Her thoughts were still haunted by Vine’s voice saying,“I’m bulletproof.”With all the devastation today, Lainie feared that he was.
CHAPTER 46
Broken glass, bullet holes, and blood.
After all the police activity was over and the house was empty, Lainie, Archie, and Sara, when she ended her shift, worked hard to clean up the destruction left by Vine’s two henchmen. They couldn’t fix the bullet hole in the floor, but they were able to sweep up the glass and clean up the blood. Lainie didn’t want her mother to see the place all busted up.
It was dark before she was able to rest. She’d been awake over twenty-four hours so when she was finally able to lay down and close her eyes, sleep should have been instant, but it wasn’t. Her bed was the couch in her folks’ house.
Her father had returned home as they were finishing up. Shea had driven him back from the hospital. “Your mother will stay at the hospital until Evie wakes up,” he’d said, after Lainie explained everything that had happened. “Tomorrow maybe the two of us can take her a change of clothes.”
“Sure. But I hate to be the one to tell her about all the destruction here. They broke a lot of Mom’s china, all of her vases, and I’m not sure if her sewing machine still works.”
Dad shook his head. “She’s not going to care. Everyone is okay,that’s all that will matter to her.” He’d peered hard at Lainie. “Are you all right? You had to shoot someone.”
“He threatened Archie and the boys. Yeah, I shot him. I’d do it again under the same circumstances.” Lainie meant what she said. Archie had been more upset about the shooting than she was, and she worried about him.
“I can’t believe you did that, Lainie. My goodness, you shot him.”
“He didn’t give me any choice. You realize that don’t you?”
“I do. But it’s shocking, nonetheless.”His gaze was probing.“Are you sure that you’re okay?”
“I am. But if you’re worried about me, I’ll have to talk to the police psychologist eventually. I’ve prayed about what happened, Archie. I truly had no choice. I can live with my actions.”
It didn’t surprise Lainie that her mom had stayed with Evie. As soon as she was rested, Lainie planned on returning to San Bernardino. She had to stop by the station and be interviewed about the shooting first. Officers had taken her gun to be examined, standard procedure. Her backup weapon was in her home, and she wasn’t ready to dig through ashes to see if it was okay. Her life was clearly in danger, so she hoped to get the gun back soon.
After the station, she planned on driving with her father to join her mother at the hospital. Though San Bernardino was now providing an officer to stay with Evie, Lainie still worried that Vine would try again to get to her.
What did surprise her was the conversation she’d had with Sara and how much it bugged her, how she couldn’t get it off her mind. Her friend had fed everyone by bringing a couple of pizzas with her when she returned to the house. While they sat and ate, she amazed Lainie with a question.
“What’s up with you and that FBI agent?”
“What do you mean?”
“He saved the boys, and you hardly showed any appreciation.”
“What was I supposed to do, kiss his feet?”
“Wow, why so hostile?”
Lainie had to pause for a couple of seconds. Why was she suddenly so irritated?
“You don’t understand. He’s responsible for what happened to Evie.”
“How so?”
Lainie told her what Ben had done.
“He was worried about his partner.”
“So that excuses putting Evie in danger?”
“I didn’t say that. It does explain why he did what he did.”
“Are you taking his side?”
“Why do I have to take a side? He’s not the first law enforcement officer to violate policy because he felt passionate about something, is he?”
