by Sara Mullins
He looked at Ashley and Becky who were eagerly waiting for him to speak. “Well, they found him, Josh’s cousin. They have him in custody,” he told them.
“That’s great,” Ashley said. “What about Josh?”
“They are still looking for him. He said he’d keep me updated, though,” Mark told them.
“Okay, well that’s better than nothing, right?” Becky asked.
“Yeah. They’ll get him. He can’t hide forever,” Mark said, looking down at his shoes.
Ashley looked at Mark and sensed his uneasiness. “Well, Becky, I need to get going. I gotta get home and take care of my cat before he makes me pay the price. Are you ready?”
“I guess I have to be, since I drove you here.” Becky raised an eyebrow at her. She turned and looked at Mark. “We’ll talk to ya later,” she told him.
“See ya,” he said.
Mark rubbed Nicole’s feet for a little bit, then he flopped down in his recliner by the window and turned the TV on. He flipped through channels for several minutes before settling on an old movie to watch. One delivered pizza and a bottle of pop later, Mark dozed off in the chair. The new nurse on shift walked in to check on Nicole, and Mark sat up, startled by the sound of her squeaking shoes.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“It’s alright,” he said, looking at the clock. “I need to go anyway. I gotta run home, but I should be back in a little bit.”
“Sounds good.”
Mark stopped to get some dog food then made his way home. Thanks to his catnap, the sun had already set, making for a dark ride. He pulled in the driveway and walked toward the house. The one lamp he had left on lit up the living room and Bentley’s head could be seen looking out the window. “Hey, boy!” He smiled at him.
He opened the door to let the dog out, then made his way toward the barn. He entered the fence and closed the gate behind him so he could let the horses out. Bentley paced around the yard at first, nose to the ground. Then he started barking and ran to the gate. “Hang on, buddy. I’ll be right back out.”
The dog continued barking frantically, scratching at the fence. Mark opened the barn door and looked back at the upset dog. “Alright, fine. Sorry, I thought you wanted to . . .” Mark stopped talking in an instant. The end of a gun was pressed to the back of his head.
“Don’t move,” Josh told him. Bentley went crazy, growling and desperately digging at the ground beneath the gate. Mark put his hands out to the side, making them visible. “So, I finally get to meet ‘Mr. Nice Guy’. Get in the barn,” Josh ordered. Mark walked in slowly.
“Shut the door . . . now,” Josh continued. Mark obeyed the demands, listening to his panicking dog outside. “Get upstairs.”
Josh followed Mark up the steps into the hayloft, the gun unwavering. He pointed at a lone bale of hay sitting in the middle of the floor. “Have a seat . . . Mark.”
Mark did as he was told. He turned to sit and made eye-contact with Josh for the first time. Josh seemed weak to him. There was an aura of fear and a lack of confidence radiating from him that Mark picked up on right off the bat.
Mark stared at him, waiting on his next instruction. “Now what?” he finally asked him.
“What’s wrong? You eager to get out of here, to go see my girl? Well, you’re not anymore!” Josh screamed. Mark sat in silence and stared back at him, unsure of what to say next. “Did you honestly think I was going to let you get away with it? She is mine. She knows that.”
“Right now, she doesn’t know anything. She’s in a coma, because of you,” Mark told him.
“I don’t think so. No. This is your fault, not mine. If you hadn’t pushed your way in, she wouldn’t be where she is!” Josh kept the gun pointed at him and paced side to side. Mark listened to his poor dog, tortured because he couldn’t get in. He continued to hold his hands out, waiting for any opportunity he could get to act. “I’m not going to let you take her,” Josh said, shaking his head.
“Look, I understand what you are saying to me, dude. But don’t you have a little problem?” Mark asked, trying to drag out the conversation.
“What’s my problem?”
“Every police officer in the area is looking for you. How far are you gonna get with her? How are you going to get to her when they are all looking for you?”
“Well, they won’t know I’m here, will they?” Josh remarked. “You think I can’t handle the cops? They are nothing.”
“So why do you need to kill me?” Mark asked. “Nicole loves you, right? She won’t pick me over you. Why kill me?”
“’Cause I know your type. You see a girl like her and think you can just move in with your charm and good looks and take her away from average guys like me. I used to see it all the time. Guys would try to talk to her when they thought I wasn’t around, smiling at her. They were always extra nice. She didn’t see what they were doing, but I did. I just had to show her what they were really doing.”
“And how did you do that? By hitting her, by having someone drive her off the road? You think she’s learned her lesson yet?” Mark asked.
“When she wakes up, she will know who loves her. She will know who she loves. And you, you won’t be there when that day comes. Poor Mark tragically killed himself because he couldn’t handle the pain of not knowing whether she will wake up. Horrible, isn’t it?” Josh asked. He continued preaching to Mark, who sat there calmly despite the situation. Bentley carried on outside. “Won’t that dog shut up?!” Josh screamed.
“Probably not, he never does,” Mark said. Right on cue, Bentley turned silent and Mark furrowed his brow.
“Finally, that stupid dog got the point.”
Bentley squeezed through the hole that he had dug under the fence and raced to the barn. At the rear of the building, he entered through the door that Mark had made for him to use in the wintertime. He ran straight for the stairs and bounded up them.
Josh saw Bentley racing towards him out of the corner of his eye and turned to point the gun at him. Mark ran at Josh as fast as he could, seizing the opportunity.
The gun fired, Bentley yelped in pain, and the horses neighed loudly at the booming sound. Mark tackled Josh and pinned his right arm to the ground. Josh tried to retaliate with his left hand, but Mark ducked the blow. He easily overpowered him and pulled the gun out of his hand.
Mark pointed the gun at Josh, who looked back at him in fury. “Now you listen to me, you piece of shit! You will never go near her again. Rot in hell!” Mark screamed. Josh spat in his face. Mark reacted quickly with his right fist and Josh’s body went limp. He climbed off him and crawled over to Bentley, who was whimpering on the far side of the loft. “Hold on, boy. Stay with me.”
He grabbed his phone and dialed 9-1-1. He was in such a nervous state that he struggled to explain the situation to the operator on the other end. When he’d finally got the words out and given his address, he hung up the phone and looked back over to Josh, who had started to wake up. Mark ran over to a bale of hay, pulled his pocketknife out and cut the twine. He took it over to Josh and rolled him over, tying his hands together behind his back.
Then he took his shirt off and ran back over to Bentley, pressing it down on the dog’s wound. “Hang on, buddy. It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.” He sat there holding the dog, comforting him until he heard the sirens coming in the distance. “They’re coming, buddy. Hold on, they’re coming.”
Josh woke up and looked over at Mark, glaring at him with hatred. “This isn’t over,” Josh said.
“You hear that? It’s over, asshole,” Mark replied.
“Aww, did I hurt the mutt?” Josh asked sarcastically.
“You’re hilarious. Maybe someone in jail will laugh at that.”
“My dad’s a lawyer, I’m not going anywhere,” Josh smirked.
“Ha, I bet he’s real proud.”
“Yeah, who are you? A mechanic?” Josh said. “I’m in IT. I can get a real job wor
king for anyone.”
“That’s true. They might let you fix the computer system at the jail.”
The barn door slid open and two officers walked in with flashlights. A paramedic walked in behind them. “Up here,” Mark hollered at them.
The responders climbed up the steps into the hayloft. The officers looked at Mark, examining the blood all over his hands. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m not hurt. My dog got shot,” Mark told them.
The paramedic knelt and checked him out. She looked down at the dog. “Okay, we’re gonna have to get hold of a veterinarian. There’s only so much I can do.”
“I can take care of that,” he said.
She bandaged the dog’s leg as well as she could. The officers stood Josh up and placed handcuffs on him. Blood ran down the left side of his face from Mark’s right hook. “Here’s his gun,” Mark said, handing it to the police. He and Josh exchanged looks as he was escorted over to the steps.
Mark called Dr. Smith, who agreed to meet him at the clinic as soon as possible. “The vet is gonna meet me down there. Thank you for helping him,” he told the paramedic.
“Not a problem,” she said. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. I don’t have a scratch on me.”
“Okay,” she said. “Good luck with everything. I hope he’s okay.”
“Thank you.” He scooped the whimpering dog up in his arms and carried him down the steps and out to his truck. He looked at Josh one last time before they stuck him in the car.
“Stupid mutt!” Josh screamed at him.
The officer shut the door and walked over to Mark’s truck. “We’ll escort you to town,” the officer said. “Go ahead and take the dog to be checked out, then we’re gonna have to ask you some questions.”
“I understand, whatever you need,” Mark said.
He followed the police and ambulance into town. One cop car headed straight for the veterinary clinic and Mark followed him. Dr. Smith was getting out of his car when Mark pulled in. Mark ran around to the passenger side and gently picked up Bentley. Dr. Smith ran over to look at him. He pulled the bandage back a little. “Let’s get him inside,” the vet said.
Carol pulled in as they were walking in the door. The doctor led him to the back. “Lay him on this table for me.” Mark laid the dog down and rubbed his head while the doctor removed the bandages. Carol hurried in and put some gloves on. They examined the dog and the doctor gave Carol instructions on what to do.
“Mark, we’re gonna take Bentley back now to fix his leg up,” Carol told him. “When he’s done, we’ll make sure he rests comfortably. He’s going to be okay,” she reassured him.
“When should I come back for him?” he asked.
“You can come in tomorrow if you want to check in on him. We may need to keep him for a couple of days, but you can surely come in and visit him if you’d like.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much for doing this,” he said.
“You’re very welcome,” she said.
“Thank you, doctor,” Mark said.
“Not a problem. He’s going to be just fine.”
Mark turned around and looked at the officer waiting for him. “Follow me down to the station so I can ask you some questions. It shouldn’t take long,” the cop said.
“Okay.”
The officer sat down with Mark to take a statement. “Take me through what happened this evening.”
“Well, I was visiting Nicole in the hospital and I dozed off. I woke up later than I wanted to. Anyway, I went home to take care of the animals and stuff,” Mark told him.
“What time did you get there?” the officer asked.
“Oh, probably close to ten. It was dark already, I know that.”
“Okay. What happened after you got there?”
“Uh, I walked up to the house and opened the door to let Bentley out.”
“And that’s the German Shepherd?” the officer clarified as he took notes.
“Yes. I walked to the gate to take care of the horses while Bentley ran around the yard. I closed the gate and as I walked to the barn Bentley started acting really weird,” Mark told him.
“What was he doing?”
“He started barking. He never barks unless someone pulls in the driveway or he sees another dog or something. I thought it was weird ‘cause he was looking at me. I kept walking and opened up the barn. He just kept barking and barking. So, I turned around to go back and get him and next thing I know, there’s a gun pressed into the back of my head.”
The officer continued writing, “Then what happened?”
“He took me in the barn and shut the door, then he told me to get up in the loft. I walked up the steps and sat down on a bale of hay. He kept the gun pointed at me and insisted on telling me how Nicole was his and I couldn’t have her,” Mark said, rolling his eyes.
“So, Bentley is still outside the gate barking at this point?”
“Yeah. After we had been up there for a while, Bentley suddenly went quiet. I guess that’s when he had finally dug his way under the gate. Then he ran in the barn – he has his own door. When he got in there, he ran up the steps. Josh heard him coming and turned to shoot him and that’s when I tackled him and took the gun away. I tied him up and called you guys.”
“Okay. Wow,” the cop said, looking up from the paper, “you have one hell of a dog.”
“I know,” Mark said. His eyes glistened and he looked away from the cop. “He saved my life.”
“He sure did. Listen, that’s really all I need from you right now. I hope Bentley is alright.”
“Thanks, I’m sure he’ll be okay. He’s in good hands,” Mark told him.
“How is Nicole doing, anyway?” the officer asked.
“She’s getting better. Her body is healing, but she hasn’t woken up yet.”
“She will. What a story you will have to tell her.”
“Ha, no joke,” Mark laughed.
“Thanks again, Mark. Sorry for keeping you so late.”
“It’s not a problem, I won’t be able to sleep anyway. I think I’ll go home and finish doing what I went there to do in the first place.”
The cop laughed and Mark got up and went out to his truck. He yawned and looked at the clock on the radio that now read 12:13. He started the truck and headed back toward the house, glancing at the two cars in the vet parking lot as he passed.
When he got home, he sat on the porch for a few minutes thinking about what had happened. He sighed and walked out to the barn. As soon as the door opened, he could see the trail of blood down the steps. The horses had calmed down but were still edgy from all the action. “It’s alright now,” he told them, caressing the sides of their faces. He let them out to run, then made his way inside.
Salem greeted him as usual. “I hope your night was better than mine,” he told the cat. “Come on.”
Mark strolled over to the kitchen and fed the cat before heading to the bathroom to wash off the blood. Then his fatigue took over and he collapsed into bed.
Chapter 14
Mark woke up in the recliner next to Nicole’s hospital bed. He looked over at her, just in case. Twelve days had passed since the accident. Bentley was hobbling about, but was otherwise back to normal. Mark’s gunpoint incident had become the talk of the town, and news of Nicole’s state had spread as well. Flowers, cards and stuffed animals flooded her hospital room. Her sister Annie had been to visit, as well as Mark’s parents. The love that the community had shown them helped him stay strong. But nothing could cheer him up quite like the witty jokes that he had been missing from Nicole.
He stood up and stretched and walked over to the bed to rub her feet, as he had done every day. He sat down with the newspaper and read it to her. “Huh, there’s a new restaurant opening up on the other side of town. We’ll have to try it out.” He chuckled for a moment. “I hope the waitresses are nice.” He mumbled on. “Blah, blah, blah. Nothing new.”
> The paper rustled as he tried to fold it back to its original state. He turned on the TV, trying to find something, anything to occupy his mind.
“Knock, knock,” Dr. Smith said, as he entered the room.
Mark smiled at him and stood to shake his hand. “How ya doin’?” Mark asked him.
“Oh, doing pretty good,” Dr. Smith replied. “How about yourself?”
“Things are goin’ alright, I guess. She seems to be getting better. I wonder sometimes if she can hear me when I’m talking to her. I don’t know.” He paused for a second. “Bentley is much better, thanks to you. You can hardly tell anything happened to him.”
Dr. Smith looked at him and raised his brows. “Mark, how are you doing?”
“I’m . . . I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about how I’m doing. She is such a huge part of my life. I guess I didn’t realize how much I needed her until I couldn’t talk to her anymore,” Mark told him.
“That’s understandable. I want you to remember, though, that Nicole isn’t the only one going through this. You are on this journey with her. It’s okay if you aren’t Superman twenty-four-seven. We’re all here for you anytime you need to talk. Okay?”
“I appreciate that a lot, and so would she.”
“So, what have you been up to?” the doctor asked, making small talk.
Mark threw his hands in the air and glanced around the room. “You’re looking at it.”
“What else?” Dr. Smith asked.
“What else is there?” Mark replied.
The veterinarian chuckled and shook his head. “You’re a good man. I’m not gonna try to convince you to make yourself be anywhere else. Just remember to take care of yourself, too.”
“I’ll be alright. I’ll be better when she’s better.”