During the five seconds it took to get a towel, Zach had pulled the knife out and was holding his stomach, blood gushing through his fingers. He looked at Jake with a silent plea for help. Jake knelt, pushed the towel onto his stomach, and put the other hand on his shoulder.
“It’s gonna be okay, man. Hang in there. Aid will be here soon.”
He couldn’t take much more blood loss and would lose consciousness soon.
It felt like an eternity before the ambulance arrived, but the paramedics got him loaded onto a gurney and wheeled out in under ten minutes. The police followed him to the hospital. If he lived, he would be placed under arrest there.
They separated Jake and Hannah to go through the whole debriefing thing. It seemed like he’d just done this. For working the road most of the time, he sure was having to do a lot of explaining about injuries and shootings in people’s homes lately.
After they had given their statements and received the all clear to go, they rode to the hospital in Jake’s patrol car and waited. They’d taken Zach straight into surgery, but no one had offered an update since. Hannah called his grandparents on the drive to the hospital, and they sat across from Hannah and Jake in the surgery waiting room. Jake briefly explained what had happened, including Zach’s plot to get Hannah’s money and the attempts on her life. The grandparents were shocked and outraged.
“I’m so sorry about this mess,” Zach’s grandpa said to Hannah. “Apparently, this all started because he hurt his back and started taking my pain pills. I didn’t realize it until it was too late. He went from the pain pills to street drugs in a matter of weeks, and from there, it was just a fast downhill slide. No, more like a dive…headfirst. From zero to sixty he was hooked, and we didn’t know what to do. We had no idea he’d tried to harm you or what he was up to.” While Zach’s grandpa apologized, his grandma cried and nodded.
“It’s okay,” said Hannah. “I know he’s hurt you, too.”
They stopped talking when the doctor came in. His somber expression said he didn’t have good news.
“You’re Zach’s grandparents?” he asked. At their nod, he continued. “I’m very sorry. We did everything we could, but the internal damage was too great. He died on the operating table.”
Zach’s grandma sobbed while his grandpa held her tight, a tear or two slipping down his face, too.
Hannah stood and gave Jake a look that said we should leave them in peace. They offered their condolences and silently let themselves out.
Jake broke the news to the uniformed police officers who were sitting in the main lobby waiting to arrest Zach, and everyone unceremoniously dispersed.
“Is it all right if I take you back to my place?” Jake asked Hannah. “You won’t want to go back to yours until it’s cleaned. I’ll have someone take care of it as soon as possible.”
“Yeah. Your place sounds fine.”
The drive was silent. When they got home, Jake excused himself to get out of his uniform, which was covered in dried blood, and clean up. When he returned, Hannah was sitting on the couch, petting Lucky, who was curled up on her lap and purring loudly.
“I can’t believe all that just happened,” she said as a tear slid down her cheek. “He was totally normal six months ago. I didn’t want to marry him, but I would never have wished that on him.”
“Drugs are a dangerous game to play. They take a lot of lives and ruin even more.” He sat next to her, taking her braced hand in his and stroking it softly. “Hannah, I’m so sorry.”
“About what? My ex-boyfriend almost killed you!Ishould be apologizing toyou.”
“Almost killed? Pft. I had it under control,” he said, waving a hand in dismissal.
“I can’t believe you put your gun down.”
“Yeah, thatwasdumb. And if my crew finds out, I’ll never live it down, so let’s keep that on the down low, eh?” He chuckled. “Seriously though? I just did not want to shoot him.”
He had worked through killing the bad guy at Annie’s place, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t affected him or that he’d be okay doing it again. Zach wasn’t a bad person. He’d just made some bad choices and wasn’t thinking straight.
“Thank God you came when you did,” said Hannah. She gave Lucky a gentle shove and turned to fully face Jake. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. I think he really would have tried to hurt me. It’s completely delusional, but he honestly believed he could get my money if I were dead. He told me that if I didn’t sign the POA, he would stage my death, forge the form, and then get the money anyway. There was no reasoning with him. The drugs made him crazy!”
“I’m glad I got there when I did then. I was going to take leave to come talk to you, but there’s no way in hell I’m not getting paid for that shit.”
She huffed out a laugh. “I don’t know how you stayed so calm. You were amazing. How did you find out I was in trouble?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then why did you come?”
“God. That all seems like an eternity ago.” He chuckled. “Kris told me she’d talked to you at the coffee shop and gave me reason to believe I might still have a chance with you. I came over wanting to make amends. I didn’t expect what happened any more than you did.”
“Kris said they just took you home the other night. I saw you leave with them and jumped to conclusions. I’m sorry.”
