Chapter 25

"Sgt. Hunter."

An unfamiliar voice penetrated the fog I was in and I reluctantly pulled myself awake to see who it was. Two men in suits standing on either side of my bed. I sighed. (Not a dream. No angels this time).

Internal Affairs. (Had to know this was coming), I thought with a disgruntled huff.

"Guess this isn't a social call, huh guys?" I said.

The two men exchanged glances. The taller one, with a pencil thin mustache introduced himself as Anders and his partner Robbins. "We're sorry to have to do this now, and no, this isn't a social call, Sgt."

"I will be more than happy to answer each and every question you have, but you're going to have to go first. I want to know what happened to my cousin Linda Walsh, DeeDee McCall and her baby Olivia."

Anders and Robbins blinked at my unexpected demand but remained silent. I glared back; the menace in my voice should be obvious no matter how many drugs they'd had me on since being hospitalized. Actually, I felt pretty lucid right now, and really uncomfortable, so I'm figuring that the morphine had been turned off so I could give an accurate account. "Look guys, I'm not kidding – you tell me how they are and I mean now."

"Sgt Hunter, please," Anders said with a pained expression. "We will have to have your statement untainted by –"

"Dead or alive?" I barked with as much ferocity and strength as I could muster, painfully pulling myself to an almost sitting position, ignoring the blinding pain the movement caused.

They exchanged glances. Anders shrugged and deferred to Robbins. Robbins nodded and turned back to me. "They're all three alive."

Weakly I sank back against the pillows with an agonized sigh, yet nearly overcome with relief. (Oh God – I hadn't dared to hope. . . I thought Linda was dead for sure. . . DeeDee probably. . . Olivia. . .)

Working to get my racing heart and ragged breathing under control and a handle on the blazing fire in my chest without benefit of morphine was as hard as trying to wrap my brain around the fact that they were all three alive. They're okay. (Unbelievable – but how - ?)

"Your turn, Sgt Hunter," Anders said firmly, the tone of his voice brooked no argument and let me know that no further information was coming until I was done. Fine.

"Start at the beginning," said Robbins, as he placed a tape recorder on the over-bed table. After he pushed the buttons, we all introduced ourselves, and Anders stated the date and the nature of my statement.

So, with nothing to hide now, I went through it all; I left absolutely nothing out. The questions didn't start until I got to Cain's involvement.

"He volunteered his house?" Anders asked, with a hint of disbelief in his voice. "Why not a police safe house?"

"There wasn't time," I countered. 'We couldn't risk it. Perry was out there, and every available officer was looking for him. We figured the fewer people that knew where we were - the better." I hoped I made them understand. Cain was dead and didn't deserve a black mark on his service record for trying to protect us.

"Please continue, Sgt," Anders said, startling me out of my reverie.

"Yeah, sure," I said and managed to bring myself back to the present and I wasn't interrupted again until I told them about arriving at Cain's house.

"So you hadn't spoken to Capt Cain since the night before?" Robbins asked.

I shook my head and admitted that I didn't think about it until we were back on the road. "I just blew it off, figuring we were so close anyway. That and I was simply exhausted. So much had happened in such a short period of time, I think I was just running on fumes at that point."

"Would you have done anything differently if you had called but hadn't gotten an answer?"

I thought about it for a minute then shook my head again. "Probably not. I'd have assumed that he got called in or something job related and since he had no way to contact me he couldn't let me know."

"The time of Capt Cain's death would be very close to your call to him." Robbins told me.

"Perry had him all along? I can't believe it. I won't believe it. The Capt wouldn't have lured us back to let Perry have us and there was nothing in our conversation to make me think that. And he had no idea that I would call to ask for help." I was indignant at the thought that Cain was dirty.

Robbins nodded his understanding. "We know. We have a timeline for Cain up until your call that night. He stopped for dinner at a place on Riverdale Road. There's evidence that Cain's trunk was jimmied open and we think that's where Perry broke into Cain's trunk and hitched a ride to his house. Cain drove into his garage and Perry waited for his chance."

I shook my head. "I called Cain – Perry is there to overhear that I'm coming in so he kills Cain and we walk into his trap. Does that about cover it?" I asked, unable to hide my anger, but relieved that it looked like Cain's record was clean.

"Looks that way," Anders said. "Perry knew he was a marked man and he thought he'd found the perfect hiding place with a chance to eliminate you and Mrs. McCall as well."

I looked away, my breathing shallow, white hot fury raging through my veins.

"Did Capt Cain know about your cousin being with you?" Robbins asked after several minutes of silence.

"Yeah – I told him."

"Did he acknowledge her out loud?" Robbins pressed on.

At my puzzled look, he clarified the question. "Would Perry have known that Mrs. Walsh was coming with you?"

It took me a few minutes to try and replay our conversation in my mind before shaking my head. "No – Cain never said Linda's name or anything like it."

"Okay, Sgt, let's move on," Anders stated. "Who was driving when you arrived at Cain's house?"

"I was," I told them, my voice losing strength rapidly. I was really getting tired, but I knew that I had to finish this up – I had to find out what happened after I lost consciousness, so I made myself go on. "Everything was quiet when we pulled up, but I was still on edge. Before I knew it, Linda was out of the car and at the front door – I was on the sidewalk and DeeDee was still in the car with Olivia." I stopped and took several sips of water. "All of a sudden the front door opened and Linda was jerked inside and I heard a gunshot." This was getting hard. I had thought that they were dead. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to talk. After a couple more breaths; trying to keep my emotions under some semblance of control, I went on.

"Before I knew it, I had been shot twice – Perry was standing over me and - and then I heard DeeDee – she was screaming. All I could think - this was – oh God – I wanted her to run – to hide – but she – " I had to stop. Gasping painfully, I struggled to get finished. "Perry heard her – heard Olivia. He was going over there – I – I tried to stop him – but I couldn't."

My breath was hitching in my chest, the pain was intense, and reliving the account was like pouring acid on an open wound. (Just a little more,) I told myself. "I heard the sirens, but all I could think was that it was too late. They were too late."

Exhausted, I closed my eyes. Vaguely I heard the tape recorder switched off.

"Sgt Hunter, thank you. I know how difficult this has been for you."

(No, you don't Robbins,) I thought but didn't say. (You have no idea what I've been feeling while I've been lying here thinking that I'd lost a woman I just realized I was falling in love with, her beautiful new baby girl and gotten my own cousin killed.)

"Why don't you press the button on the pain medication pump," I heard a new voice say. I looked up to see my nurse, Janine, standing next to me. I hadn't even heard her come in.

"Tell me about Linda and DeeDee," I said, turning back to Anders.

He nodded. "Mrs. Walsh was apparently thrown to the ground and shot one time in the abdomen. We've been told she'll make a full recovery. The baby was unharmed. Because no one had heard from Capt Cain, they had already dispatched an officer in an unmarked car. He was the one that summoned the ambulance and other squad cars you heard. He saw Perry aiming at the car and was able to get a shot off from his own car and his shot prevented Perry from finishing his dirty work."

"DeeDee's all right?" I whispered, hardly daring to believe.

"Perry was still able to fire, but it went wild." Anders told me. "The bullet hit her left leg and she's got some stitches. It tore through some muscle, but no bones were broken. Like your cousin, if there's no infection, she's expected to be just fine."

I closed my eyes and was finally able to banish the blackness that I felt I'd awakened in, thinking that I'd lost them. They were all right. They were going to be just fine. It was as if a huge load had been lifted and I was overwhelmed but then the pain of my own injuries reintroduced itself and again Janine urged me to restart the morphine.

I hesitated then looked at Anders and Robbins. "Are we done guys?"

"Yes, Sgt, thank you," Robbins replied and both Internal Affairs officers stood and left. God, I was glad that was over. I turned back to Janine. "When can I see them?"

"In the morning," she answered with a smile. "It's almost 7pm, so just press the button and try to get a good night's sleep. Call if you need anything else."

As badly as I wanted to see them, I knew I just wasn't in any shape right now and they probably needed their rest too. I took comfort in knowing that they were all right and finally activated the morphine attached to my IV. Within minutes all my pain faded away and I willingly followed it into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 26

I've got to get out of here. And I mean sooner not later. Preferably before I go stark raving bananas – which seems like it could happen just anytime now. One person can take just so much pity and sympathy.

And questions.

The questions just never stop.

I can't keep retelling what happened or going on about what's next for me. No more. God, please, no more. I don't want to think about it anymore, but I'm lying here trapped in this damn bed. I'm totally at their mercy – family, friends, fellow officers, city officials, reporters, journalists.

Every waking minute it's like they're at me. So I try to sleep. Hell, sometimes I'm tempted to ask for a pain pill just as an escape. To get away from them. Them. Not the pain. Well, not the physical pain, anyway. That I can handle now.

But not having to relive that nightmare over and over and over –

"So, have you talked with DeeDee?"

I'm jolted out of my dark thoughts by Linda's question and hell, here we go again.

"No," I sighed, unable to mask how much it hurt to admit that. I hadn't seen her since I had awakened in this place. Only in my dreams. And sometimes those dreams became nightmares where I did lose her, or Olivia, or both of them.

"You haven't tried, have you Rick?"

I sighed again. I couldn't help it. "It's not right, Linda." God, I couldn't even look at her, sitting next to my bed in a wheelchair, about to be discharged. Her husband was taking her to their second home in Colorado to recuperate. I felt guilty all over again and I reached out to take her hand. "Linda –"

"Don't Rick," she interrupted me, correctly guessing what I wanted to say. "You've really got to let this go," she told me, her voice heavy with the compassion I could see in her eyes as well.

"I can't," I said gruffly. "You could have died, you know." See – when other people aren't asking questions, I'm reminding myself of it all. This was getting pathetic. I tried to pull my hand away but she wouldn't let go.

"Yes you can. And it starts when you stop using your guilt about getting me involved. So let me tell you this: yes, I was scared out of my mind. During the delivery, waiting for you to come back, coming face to face with that monster was terrifying, and getting shot hurts like a bitch –" She paused when I couldn't hide the grimace of pain at her words.

"Rick –"

Her voice was softer and I couldn't help but look up.

"It's over. You and I are getting better every day. We're okay –"

"Steve and Capt Cain are dead," I interrupted her. God this still hurts so badly.

"DeeDee is all right. She's going to get through losing her husband if only for her daughter's sake. Olivia is getting bigger every day. She's beautiful."

I smiled in spite of myself. Olivia.

Linda still had my hand and she gave a little jerk to get my attention. "We helped bring that baby into this world. What if we hadn't been there?"

I shook my head.

"Think about it, Rick. Everything happens for a reason. We have to get what's good out of what happened that's bad. Steve just left her out there –"

"Don't say it that way," I cut her off. "He's dead, Linda – he'll never see his baby girl. Capt Cain –" I felt my eyes well up.

"Rick, don't let their deaths be in vain. We can't bring them back, but we can honor them and give meaning to their deaths. Steve is gone – but DeeDee and Olivia aren't."

I swallowed hard.

Linda kept at me. "That's how I sleep at night. I don't blame you, Rick. I see what my purpose was and I'm grateful that you had the courage to bring me along. I'm proud of myself for the job that I did and yeah, I got shot, but I'm here now and you know what? That makes me pretty proud, too."

"Yeah, okay. I hear you," Maybe she was right, but this was going to take a little time for me.

We said our goodbyes, wished each other well and made promises to keep in better touch and then she was gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Mostly of DeeDee and Olivia.

What happens next?

I fell asleep trying to figure it out.