"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." It was Rob's voice, broken, sobbing.
"They cheat, all of them."Rob repeated the words, hysterical. Then, all I could hear was shuffling and movement.
"Clear. All clear." It was Bobby's voice, giving the all clear. And, it was done, just like that. Bobby had found the connection, he found the breaking point, he turned the situation – just like that.
Through my vantage point in the van, I could see two ESU officers entering the home, followed by Logan. I moved to exit the van, knowing that I needed to get to Jake, I needed to see him, to look at him. When I hit the ground and moved toward the house, I could see other parents as well. I had not even realized that they were there.
I could see what I assumed to be the owners of the house trying to press by two uniformed officers. A girl appeared in the doorway, and rushed into their arms. She was followed by two other girls, who also went to their parents. Then, Jake came out, and I stepped forward. He sprinted the short distance to me and threw himself into my arms. He had me by 5 inches and 50 pounds, but I held him close, tight, just like I had when he was a little boy.
"You're fine. It's fine. You're fine." I was saying the words softly, watching over his shoulder as EMTs entered the house, to check on the girl named Dee. As they went in, two others teenagers came out, a girl and a boy, he had his arm around her protectively, and again parents were there.
"It's fine." I continued to say the words as I hugged Jake hard in my arms. I watched Bobby come out and motion two other NYPD officers toward the back of the house. It occurred to me that they were planning to bring Rob out the back entrance, avoiding all of the teenagers, all of the parents. Bobby looked at me, and I mouthed the words clearly, slowly - thank you, thank you.
Bobby paused on the steps for a moment, and nodded in my direction. My nephew was safe, all these kids were safe, because of Bobby.
"I just, I just need to go say something to Beth." Jake pulled back a bit, and looked around. I watched him find a slender blonde girl with his eyes. She was in her mother's arms, tears sliding down her cheeks. I walked over with Jake, to stand nearby. When Beth saw him, she released her mother and jumped into Jake's arms.
"Oh my god. Oh my god." She was saying, crying. I watched Jake hold her close, burying her face into his shoulder.
"You're fine. We're fine." He repeated the words of comfort I had for him, to her. She was nodding, as if trying to convince herself. Her mother was crying, her father had his arm around her mother. I was standing aside, my arms wrapped around my body, partly for warmth, partly to steady myself.
I realized my phone was ringing in my pocket, the soft ding-dong-ding-dong ring tone. I pulled it out and could see it was my sister calling.
"Hi. Yeah, he's fine, he's right here." I said into the phone. My sister was frantic, and she did not know the half of what had happened.
"He's fine. He's with me." I said, my sister not making much sense. I could hear her talking to her husband, I could tell they were at the ticket counter getting a return flight home.
"Jake, honey, it's your mom." I hated to interrupt, but my sister needed to hear his voice. He said something to Beth, and sent her back to her parents.
I held the phone down, covering the mouthpiece with my hand.
"She doesn't know everything. I left her a message about Rob trying to kill himself. I told her you were fine, that's all she knows. She's on her way home, we can tell her the rest when we see her."
"Mom. Yeah, yeah I'm with Aunt Lucy. Yeah, I'm fine. Yeah, Rob, he didn't do it." Jake was saying softly, I could see his hand starting to shake as he held the phone. "He didn't do it." Jake repeated, his voice breaking a bit. He handed me the phone.
"We're boarding, we're boarding now. I'll be home in a few hours." My sister was saying, thinking she was still speaking with Jake.
"OK. Jake will be with me at my place. Come to my place." I said to my sister. "He's fine. My place." I said, and I could hear her hang up the phone.
"He didn't do it." Jake said to me, not completely making sense. Jake was shaking, his eyes were wet with tears. Again, I pulled him tight to me. I looked around, the EMTs were bringing Dee out, she was conscious, trying to pull off the oxygen mask, struggling a bit on the stretcher. Then I watched her mom come to her side, grab her hand.
"Dr. Jones." A uniform was standing next to me. "Detective Goren asked that I take you home." The officer said. I nodded, and Jake and I followed him to a patrol car.
"He was amazing. I don't even think anyone realized he was a cop until that last minute." Jake was saying about Bobby as we walked to the car.
"He just kind of came in, and got Rob's attention, and kept it from the rest of us. He just kind of came in and saved us." Jake slid into the patrol car. I sat close beside him on the seat.
"Yeah, he's pretty amazing." I said, thinking about Bobby, thinking Bobby was probably seeing this thing through by staying with Rob as they took him into the station.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Once we arrived to my home, I settled Jake into my guest room. I was awake for a while, listening to him thrash around in bed. Then finally, I could no longer hear him. I went to the door and opened it a bit, and looked at him asleep. His back was facing me, and I stood and watched his even, deep breathing. I thanked god that he was OK. Softly, I closed the door.
I was standing in the kitchen when my phone rang. I could see it was 4:30am, and I didn't think that my sister's plane could have possibly landed. Her flight was scheduled to get in near 6:00am. I looked at the caller ID and could see Emil's cell phone number. I remembered I had called him from the patrol car and left a message. I though the message was fairly cryptic, it was simply that I needed him, and that he should call me as soon as possible. I couldn't remember if I had said anything more.
"Hello." I answered my phone.
"Lucy. I'm minutes away from your place." He said, now knowing I was home, he was calling me on my home phone.
"I've been trying to call you on your cell all night, it has been going to voice mail." Emil offered. I could hear the concern in his voice.
"I was in Connecticut, I didn't get your message until a little over an hour ago." He kept talking, and I realized that I had started shivering. Just hearing his voice brought back everything I had been feeling when I left him the first voice mail.
"Lucy?" Emil said my name, making me realize that I hadn't said anything past hello.
"Lucy. I'm out front. Come to the door." Emil was talking to me, the deep timbre of his voice so familiar.
I walked to the front door and threw the locks. I barely realized I still held my house phone in my hands. As soon as I had the door open, he he grabbed me up into his arms. I was shaking violently, starting to cry.
"I've got you." He spoke very softly, holding me so tight against him I could barely breathe. He was stroking my hair, my back.
"I've got you." He said. I dropped the phone onto the hallway floor and wrapped my arms as tight as I could around him.
"Jake called me, he said a friend was trying to commit suicide, he said he had a gun, there were other kids there, he was holding them all." I was talking into Emil's coat, which was now wet from my tears.
"Jake's fine, he's upstairs asleep. Everyone is fine." I was saying, except me apparently, I was not fine. I was actually surprised at how not fine I was feeling. I guess up until this point I had been running on adrenaline. Something about the familiar sound of Emil's voice, something about the safety of his embrace. All at once, he made me feel safe, while opening me up to feeling vulnerable.
"I know, I've got you." He said, holding me.
"You know?" I sniffed, I looked up at him, and he brushed some of the tears away from my cheeks.
"Your message, you said you needed me, you said Jake was being held hostage by a suicidal friend." Emil offered, and I remembered, I remembered I had said that. I had meant to say more, to give Emil the address where I was, but Mike Logan had returned to the car and I had hung up my phone.
"When I received your message, and I couldn't get in touch with you, and I didn't know where to go, I made some phone calls and figured out what was going on." Emil tucked my hair behind my ears, still softly touching my face.
"Oh my god, I was so scared." I put my face against his chest.
"Jake's upstairs, asleep?" Emil asked, holding me.
"Yeah, it took him a while, but he's asleep." I offered. Slowly, as Emil held me, I stopped trembling. Finally, I released him so he could take his coat off.
"Have you slept?" Emil asked, looking at me.
"No, I couldn't sleep. I was listening to Jake, then I was standing in the kitchen, then you came in." I said, realizing that there was a lot of lost time that had elapsed between those things.
"What's happening, what's happening with that kid Rob?" I asked, remembering that Emil had called a friend in NYPD.
"He's at the hospital being evaluated. I think they pumped his stomach." Emil was still looking at me. I could see the concern etched in his face.
"You look exhausted." He said. I was nodding, I felt exhausted.
"My sister should be here in a few hours. She was in California. They were headed to Hawaii in a few days…" I started to say.
He was nodding, kind of leading me upstairs. I knew he thought I should try to lie down, try to catch a little sleep before dawn.
"I'd like to shower." I said, my voice quiet, a little hoarse from lack of sleep. I watched him smile. I knew that he knew that I could stand in a hot shower forever. It was my way of washing away the day.
"I'll be downstairs. Maybe I will make some coffee." He said, and I watched him turn to go.
"I'm glad that you're here." I said, causing him to stop and turn around to face me.
"I'm glad that I'm here." He said, nodding.