by Marie Reyes
As his finger went to squeeze the trigger, Piper dived towards him, tackling him by the waist and knocking him to the ground, but it was too late. A shot rang out in the auditorium and the crowd moved, frenzied like a stampede, except there was nowhere for them to run. People knocked each other over, tried to hide behind each other, and pushed each other out of the way in pure chaos.
Piper looked at Kristen. She was fine. No visible gun-shot wounds. Where was the gun? John got up off the floor. Where was the gun? Where the hell was it? John didn't have it. When he got up, he was empty-handed. He ran toward Piper, but he had nothing. But if he had nothing, what was that searing pain? He pulled away, and she stumbled back. Something jutted out of her abdomen and she touched it. The hilt of a blade was sticking out of her. Before John could react, he was surrounded on all sides, being restrained. She heard one more gunshot before everything went black.
~~~
Piper flung her arms out in front of her, protecting herself from whatever was coming her way. "No." There was someone above her. Someone was holding down her arms. She stopped battling against it. She was sick of fighting. She was tired.
The sound of sirens was deafening, and she tried to block it out. All she wanted was peace and quiet. She remembered the last day she had seen her children, before she got that message, and before everything got fucked up beyond recognition. She needed more time in that moment. Her second chance had been so brief, and she had been so quick to fuck it up.
The sirens had stopped now. It was just voices, but she ignored them. She didn't want the noise. When she couldn't will herself back to sleep, she wondered where Martin and Aadesh were. The last time she saw them, Connor had a gun to their heads. For all she knew, they were dead on the floor in that abandoned school. If they were dead, she thought, she would be able to tell somehow. She had a sixth sense about these things. If they had died, would they be there waiting for her on the other side? Was there even another side?
Why couldn't she open her eyes? Were they glued shut? She knew she was in her body, but she just couldn't open her eyes. One minute, she didn't want to move, but now she thought she couldn't move, she tried like hell to get up, to twitch a finger, to lift her head, to do anything. Was this what it was like to die? She had never been particularly scared of death until the possibility became painfully real. All those horror stories that had been drilled into her at Sunday school infiltrated her mind, clawing their way inside of her like a virus invading a cell. Fire and brimstone. Her sins were going to catch up with her, and she would be tortured for all eternity.
She screamed as her body finally listened to her, and she released her demons out of her body. She didn't deserve this. She made a mistake, more than one in fact, but she knew that, and she would make it right. She just needed another chance. If she had another chance, she would be the best mother she could be. She would remember to take her antidepressants. It wasn't too late for her.
~~~
The arm rest dug into Kristen's side, and she shuffled into a new position. She yearned to lie down in a comfortable bed, almost wishing she had been injured just so she could be looked after and stretch out. She had experienced tiredness before, but this was a whole new level. She slumped down and placed her head on the backrest of the waiting room chair until she saw a face she recognized. Doctor Lesley Warren. She had memorized the name while she sat waiting.
"How is she?"
"The emergency surgery went well. There was no organ damage. She is having her post-op checkup and you'll be able to visit her soon."
"Oh, thank you. That's great news." She cried in relief. Now she knew someone other than her was going to make it, everything felt slightly less bleak.
"Some more good news. I located one of the other patients you were asking for. Martin—"
"Seriously. That's amazing. Can I see him?"
"You can actually. I can take you to him if you're ready."
"I am." Kristen jumped up. Going from drained to energized in a split second. Piper was alive, Martin was alive. Sometimes, the good guys won.
"I can't wait to see him." As they walked down the hall, everything flooded back to her at once. Someone had found the gun John had dropped and shot him in the head. It was only when his blood sprayed all over her, that she realized it was over.
When she saw Piper lying on the carpet, she forgot she was covered in blood, and she wasn't reminded of it until the hospital bathroom as she washed brain matter out of her hair under the faucet and watched bright red water and dark clumps run down the sink. She remembered talking to the police, but not the words. The specifics were a blur. There would be more questions where that came from, but for now, the worst was over. The doctor stopped outside one of the recovery rooms and Kristen looked through the window before following Lesley.
"Martin," she squealed as she ran towards him.
"You might want to keep it down," Lesley said behind her.
"Sorry." It hurt to see him like that. Pale, bruised, and weak. He looked so fragile. "Martin, how are you?" She walked up to his bedside.
"I've been better." He was well enough to make a joke. That was promising. "Am I glad to see you. And Piper?"
"She's going to be fine. She got stabbed, but the doctor said it is okay. No organ damage. It was superficial. Where is Aadesh?"
Kristen could tell from the look in his eyes it was bad news before he even said a word. "He... I'm sorry, but he didn't make it."
"Oh god." She was going to be sick, pass out, cry, or all three. She lowered herself onto the chair and tried to control her breathing, tried to stop herself from shaking. "It's my fault. It's all my fault." She leaned forward and let her tears fall to the floor. They had been pent up too long; they had to come out eventually. When she finally got her tears under control, she forced the words out. "What about Connor?"
"Dead."
"Really? Well, that's a relief."
"The last time I saw him, his guts were poking out and his arm was falling off."
"The doctor said it was a bomb. That's so insane."
"What about what happened to you? I saw it on the news, and it didn't feel real."
"Well, I was there, and it still didn't feel real. I was in the middle of a conference on money laundering with Connor's partner in crime, the man who murdered my dad. We tried, but... those people he shot. Those innocent people." The tears came again, and she sunk her head into her hands. She saw Aadesh's face just staring at her, right through to her soul. "I'm sorry," she sobbed.
"People are going to do what they're going to do. You didn't make these people do these things. Think of how much worse it could have been if you weren't there. Even more people could have died. I still can't believe there was another killer. How did that not occur to us?"
Doctor Warren's pager beeped, and she looked down at the screen. "You can see your friend now."
Kristen looked at Martin. "Are you going to be okay here if I go and see Piper?"
"Go. I'm fine. Can you tell her..." Martin couldn't finish his sentence, but she already knew what he was trying to say. She wasn't blind. She could see the looks they gave each other, and the little touches here or there.
"She knows. I'll tell her you were asking about her." She wanted to hug him, or squeeze his shoulder, but she didn't want to aggravate any of his wounds, so she just gave him a nod.
~~~
Kristen walked slowly into Piper's room as if she might frighten her if she made one wrong move. Piper was awake, but drowsy, her eyes barely open.
"Hi." Kristen spoke softly as if talking to a newborn baby. "The doctors said everything went really well." It was hard to look at Piper's haunted eyes. It was that look that came with trauma when you didn't know if anything was ever going to be okay ever again.
"I was just speaking with Martin. He was asking about you."
"He's okay?" her face changed in an instant. There was a glimmer of hope there now, which immediately changed to fear as someone appeared in
her peripheral vision.
"Piper." A male voice came from her left, and she turned to see a tall man. He wasn't wearing scrubs, or a white coat, just jeans and a sweater. She turned back to Piper.
"Why are you here?" Piper shifted herself up and winced in pain.
"I'm still your next of kin. The kids are outside. I didn't know what kind of state you'd be in and didn't know if I should bring them in."
"I want to see them. Please."
"I want to say a few things first." He got closer to the bed, towering above her. "I can't believe what you've done. You took off. You kept this killer nonsense up. When will you learn that your actions have consequences? I mean, look at you."
Kristen stood up. "Will you keep it down? You're shouting. This is a recovery room."
"I'm sorry who the hell are you? If you don't mind, I'm busy talking to the mother of my children. Get out of here."
"Don't talk to me like that." She was not in the mood. He had picked a fight with the wrong girl.
"It's okay. But whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."
"You know what, it can wait. We need privacy. I'll bring Stephen and Clara in."
"Trent," Piper called after him and he turned back. "I'm sorry about what I did. I only did it because I thought it was best for them, but I've done some thinking. I know I can do better. I can—"
"We'll talk about this later," he said, and then left the room.
"I'm going to leave you. You need time with your children. I'll check in with you in a bit okay?"
"Thanks for defending me. I feel like we're family now."
"Stop, you're going to make me cry again." Kristen laughed, fanning her eyes with her hands.
"It looks like you've already done enough crying for today. You poor thing. You look like you could really use a good sleep."
"Me? Poor thing? You're the one who got stabbed. I'm sorry. I know you were reluctant to even go to the abandoned school, but we pushed you, and now you're—"
Stephen and Clara burst into the room, and Clara went to jump on the edge of the bed. "Careful," Piper said softly, and Kristen left them to it.
Chapter Forty
Five
2 YEARS LATER
The smell of pine and earth blew in through the open car window as she got closer to the cabin, and the view of the mountains in the distance disappeared as the forest grew thicker. It was such a relief to get out of the city and away from civilization.
The last two years had been a flurry of interviews and hounding from the press. The worst thing that ever happened to her wouldn't leave her alone. After the incident at the offices of Best Choice Insurance, it had all been one big media circus. Here, there were no journalists, no reporters. She could just be herself again.
The log cabin appeared on the right and she parked out front. She stepped up onto the deck and took a quick look around to admire the view, briefly wondering if this was prime bear territory. The door looked freshly painted, so she rapped on the window instead and waited. It was Martin who answered, and Piper stood behind him, peering eagerly over his shoulder.
"Hi guys!" Kristen squealed. "It's been too long."
"Come in. I hope your flight was okay."
"Slept through the whole thing." Kristen looked around Martin and Piper's cabin. "This place looks cozy. You seen any bears yet? I really, really hope I don't see a bear."
"We've seen a couple."
"Ah man. If I see a bear, I'm sorry, but I will be using one of you as a human shield. Or are you supposed to play dead?"
"Relax will you? Have a glass of wine," said Kristen.
"Is that okay? I don't want to, because I know you can't..."
"It's fine. Three years sober." Kristen pulled out her three-year chip from her front jean pocket. "I know it's been so long, but I still carry it with me everywhere I go. Not because I feel like I might relapse at any minute, I'm just proud."
"That's fantastic. I'm proud of you too." She embraced her in a bear hug. "I'm really looking forward to seeing Clara and Stephen tomorrow. They seem to get so much bigger every time I see them. They're basically adults now."
"They can't wait to see you either. We can video chat them later if you want?"
"Sure. Maybe after we watch Aadesh's shows. We'll need something to cheer ourselves up."
"It feels strange, needing to be cheered up after watching three hours of comedy." Piper frowned.
"It wouldn't be a reunion without someone crying after all. I just tell myself he would have been so happy to know about all the people that he made laugh or smile after he..."
Piper jumped in. It still felt weird saying it out loud, even after two years. "It's just a shame no one appreciated him until it was too late."
"Him and Van Gogh. I just tell myself that he knows, somehow." Kristen grabbed the glass of wine that Martin had poured for her. She was going to need it. "So, I found this blog post last night, about Connor."
"What about him? I'm done hearing about him."
"It was a blog about female pen pals who fall in love with serial killers in prison."
"What is wrong with them? I hate to think what is out there when women fall for disfigured misogynist murderers."
"They published one of the letters someone wrote to Connor. You're not going to like it."
DANGEROUS LOVE
CASE STUDY: THE CALL CENTER KILLER
What causes seemingly normal women to fall in love with criminals convicted of heinous crimes? This week, I am looking into a very unusual case. Meet Beth Cranston from Boulder, Colorado.
Beth is just like any other thirty-year-old. She enjoys seeing her friends, has a passion for baking, and dreams of having a family someday. Beth says she has now met the man of her dreams, but what happens when the man you love, is a murderer?
No doubt you are all familiar with Connor Miller, nicknamed the Call Center Killer. For those of you not aware, Connor Miller killed two women, kidnapped another, and aided in the murder of two men. He and his work colleague and partner in crime, John Morgan Reed chose victims that had contacted the call center where they worked. They had all the information they needed to research and target their victims. Name, address, age. It's enough to give you nightmares.
This unusual pair met during a prison program run by Beth. The educational program helps rehabilitate prisoners by teaching them skills, vocations, and coping mechanisms. Since they met, they have stayed in touch regularly, and Beth is even helping him with his appeal. What is it that makes a seemingly conventional woman, fall for a killer?
Maybe the clue is in the letters they send to each other. Beth Cranston has shared one of her letters with us. I will leave it up to you, to make of it what you will. Please comment below and let us know what you think.
Connor
It's been so great writing to you. I feel privileged getting to know you. I feel like no-one gets you like I do. You're so misunderstood. I know what you mean when I see these girls on the street. They think they're so special and go around hurting people to satisfy their inflated egos. I hate those girls. I promise you, I'm nothing like them.
I can't wait for us to finally meet. I keep the pictures of you on my bedside table. You are beautiful inside and out. Before and after the explosion. I know that beauty is more than skin deep. You be proud of those scars.
The thing that makes you perfect, is that you stand up for what you believe in. You are willing to do whatever it takes. I'd like to think that I am like that as well. Counting down the days until I visit. Hope you are as excited as I am.
Beth
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