Two years before
"Shop robbery, Broadway 38."
Renzulli nodded. "That's ours."
"Broadway 38, patrol 12, copy." Jamie frowned. "Who's robbing something now? It's half past five, there's a hundred people around."
"Depends on the sort of the shop and its location" Renzulli hit the gas, "if it's close enough to the underground… and 38 is… if he's quiet and quick… let's just hope the shopkeeper didn't try to be a hero."
Jamie nodded. Every summer brought a rise of robberies – due to heat and holidays and too many reasons for the police to prevent it. Normally, the offenders were mainly after the money, but lately there had also been an increase in victim numbers. The economy crisis made people fear for their jobs – and ready to fight for them, even against armed criminals.
"You're alright, Harvard?"
"Sure." Jamie forced his mind away from the last corpse he had seen – stumbled upon, better. He had been twenty-one, a student working third shift in a small diner. He had only wanted to pay his debts off.
"Hey" Renzulli shifted awkwardly, "I know I'm not Janko, but…"
"Sarge… please. It's okay." Which it absolutely wasn't, and both of them knew it. Eddie's cancellation had not been the same surprise to him as it had to the captain, but still… she had been his responsibility. It was his job to protect her, to prepare her for the life awaiting her. True enough, Eddie had always had a mind of her own, and a strong will, and she had surely weighed every alternative before even talking to him. There was not much he could have done, Eddie's belief in the police and in herself was too shaken to go on. Not yet broken, however, and Jamie was thankful for that. She would heal, she was perfectly able to take care of herself and she would get over it. She was strong, and beautiful, and, most important, alive.
Still Jamie had lost another partner.
"See? That's what I meant." Renzulli sighed. "A hairdresser. Nobody's here at rush hour, they're either here at noon or after dinner. Not now."
"You seem pretty informed about hairdressing times?" Jamie tried to banter, but the sarge's smile was more than tired.
The front window was shattered in a million pieces, hair, clamps and bottles lay scattered on the floor, dimes and pennies amongst them. No interest in tips – the robbers if there had been more had only looked for the actual cash.
"Hello! Police!" Renzulli opened the door, hanging loosely in the hinges. "Anyone here?" Everything was quiet. "Call for the detectives, and maybe a coroner. Police! Anybody here?"
"Yes. Yes, sorry." Jamie exhaled in relief, only now realizing he had been holding his breath. The girl coming up to them was pale except for a long bloody cut on her forehead, and her eyes were dangerously red, but she didn't seem seriously hurt. "Thanks for coming. I think they went… to the left." She bit her lips angrily. "To the underground. Meaning there's no chance to find them, is it? I didn't mean to offend" she quickly added, "I just… I'm afraid I know nothing to help identify them and…"
"Well, at least you're alive" Renzulli interrupted gruffly, "and you know it's been more than one. Is there anybody else with you?"
"Uhm, no." She bit her lip again, obviously taken aback. "Sorry. I… no, I'm alone. There's never much customary around between four and six, so it's enough if we… there was nobody. Except for me and then those three guys with guns and masks." She wrapped her arms around herself, and only now Jamie saw the bruises on her left arm. Renulli frowned. "Did you fight them?"
"I tried to at first but then…" she looked down in what seemed shame. "Then one of them put a gun to my cheek. I don't even know if it was real, but… I couldn't move anymore."
Jamie smiled encouragingly. "Better than taking the risk."
The girl bristled. "Yeah, of course. Running without checking the oven, that's great."
Renzulli and Jamie exchanged a look. "Pardon me, miss?"
"Beth!" The lopsided door clashed to the ground as an athletic man stormed into the little barber shop, ignoring the two cops as he pulled the girl into a hug. "Are you alright?"
"I… yes…" she moved out of the embrace. The paleness was replaced by an embarrassed blush. "Why are you here?"
"I heard it over Walker's radio. Hey" he grabbed her arm gently, let go as she winced and examined it closely before he moved his fingers carefully along the cut on her forehead. "I'll get you to the hospital."
"No, you won't!"
"I'm really sorry to interrupt this date, detective" Renzulli barked, "but we are…"
The man turned around and looked the officers down, not without a hint of arrogance. "I'm not a detective, actually. But it's good to know they're on their way. Thank you." If his smile should have been genuine, it didn't look like it.
Renzulli frowned. "I thought you said something about Walker's radio!"
"I did" the other wrapped his arm protectively around the woman's waist, "I was at Molly's with him when the call came. I'm with the fire department and off duty if you need to know, now can I please bring my sister to the hospital?"
A firefighter. Jamie felt Renzulli stiffen and couldn't help but straighten up, too. Those guys really had it for making themselves unpopular, and telling a cop how to work on a crime scene without any spark around was dropping a particular heavy brick.
"No" the sergeant answered promptly, and Jamie saw he was enjoying the frustration on the fireman's face, "you can go home or drive ahead to St. Simons where the paramedics will bring our sister once she answered our detectives' questions. If you're okay with that, miss?"
She straightened up. "Of course." Her brother sighed and she turned around to him, her eyes blazing. He held her glance easily, the arrogance molten away by concern and love. Eventually he nodded. "I'll be waiting."
"I'm fine."
He looked at Renzulli, then at Jamie. "When will your detectives be here?"
"Soon enough." The sergeant didn't even blink. For a second it seemed as if the firefighter would start to fight again, then he only shook his head and, with a last look at his sister, left.
"Great" Renzulli grinned smugly, "so, miss…"
"Conway."
The sergeant frowned. "Scottish?"
"Irish" both Jamie and Beth answered, causing her to smile shyly. "But actually my great-grandparents were born here."
"Have you ever been to Ireland?" Jamie asked, and she raised her eyebrows. "Is that part of the questioning?"
"No" Renzulli answered for him, "that's part of gaining time. You called for backup, Reagan?"
"I did." Jamie shrugged. "Should be here any moment." If they hadn't been held up by something. Or someone… like three guys with guns on the run southwards. What if they hadn't taken the metro? What if they were trying to shoot their way out?
Jamie tried to shake the thought – this was very unlikely, after all – but the fear of Beth's brother was still palpable. Summer was a dangerous time, and this was one of the hottest and so far proved one of the most dangerous he had ever seen.
Today
"Jamie! Danny, what's wrong?" Erin, Nicki and their father appeared in the corridor. Danny let go of Jamie but stayed close, in case he should need him.
Nicki bit her lips not to cry as she saw her uncle's face, and Erin wrapped her arms around her daughter protectively.
Just as Beth was trying to protect their child. And he hadn't even noticed something was wrong. He had been too deep in his own problems to realize she was unwell. He had promised to take care of her, and he had failed.
What if he had to decide? Beth or Thomas? He loved his son already, had loved him from the moment he knew the baby existed. If it was only his life to give, he would have agreed at once, just as he would do for his siblings, his father.
For Beth.
She had so much more faith in him than he did, while all the way she was so much braver. He couldn't raise a child without her.
"Jamie." Frank looked into his son's eyes. Without a word uttered, Jamie knew what he meant: He couldn't break down now. He needed to be strong. Beth would need him to be strong when she woke up.
If.
