Chapter Seven
For the next couple of days, I was in and out of sleep. Jensen was almost always in the room with me. Jim came in a couple times to scold me and explain what could have and almost did happen a million times. But he always ended by saying how happy he was that I was alive and he'd hug me before he'd leave.
Two days after I'd woken up in the hospital, Jared walked in with his wife, Genevieve. I'd gotten the strength to sit up now.
"Oh thank God, Andy," he breathed of relief. He walked quickly to me and grabbed me into a giant bear hug. Obviously, his ribs didn't hurt too much. Gen stayed behind.
"Ow," I whispered into his ear.
He stepped back and said, "Oh, sorry." He turned a little pink.
"It's all good," I said smiling.
He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I, uh, wanted to come and say thank you. You saved my life. Jensen told me what you did. So, thank you."
Now I could feel myself getting red. "Oh, well, you're welcome. I just couldn't let you go out like that, you know?" I nodded to Gen. "You've got a wife and a son, Jared."
Jared had a few bruises on his face and a nasty cut on his nose, but other than that he seemed fine.
"So what was the story you told the docs? I figure since I was there and I probably have some role in it, I should be kept up to date."
I said to him exactly what I said to the police and the doctors. The weekend I won was so much fun that Jared and I had decided to spend more time together. While out and about, we found a note from a woman named Sheri saying Richard Marshalls was a serial killer. It gave his address, too. The best part was that it could all be believed. Sheri's job before she died was an investigator. Guiding my hand, she and I wrote the note on a small piece of paper Jensen got. Days before her murder, Sheri found out who the serial killer of all the women was, and that was why Richard had killed her in the first place. Sheri had gotten the impression soon that the roles had been flipped ā she was now the hunted instead of the hunter. Sheri, of course, never actually wrote a note and I couldn't tell the cops I knew all this because it would seem too suspicious.
"And why didn't we metaphorically call the cops after we found the note?" Jared then asked.
I shrugged. "Call it curiosity. If we handed over the note, we would never know if what we read was true or not."
Jared laughed sarcastically. "So we decided to be our own investigative team?"
I smiled. "Tada!"
"Well, it is creative, I'll give you that," he said.
I looked over at Sheri in the corner. She had become increasingly quiet ever since she found out she wasn't moving on like she'd thought. "I'm not the only one who thought of the brilliant ideas."
Sheri smiled timidly. "Thanks."
Genevieve cleared her throat in the doorway. "Jared? The doctor's said you could leave, but you still had to rest. The girl also has to rest. We should get going."
I wanted to protest. I'd rested enough. I'd probably slept for over 24 hours in the past two days. But Jared had spent enough time away from his family. He looked back at me. I could tell what he was thinking and I said, "Yeah, don't worry; I'll be fine."
"Thanks again," he said, giving me a reassuring smile. Jared turned away and walked out. Genevieve put her arm around her husband and they walked away.
The next day I was feeling great. My stomach wasn't hurting all that much and Jensen came at noon with food.
"Thank God," I said. "I'm dying for real food. The pudding here tastes like watered down crap."
He dropped the bag of Taco Bell on the bed and brought over a chair and sat down.
"I brought you something else, too," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. He dropped it into my hand.
When I looked down I saw a gold ring. I picked it up and looked at it. It seemed familiar. It was a thin gold band with tiny diamonds lining the outer part of it.
"Sheri's ring," I stated.
"My ring?" Sheri propped up and walked over. "Why would he take this? It's evidence."
Jensen was thinking the same thing apparently because he said, "The police have done everything they can with the ring. It would just be packed into a box and put away for all of eternity."
"What am I supposed to do with it?" I asked, fingering it.
Jensen shrugged. "Anything. I thought maybe keep it as a memento."
I shook my head. "This is wrong. This is stealing from the police!"
"They'll never know it's gone, okay? Calm down. Just take it."
"How did you even get this?" I asked cautiously.
He smiled slyly. "That's for me to know."
I placed the ring on the nightstand. "Well, thanks, I guess." Sheri walked closer and went to pick up the ring, but her hand went right through it. Before I could even tell what she was thinking, she poofed away.
Jensen started digging into his burrito while I got to thinking. An idea began to form in my mind.
That evening, Jensen had left to go play cards with Jim somewhere. I was sitting up in bed, anxious and twirling Sheri's ring in my hand. I had no idea if this plan would work, but it was the only thing I could think of.
I knew he would be here any minute, so I called out Sheri's name to get her here. It took a couple seconds, but she eventually started to form next to my bed.
"Yes?" she said in a melancholy voice. She had given up trying to move on, I could see that. All hope of ever finding peace was gone.
I didn't know if it was fate or coincidence but that second, I heard someone knocking at the door. I looked over and he was there, looking confused. Sheri looked over, too, and gasped.
"Are you Andy Watson?" he asked. I nodded.
"Come in," I said pleasantly. He didn't budge.
"You're the one that found Richard, aren't you?"
I half-smiled. "That's me."
His eyes began to water and his lower lip quivered. He walked in, slowly at first, and then practically ran to my bed. He grabbed me with a tight hug. The pain flared up but I didn't say anything.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," he whispered in my ear. He backed away and wiped a tear from his eye.
"I have something for you," I said. I reached to the nightstand and grabbed the ring. Sheri watched in silence as I gave him her ring.
More tears fell from his eyes when he saw what it was. He knew immediately. "My wife's ring," he blubbered. He looked up at me. His face was red.
"The police were done looking at it," I said, "I thought you might want it back."
"Thank you," both he and Sheri said at the same time. I quickly glanced at Sheri and saw she was crying, too.
To both of them, I said, "I think it will give you some peace of mind finally."
Tim, Sheri's husband, sniffled and wiped his wet cheeks. "I've been told the cops have enough evidence to lock Richard up for the rest of his life for over five counts of murder. You helped put peace in a lot of minds, Andy."
My heart fluttered. I never thought about getting Richard to be guilty on the other murders, just Sheri's. It was strange to think I helped over five families get the justice they've wanted and deserved for so long.
Sheri walked up to her husband. She was glowing. Literally. All around her was a yellow, gold-ish light. I stared in awe. She placed her hand on Tim's shoulder.
"I love you, Timmy. Please don't ever forget me," she said. Then she turned to me and added, "It's time." I looked at her, confused. Tim was too busy looking at the ring to see. She finally looked calm and she really smiled for the first time in days. "You did it, Andy, just like I knew you could. Granted it's not in the way I expected, but you did it all the same. You're a special girl, Andy. Don't let this gift you've been given go to waste. You have it in you to make a real change. I must go now but remember this moment. Remember how it made you feel to make a difference in peoples' lives."
Her smile grew and so did the light around her until it consumed her whole body. At the last moment, she reached out and touched my hand. And I could feel her skin against mine. She was warm, not cold like the corpse she was when I first saw her. I had to look away the light was too bright. When I looked back again, she was gone.
"She is gone? Like, completely gone?" Jared asked. He and Jensen came in to visit me the next day. Jim was fetching a cup of coffee.
I nodded. "As much as I know, she's finally moved on. All she really needed was for her husband to be content."
Jensen leaned back in his chair. "That's⦠Wow."
"That's an understatement," I said.
All three of us became silent. It was still crazy to think I helped someone move on to Heaven, now that I knew it was real.
"So what now?" Jared asked, looking at us. I was as clueless as him.
Jensen spoke up. "I'll tell you what's next." He grabbed my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "We wait for Andy to heal up and give her time to reconnect with the friends and family she almost lost."
"What about Rachel?" Jared asked. I'd almost forgotten about her.
"If she contacts Andy, she'll call us, right?"
I nodded. "Sure thing. But do you think letting me go home is a good idea? I mean, like you've said a million times, demons are everywhere."
Jensen snorted. "Oh, now you worry about that? You didn't seem to have a problem with that issue when you ran away with Jared."
Jim walked in now with his coffee. "What'd I miss?"
I sighed at Jensen and fought back, "That's different. Jared was with me at all times. He could have fought them. But me by myself?"
Jensen laughed and brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. I guess our relationship wasn't as exactly on the DL anymore. Then, he said, "You heal up and we'll worry about that after, okay?"
"I'm afraid that won't be very possible," came a familiar woman's voice.
I looked over and gasped. "Rachel."
"What?!" All three said at the same time. Rachel ignored them. She stepped closer to me.
"Rachel, you're back!" I exclaimed. I grinned.
But she didn't smile. Her face was serious. I knew something was wrong before she even said anything. I wish she hadn't said anything, too, to be honest.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this hospital is infested with demons. You need to leave. Now."
Every tiny bump in the road made me want to punch a wall. Every little movement hurt, and even more so when the pain medication started wearing off. I kept my jaw clenched and my eyes shut.
"How are you doing, Andy?" Jim asked from the front seat. Jared was sitting passenger and Jensen was sitting next to me with his hand on my back, gently caressing me. I was hunched over with my forehead against the back of Jim's seat.
"Just. Hurry. Up," I muttered.
Jim hit a pothole and I groaned.
"Hey," Jensen said to the driver, "Ease up on the holes, 'kay?"
"I'm trying!" Jim answered.
"How about some music?" Jared chimed in.
All three of us responded with, "No!"
"Does Rachel know if we were followed?" Jensen asked me. Rachel was floating around the car.
"As disgusted as I am answering him, no, you weren't followed," she replied.
"We're all clear," I repeated back to Jensen.
There was another little bump in the road and my hand flew to my stomach, grabbing it tightly.
"We're almost there," Jensen told me for the billionth time.
"Yeah," I grumbled, "You said that a half hour ago." We'd been riding in the car for a good two hours now. I groaned. I felt horrible and I could feel sweat forming on my forehead.
"Jim, hurry up, she's not looking so good," Jensen said worriedly. I could feel Jim press a little harder on the gas.
It was another twenty minutes or so before he finally slowed down and turned up the drive to the old house. As quick as Jim and Jared could go, they jumped out of the car. Jensen got out, too, and ran to my side. "I got her," he said to Jim. Jared ran to the front door of the house and opened it. Jim nodded at Jensen and headed inside.
Jensen carefully scooped me into his arms and cradled my body against his. I groaned as he hefted me up to get a better hold on me.
"You made it this far," he said, walking towards the house, "Don't crap out on me now." I gripped tighter to his jacket.
He carried me up the steps and onto the couch in the living room. He set me down as carefully as he could. I heard Jared latch the door shut and lock it. Jim came back with a couple things in his hands ā an IV bag and the silver pole to attach it.
"Where'd you get those?" I asked curiously. Jensen sat by my feet.
"Always gotta be prepared," Jim replied. "Hence why we call it a safe house." I nodded and winced as he jammed the needle into my arm. "That ought to do the trick."
Immediately I started to feel a little better and I relaxed a bit. Jensen sighed of relief. Everyone stayed standing around me, holding their breaths to make sure everything was okay. After a while, they each relaxed. Rachel stood off to the side.
"So did you complete what you needed to do?" I asked her. The three J's turned to look in the general direction I was looking at her. She kept her eyes focused on me.
"Yes," she answered. "I've found where the army is held. I've so much to tell you, Andy."
