Page 68 of Tex's Angel

This situation is aggravating as fuck because I’m in another county where no one knows me from Adam, and I’m no longer employed by the training academy. It hits home how much cops rely upon the kind of professional courtesy I’m clearly not gonna get tonight.

It just about kills me when they load Clara up into the ambulance and I can’t go with her to the hospital. But I’m not quite stupid enough to think that I can kill a man, admit to it to the cops, and they’ll just let me go on my merry way.

They’re just about to take me to their squad car when their supervisor comes across the radio, telling them to escort me to the hospital and have the ER docs give me the once over to make sure I’m not injured. He says Las Salinas PD are sending an officer to collaborate on the case and told Officer Coombs to be on the lookout for him.

Despite the severity of the situation, a ghost of a smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. I’m clearly not injured so that’s a very old school way of cutting me some slack. I realize at that moment that I still have friends in the precinct. I can’t help but wonder what made them change their mind, but when I turn around, I see that Officer Ryan from Las Salinas PD has put in an appearance. Siege jerks his chin at the officer who acknowledges the gesture.

“You’re out of your jurisdiction, Ryan,” Officer Coombs grumbles.

“I’m here because our bosses decided our two departments were going to collaborate. This case crosses county lines.”

Coombs shrugs. “Whatever. As long as it doesn’t create more paperwork for me, I’m down with it.”

Officer Ryan smothers back a smile. “It’s not like the old days, when departments were territorial and engaged in a lot of infighting over controlling high profile crime scenes.”

Coombs shoots back. “I wouldn’t call this a particularly high-profile case. The perp’s an ex-con with an axe to grind with the schoolteacher who helped put him behind bars according to the shooter’s club president.”

“Yeah, this case has a lot of moving pieces.”

“Oh yeah? Tell me what you know.” Coombs demands.

They continue talking about the perp as we walk to the patrol car. Coombs frisks me and finds my back up gun. He doesn’t seem surprised. He hands it off to his partner, who puts it in an evidence bag and tags it. Neither of them bother to cuff me because they’re preoccupied with Officer Ryan bringing Coombs up to speed on the case. They decide that Ryan will ride with us to the hospital and his partner will follow. They continue talking about the case and ask me the occasional question. For some reason they’re both fascinated with the behavior that landed the perp in jail the first time.

I know for them this is business as usual, but I really want to lock them both in the trunk so I can stay glued to Clara. The only thing stopping me is knowing fellow cops can get pissy when you ditch them. Also, Clara is gonna be with be with thetrauma team for at least a couple of hours and will need surgery as well, so they wouldn’t let me near her. I find myself wishing real life were more like cop shows where the officers just cut the suspect loose, until they gather enough evidence to secure an arrest warrant.

***

There’s usually a law enforcement officer attached to most level one trauma centers in California, and St. Augustine Memorial Hospital is no different. After the triage nurse gets finished making me the lowest priority of the night, we’re shown into the tiny office the social workers sometimes use to interview the families of trauma patients. I start at the beginning and tell them every detail I can remember that might have a bearing on the case. Ryan clarifies the part about our club not being a one percent club, which makes the rest of the conversation go along smoother.

They give me a few sheets of blank paper and ask for a written statement about what went down tonight and ask about forty more questions, then they reluctantly cut me loose. Apparently, my story is matching up with other eyewitnesses from the scene and also with what Officer Ryan knows about the stalking. It appears that my worry about being hauled into the local PD was a bit premature. As the two cops are leaving, Siege and Rigs show up.

I jerk my chin at Officer Coombs and his colleague, and my club brothers head in my direction. “Can y’all believe they didn’t haul me in for questioning?”

Siege shoots Rigs a strange look before responding, “Yeah, actually I can believe that. Rigs and I woke up everyone we knew who might swing this situation in your favortonight. I informed Officer Ryan the moment you called me. Smoke contacted the officer in charge of Scott County Sheriff’s Department. He gave Smoke an earful for waking him up but caught on to what Smoke was telling him PDQ. He wasn’t interested in catching bad publicity and maybe a court case, for arresting a man for protecting his woman from a cold-blooded killer, that their correctional system had deemed rehabilitated.”

Rigs speaks up. “The deal was if there was no indication of foul play, they’d release you on your own recognizance.”

“Thanks for that, brother. The last thing I want is to be sitting in an interrogation room for hours while Clara’s fighting for her life.”

As the night wears on, more of my club brothers show up. Wade is one of the first to arrive and takes the liberty of calling Clara’s parents. Given the strained relationship between Clara and her parents I’m not sure that’s the wisest of decisions. But they need to know.

They eventually turn up. Mr. Hathaway is wearing a suit. My gut feeling tells me he likely wears a suit normally for his job. He’s polite as we fill him in on what’s been happening. Siege and Rigs answer most of his questions because I can’t concentrate enough to deal with them right now. All I can think about is Clara, whether she’s in pain, and if she’s gonna be okay.

We skip over the part about how I blew her stalker’s brains out, because that’s a bit much to dump on these poor people who never even knew she was being stalked by the same asshole who caused them so much trouble when she was in college.

Mrs. Hathaway seems desperate for everything to be some kind of misunderstanding. Once she finds out who her daughter’s stalker is, the color drains from her face. The older woman seems skittish and anxious by nature. After meeting her, I can almost understand why she wants everyone to forgive and forget when it comes to the affair, she’s clearly the type of person who hates conflict.

No one comes out to speak with us and we keep asking questions, but no one seems to know anything. I’m fixing to tear some people a new asshole when Rage comes walking through the door.

Siege motions him over. “Thank God you’re here. Clara’s parents are worried about her. Can you give them a little information on her initial injuries?”

“Sure,” Rage says. Then says quietly to me, “There’s something I need to tell you, we’ll talk later.”

Once Clara’s parents realize he’s the paramedic who saved her life, they’re all over him with questions about the nature and extent of her injuries.

I keep my ears open, because although I saw it all, I didn’t really understand what I was seeing. I wonder what it is that Rage wants to talk to me about, I’m guessing he might be wanting to give me a head’s up about the severity of her injuries. Something that he wouldn’t tell her parents, wanting to leave that for the doctors.

When Evan and Levi arrive, my son comes over to me, and I wrap him up in a hug. He whispers, “She’s gonna be okay, right Dad? She’s not gonna die or nothing?”

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