.” She tried to hold their gazes, but they wouldn’t hold hers. “Years ago, I heard a rumor from a dying Grace Williams. I was called to the house because Bea feared she was already dead. She was just about eight at the time. I walked in the room, saw her state, and called EMS. I then sat next to her and held her hand. She was dying, emphysema, COPD. She was mumbling to me. Said Jasper was her daddy.”
“Jasper Cole?” Captain Bowman asked.
“Yes, sir. She kept repeating it. And then…she just gasped a few times about a minute apart, and then she didn’t gasp anymore. She died.”
They were silent for a moment before Kat continued. “Anyway, I always kept that with me. And I had known Jasper as a child and knew he had a cabin up by Whistler’s Creek in the Spruceville Mountains. So when the Williams girls went missing, I figured they might go there. Not many people knew of it, and no one knew that Jasper was their blood.”
“So I went up alone to check it out. I knew if I had told you, you would’ve sent out the Calvary, and Bea might have shot and put them in more trouble than they were already in.”
“Speaking of Bea,” Captain Bowman said. “Where is she?”
“Last I saw of her she was at the cabin. But she refused to come with me, and I was too weak to subdue her. I do know she’s hard up for heroin. She most likely will venture back into town to score.”
Murph stood. “I’ll send some patrol up to the cabin and get a current APB on Bea.” He left the room.
Captain Bowman rubbed his chin. “Brynn gonna back up your story?”
Kat scoffed a little. “Don’t be surprised if she refuses to incriminate Bea. She’s apparently spent her lifetime covering for her.”
He nodded. He looked to Tanner who turned off the camera.
“She really save your life?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. Held me in her arms in the backseat. Held pressure on my wound.”
He stood. “Okay. We’ll take it from here.”
Kat stood and they exited the room. She took a deep breath and felt the world crumble from her shoulders. “Can we get her now?”
Captain Bowman sunk into his chair behind his cluttered desk. “You know better than that, Vander. She has to give a statement. And you can’t be here.”
Murph returned and gently cupped her elbow. “Let’s get you home.”
Kat wanted to stand and argue. To insist they release Brynn then and now. But she knew Captain Bowman was right, and Murph was so gentle yet strong right next to her. She leaned into him and nodded, the stress of the day finally catching up to her.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Chapter Seven
Brynn didn’t bother to rise from the table when the officers did. Instead she sat and rubbed her sore wrists and sipped her now warm Coke. They’d questioned her for an hour, and honestly, she was surprised it hadn’t been for longer. They’d asked specific questions, mostly aimed at her knowledge of the stolen vehicle and weapons. It was obvious they’d already spoken to someone about the incident. One question had surprised her. They’d wanted to know why she’d helped. Why she’d held pressure on Vander’s wound. How she knew what to do. After the surprise of the questions, she’d found herself offended. They really must think her completely heartless and apathetic. That’s what a nam
e will get you.
It hadn’t always been like this. Her grandparents had been good people, hard working, respected. They’d purchased the acres of land that the family now lived on, known as Williams Lane. But things had gone to hell with her parents. Both had died early, her father suddenly. It had sucked the life out of everyone. Taken the wind from their sails. And it had forced her into a motherly role.
The door clicked open, and the man she knew as the captain walked in with another officer. They didn’t bother to sit.
“We just got off the phone with corrections. It seems you did quite well for yourself inside.”
“I tried to, sir.”
“They had nothing but good things to say. And they confirmed the time of your release.”
She waited for more. Finally, the captain spoke. “Ms. Williams, we just have one more question for you before you’re free to go.”
She sat back, hands in her lap. It sounded like they were letting her go. No prison. She couldn’t believe it. She began to tremble again and stuck her hands between her knees to hide it.
“We need to know where Bea is.”
She stared at the captain, unblinking. “I honestly have no idea.”
He gave an eat shit and die grin, and this time he sat. His large, hard as a boulder body creaked and groaned as he shifted for comfort. He sighed and rubbed a temple where the gray in his hair was the most prominent. He was in bad need of a trim around the ears. She guessed he had been putting in a lot of overtime since the shooting. Tired eyes and a grim set to his mouth seemed to confirm her theory.
“You don’t expect us to believe that do you?”
She shook her head in defiance. “I don’t care if you do or not. I have no idea where she’s going. All I can tell you is I buried her heroin, left her some pills, and left her at the cabin. She said she was leaving but didn’t say where.”
“But had she said, you wouldn’t tell us would you?”
Her hands grew more restless and her knees bobbed up and down. “I don’t know.”
The captain planted his palms on the table. “That’s what I thought.”