Chapter 36:
Josie sat in Ted's room and watched him sleep. It had been a challenge to get him to rest but she'd stayed with him until he'd fallen asleep. She grabbed her cell phone and head downstairs to begin making the arrangements for his father's funeral. She walked into the kitchen and saw Randy and Keleigh already sitting there.
"Hey guys, what are you doing up?" she said walking over to the coffee pot and pouring herself a cup.
"K got a call from her dad saying he needed to talk to her. He's on his way over. What are you doing up?"
"Teddy just drifted off to sleep. I decided to help him out b making some of the arrangements for his father's funeral." Randy nodded.
"How's he holding up?"
"He's not taking it well at all." There was a knock on the door and Keleigh looked at Randy with dread in the pit of her stomach. Randy walked to the door and opened it looking at Jerry and the man that was standing behind him. He stepped aside and let them in keeping his eyes on the man he didn't know.
"Randy, where's K?"
"She's in the kitchen." Keleigh stiffened a little as her father and his friend came into the room. She had only seen him once but she knew that if the man was with her, the news couldn't have been good. Randy walked over to her and put his arm around her pulling him to her instinctively.
"Hey sweetie. I believe you might know Director Austin." Keleigh nodded at the mention of the man. "Honey, I don't know quite how to say this but…..Stephanie was shot . She was….she….she didn't make it." Keleigh closed her eyes and tried taking a breath but her lungs just wouldn't fill with air. She opened her eyes and looked from Jerry to Director Austin willing it not to be true although she had seen it so clearly in her dream. "K, honey are you okay?"
"K, baby…talk to me…" Randy said as he caught her. Josie rushed forward and helped him get her to the couch. Her heart ached for Keleigh. She was such a nice person and her life had been marred by so much tragedy. She looked around and sighed. They all had. And that was the thing that bound them all together. Keleigh passed out and Randy scooped her up and carried her out to the car driving like a bat out of hell he had to make sure that she and the baby were okay. He couldn't deal with losing another woman that he loved or another child.
John sat at his desk looking over the evidence that had been collected at the scene. He was going to spend as much time as he needed to on this case. He had to figure out who killed Stephanie. He looked over the witness statements and didn't see anything that would be useful. No one saw a thing. He looked up as he heard footsteps approaching and looked into Paul's face. He could tell that the older man had been crying. That was to be expected. He'd just lost his wife.
"Paul, I am so sorry to hear about Steph. She was a great person." Paul looked at him with no emotion in his eyes. He nodded his head and walked out. John felt bad for him. He had no idea how he would react if he was the one who'd lost his wife. He looked up as someone held out a cup of coffee and nodded his thanks to his new partner, Evan.
"Looked like you could use a cup." He said taking a sip of his own cup. "I managed to hack into Stephanie's computer. It looks like she was working on some details to a money laundering case. It ties into a bank manager that was suspected of recycling funds for suspected mobsters."
"Yeah well, I think that this was a personal thing. I think that whoever shot her had a personal motive to do so. Why else would they take her wedding rings?" Evan nodded. "It's a great lead and we should definitely take a look at it." I buried myself in paperwork not wanting to think about it. Stephanie had been my friend. And now she was gone.
Adam sat in his apartment and looked at the photo of him and Stephanie that he kept framed. He promised her when he started dating her that he would never hurt her. And he'd killed her because he boss had told him to do whatever he needed to do . He took another drink of his beer and threw the picture against the wall. He hated this. There was a knock on the door. He opened it and looked into his boss' face.
"You did a good job."
"Yeah well then why do I feel like shit?"
"It's all a part of the job. What's done is done. You're in now."
"I want out." The man looked at Adam for a moment before a small smile spread across his face. He knew that this had been coming.
"See this through till the end and you will be free to go." He turned to leave and Adam's next question caused him to stop.
"Why is this so important to you?" The man turned back to look at him and sighed. "Why am I doing all of this?"
"You wouldn't understand me son."
"I just had to shoot and kill the woman that I love because Dave wanted her gone. I think I deserve a few answers." Adam said. The man moved quickly and grabbed Adam by the shirt pushing him against the wall.
"I have done things that would make this look like a walk in the park. You do what I tell you and see this thing through. Then you're free to go. You understand me? And don't you ever question me again." He let go of Adam's shirt and straightened it out. "You have a nice night. I will be in touch soon." He walked out the door leaving Adam to his thoughts.
Adam sat there on the couch and sighed to himself. When they'd all been in high school, he and Randy wanted to make a difference in the world. They'd wanted to stand for something. But Randy's parents died when they were barely out of high school and Adam's mom followed barely a year later. They were 19 year old kids doing what they had to do to survive. Survive. A word that all of them were way to familiar with. He just hoped that his humanity could survive what his boss was asking him to do. And at the moment, he wasn't so sure.