by Liz Bradford
Jocelyn took a deep breath before going into her cousin’s house that was currently a crime scene. She had seen Ella before Amelia took her to the hospital to check on Adam. Ella had pulled her into a hug unlike anything she had ever expected from Ella. They had been friends since they were kids, never very close, but friends none the less. And Adam. Her cousin was in the hospital with a stab wound. How was she supposed to go in and take crime scene photographs of his house? These things weren’t supposed to happen to family. She prayed as she stepped over the threshold, but her words felt empty.
Her heart quickened slightly when her eyes fell on Gavin Riley. She moved toward the hallway.
“Hey,” he said to her.
“Hi, how bad is it?”
His head wavered side to side. “Not too bad, just don’t think about where you are, and you’ll be fine.” His hand came to rest on her shoulder.
“Easier said than done, Gavin.”
“I know.” He squeezed her shoulder.
“Where’s the bulk of the evidence? I’ll start there.”
“The bedroom.”
“Okay.” She patted Gavin’s side and moved back to the living room. She set her bag down. The other techs were pulling out their equipment to start taking samples, she followed suit and pulled out her camera. She attached her flash, checked her settings, and put an empty memory card in. She went down the hall towards Adam’s bedroom, but glanced into the utility room where Gavin was with Becca.
“You think that’s how he made it in?” Becca asked.
Jocelyn stopped and turned into the little room.
“Anything picture worthy in here?” she asked before Gavin could answer Becca.
“Maybe.” Gavin looked at her. “I think he came in through the back door. But there isn’t any sign of forced entry.”
“Did he find Adam’s spare key?”
“Maybe, you know where he keeps it?”
“I do. But it’s not easy to find. But how would he have gotten through the alarm? Shouldn’t the alarm agency have been notified of an unauthorized entrance?”
“That’s the part I figured out. I’ve been churning around in my mind how he got into Amelia’s house, so when I saw that Adam has the same system, I checked it. Probably could take pics of this.” He motioned to the keypad by the back door and slid on a rubber glove.
Jocelyn took pictures of each screen he showed her and Becca.
“Looks like he knew how to circumvent the alarm code, like he knew the system inside and out. Here’s when Adam and Ella would have arrived. Adam punched in the code in the front door unit. But this time before that? I know Adam and Ella were at the gym during that time. Plus this”—he pointed to an icon on the side of the screen—“shows that it was an technician code rather than Adam’s.”
“Nice work, Riley,” Becca said.
Jocelyn smiled at Gavin and headed towards Adam’s bedroom. She stopped before entering the room and photographed the blood that was all over the doorway and floor. She was sure to get the bullet holes in the wall before the techs removed the bullets. Once she had finished those, she had to steel herself for what she would see when she entered the bedroom. But her efforts weren’t enough. Her stomach churned at the sight of the blood covering Adam’s bed.
A hand rested on her back, and Jocelyn jumped. She turned to see Gavin.
“You okay?”
“Not really, but I just have to do my job. I’ve seen worse, but…”
“This is different.”
She nodded.
“We’ll go to the hospital as soon as you’re done, all right?”
“That would be good.” She turned back towards the scene and swallowed the lump in her throat and got her job done.
Ella pushed her way through the automatic doors of the hospital emergency room and ran to the desk. “Where is he? Adam Jamison. They just brought him in an ambulance.”
Amelia came up beside Ella. The young woman behind the counter said, “I’m sorry. Are you family?”
Amelia held up her badge. “I’m Detective Johnson. He’s a cop and my partner. She’s with me and is also his girlfriend. Can you please find out how he is?”
“Detective Johnson? Related to Caleb Johnson?”
“Yes! That’s my husband; he brought Adam in.”
“Okay, give me a moment, and I’ll go see what I can find out. You can go in the waiting room over yonder.” The woman motioned around a corner and stood. She disappeared through the double doors that said, “Emergency Treatment Area.”
Ella knew she should go to the waiting area, but her body wasn’t responding to that knowledge.
Amelia took her elbow and without a word guided her towards the waiting area. Once in the room full of chairs decorated in brown and beige tones, Amelia spoke. Ella could hear the strain in her voice even though she masked it behind soft words. “Ella, why don’t we sit?”
“I can’t. I have to see Adam.”
“I get it, but they aren’t going to let us see him until they’ve finished patching him up.”
Ella’s lungs deflated, and she looked up at her friend. Amelia was struggling with this too. Adam is her partner! She needed to not forget that she wasn’t the only one who loved Adam.
The double doors to the ER opened and Caleb came through. Ella’s chest tightened.
“Hey.” He came to where they stood and took his wife into his arms.
“How is he?” Ella asked.
“He’s doing… ok. They will be taking him to surgery soon. The knife didn’t hit anything too vital, but they need to repair the damage and close off any bleeders.”
Ella took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but her anxiety didn’t ease up.
Caleb put his hand on her shoulder. “He’s going to make it.”
She looked in his eyes and nodded. She looked down at her hands that she was wringing. Despite having washed them at the house, Adam’s blood was still dried under and around her fingernails. Her hands started to shake again.
“He’s going to be okay,” Amelia reiterated Caleb’s promise.
Movement at the entrance caught her eye as she looked back up at Amelia. It was Jared and Adam’s mom.
“Ella.” Adam’s mom came up to her.
“Mrs. Jamison.” They both hesitated; they hadn’t interacted in years. Mrs. Jamison still lived in the large white house three doors down from her mom, but the mothers’ friendship had never been very deep, and Ella’s mom had always judged Adam’s mom more harshly than she intended. So, after the kids drifted, their moms naturally did as well.
“I’m so sorry, Ella.” Mrs. Jamison pulled her into a hug. “Adam’s told me how close y’all have been getting.”
Ella released the tall, older woman. “They say he’s going to be okay.”
Tears slipped out of Mrs. Jamison’s eyes. “Because of you. Sergeant Johnson said you saved his life.”
Ella shrugged.
After wiping a tear off her own cheek, Mrs. Jamison reached toward Ella and in a dear, motherly fashion brushed the strains of Ella’s hair that had found their way out of her ponytail again out of her face, just as she had when Ella was a little girl running around playing with her son. Ella smiled. But Mrs. Jamison’s hand froze beside Ella’s head. Her eyes grew wide and her pupils dilated. “Is… is that Adam’s blood?”
Ella’s hand darted up to her hairline. She must have at one point pushed her hair out of her face while her hands were still wet with the blood of the man she loved. “I’m sorry; I tried to clean it up.”
Mrs. Jamison’s body wavered.
Caleb said, “Mrs. Jamison, why don’t you sit?”
Jared stepped in behind her and led her to a chair. “Take a few deep breaths, Mrs. Jamison.”
Ella sat but stood again, unsure of what to do.
Amelia asked Caleb, “Should we move to the surgical waiting room?”
He said, “I’ll go check again if they’ve moved him to surgery yet.” Caleb turned an
d left.
Amelia turned to Ella. “Let’s go see if the reception desk can hook us up with a washcloth and towel, and maybe we can get you cleaned up a bit better.”
“Probably a good idea.”
Ella paced the surgical waiting room. The room was filled with loved ones, yet Ella felt alone. Adam had become such a rock in her life in the last few weeks that she wasn’t sure what to do without him by her side. Oh Jesus, I know you’re here with me now, but I want Adam here too. But he’s still in surgery. It’s been, she looked at the clock, almost two hours already. Why hasn’t the doctor come in yet and said he’s fine? I don’t think I can take much more of this waiting.
She continued pacing and looked around at the people who had gathered. Adam’s mom was there, and Amelia, Caleb, and Jared were all present. Jocelyn, Gavin, and Captain Baker had come with Becca about twenty minutes ago, although Becca was not in the room now. But the biggest surprise to her were her parents. They sat on the opposite side of the room from Mrs. Jamison. Her mom was warming up to the idea that Adam and Ella were moving forward in their relationship, but she and Ella’s father were still very skeptical. They hadn’t even been open to having dinner with Adam yet. But they were here, and Ella appreciated it even if they still had no idea how to comfort their only daughter.
Becca walked through the door and came straight to Ella and handed her a Styrofoam cup full of brown liquid. “Coffee? I think I remembered how you like it.”
“Thank you.” Ella smiled and took the coffee.
Becca gently grasped Ella’s upper arm. “How are you holding up?”
She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know. I just want Adam.” Her hands started to shake.
Becca took the cup back and set it down on a table. “Come here.” She opened her arms and pulled Ella into a hug. Ella melted into her new friend’s arms, and the tears started flowing again.
She ran out of tears and pulled back from Becca’s shoulder. “I’m sorry; your shoulder is all wet.”
“Do you really think I care about that right now?”
Ella smiled.
“Let’s sit.”
Ella sat in the chair next to the table that held her coffee. She picked it up and took a sip. She grimaced.
“Not enough sugar?”
“I don’t think it would matter.”
“Got to love hospital coffee.”
Ella chucked lightly at Becca’s comment. But the light faded, and her mind started to play back why they were here. And it was coming like a flashback. That stupid tunnel was closing in, and she could see Scott’s face, the mean, sinister look he had as he reached for the gun on his hip. She hadn’t had a choice, had she?
“Ella…” Becca touched Ella’s arm.
Ella jerked out of the flashback and spilled her coffee on her knee.
“Oh, no. I’m so sorry,” Becca said.
“Don’t worry about it.” Someone handed her a few napkins, and she dabbed at the mess.
“You were having a flashback?”
“Yeah… I never heard what happened to Scott. I don’t know if he made it.”
“I didn’t either. Do you want to know?”
“I guess; I’ll have to know eventually.”
“Jared,” Becca called across the room to where Jared sat next to Ella’s dad.
“Excuse me, sir.” Jared got up and walked over to them. He squatted in front of them and cocked his head to the side ready to listen to his wife.
In hushed tones, Becca asked, “Did you hear if Scott made it or not?”
“I know he was still alive when they arrived at the hospital, but I don’t know past that. I can go find out.”
Ella didn’t want to know, but she needed to. “Would you?”
“I will. I’ll be back in a few. But, Ella, regardless of whether he makes it or not, you did the right thing. I wasn’t joking when I told Mrs. Jamison that you saved Adam’s life.” Jared squeezed her shoulder and stood. She smiled at him as best she could with the weight of life and death hanging on her shoulders.
Jared nearly ran over someone when he walked out of the door. She couldn’t see who it was until they came fully into the room. “Heather!” Ella stood and moved toward Adam’s big sister.
Two young boys burst past Heather. “Grandma!” They shouted in unison and ran to Mrs. Jamison.
Ella looked back at Heather who opened her arms to her. “Oh, Ella. Look at you. You’ve turned into a gorgeous woman.”
She embraced the woman who looked so much the same as she had twenty years ago, just an older version that sported crow’s feet and gray hair mixed in to her long, curly dark hair. “You look amazing too. And your boys. What handsome young men! But how on earth are you here already? I thought you lived in DC.”
“I do. I left as soon as I could after I got off the phone with Adam this morning, what I need to tell him can’t be said over the phone. So, I was only a couple hours out when Mom called me to say that Adam was in the hospital. Is he okay? What happened?”
“We… we were attacked. Adam was stabbed and is in surgery right now.”
“Oh, my word.” Her hands flew to her mouth. “Are you okay?” She reached out to Ella.
“Eh.” She shrugged. “I’ll be better when I know Adam is okay.”
Heather nodded. “Let’s sit and catch up. I can’t think about Adam without losing it, so let’s talk about something else.”
“I could use that.”
“Adam said you’re a teacher?”
They sat and talked about anything and everything except Adam. Thirty minutes passed before anyone else came in or out of the door. But Ella’s chest tightened when Jared and a doctor came into the room talking to one another. Jared’s long frown caused her pulse to quicken. Bad news. But who? Ella jumped to her feet.
A smile came onto the older, black doctor’s face as he spoke to the room, “Adam is out of surgery and in recovery. We were able to stitch him up without any complications.”
A collective sigh washed through the room. Adam’s mom stood and approached the doctor, but before Ella was able to listen in and join the conversation, Amelia came up to her. “Do you want to go home and take a shower and get some sleep? I’m sure it will be hours before he’s awake.”
“I want to see him first. Maybe a shower, but if they’ll let me, I’d rather camp out in his room. I want to be there when he wakes up.”
“That makes sense to me.”
“Plus, Amelia, I don’t know where home is right now.”
“My house is always open to you, but I think your parents could offer you some space too.”
“That’s true.”
Jared came over to them. “Hey, Ella?”
She looked into Jared’s somber eyes. “He didn’t make it, did he?”
Jared pressed his lips together and shook his head.
All the air escaped Ella’s lungs. She had killed a man.
Heather turned towards them. “Who didn’t make it?”
Ella tried to answer but speech was impossible without air in her lungs. But she made eye contact with Heather. She had killed Heather’s ex-boyfriend.
Amelia’s voice cut into her shock. “Ella, breathe. It’s okay. You did what you had to.”
Ella took in a slow breath, and Jared said, “You saved Adam’s life by shooting Scott. The doctor said Adam wouldn’t have made it if he had arrived thirty minutes later.”
“Scott? Scott Rebus?” Heather’s voice was flat.
Ella’s eyes locked with Heather’s. Ella nodded.
Heather dropped her shoulders as if a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
“You aren’t surprised?”
“I wish I was. I’m so sorry, Ella!”
“Sorry for what?”
“Not now. I’ll tell you when Adam is up to hearing too.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s just go see him.”
Ella nodded.
Chapter 29
&n
bsp; Where was he? What had happened? Adam tried to open his eyes, but his brain was so foggy that he couldn’t remember anything. Scott. He had stabbed Adam, but why didn’t he feel the pain he had? Ella. She had grabbed his gun before he passed out. He vaguely remembered gun shots. What happened to her? Was she okay?
“Ella!” He finally opened his eyes and shouted her name.
“Hey! I’m right here.” The sound of an angel filled his ears. Maybe he was dead. He turned towards the sound and his eyes fell upon God’s most beautiful creation.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Her warm fingers slid around his hand.
Adam looked around; he was in a small hospital room. He tried to sit up but couldn’t. There’s the pain.
“Don’t try to move.” She placed the hand not holding his on his chest to keep him lying in the hospital bed. “You had to have surgery to close up the wound and have been out longer than they expected.” She reached up to his head and ran her fingers through his hair. His heart fluttered.
Deep in her eyes there was a shadow of sorrow. “Are you sure you’re okay? You weren’t hurt? What happened after I cut you free?”
Her eyes dropped to where their hands gripped one another. “I killed him. I didn’t want to kill him, but I had to stop him.”
He tightened his grip on her hand and pulled on her hand until she looked back up at him. “You did good.”
“I guess. But what matters is you are going to be just fine, and now I’m safe.”
“Exactly.”
“Oh, I was supposed to call the nurse when you woke up.” She reached across him to get the call button.
His heart raced at her closeness. He just wanted to pull her into his arms, but he was becoming more aware of the pain in his abdomen. Instead, he put his hand gently on her back keeping her close after she pushed the button and talked to the nurse.
Ella’s hair was in the same messy bun it had been all day, and it looked like she still hadn’t gotten a shower. “You haven’t left the hospital yet, have you?”
“I couldn’t. Amelia encouraged me to, but I just couldn’t leave you.”
He looked up at the clock it was after eleven. The last five hours were not part of his memory at all. But the bags under Ella’s eyes and the creases in her forehead told him that they had been excruciatingly long for her. “You should get some sleep. You can go; not that I want you to, but I’ll be okay.”