Always Watching (19 page)

“
He should’ve
sir.”

“
What about Danny?” I
asked.

“
No word on him yet, Dr.
Eriksson.  The paramedics took him away first.”

I pushed past Johnny.  “Let me wash
up.  Call the hospital and do not let them move that body
until we get there.  I’ll call Maya and have her meet us over
there.”

“
Doc, if he’s dead
–”

“
I want to see it for
myself this time, thank you.  I don’t trust these people to
know dead from heavily sedated to appear dead.  Two
minutes.  Meet me out front.”

Danny Datello’s blood swirled in the sink
and disappeared down the drain.  Did I have two members of his
family’s blood on my hands now?  Metaphorically speaking of
course.  Why hadn’t I been more concerned about Preston’s
motives for meeting with Datello alone?  Was it because I
didn’t really care if the man lived or died?

A strange fluttering grew
in my chest.  Empathy again.  I thought of Celeste, how a
few short hours ago, Dev and I had given her such joy, and now,
because of my carelessness, we would have to crush her once
again.  My lips clamped firmly between my teeth. 
I will not cry because Danny Datello is
dead.  I will not do it.  He destroyed my life. 
Whether this was justice or not, I will not cry.

But had he ruined my life?  If there
had been no Rick, no money laundering for Sully Marcos, would I be
here?  I thought about the man probably pacing holes in the
asphalt in front of Bay County Correctional.  There was no way
to fathom my life without ever meeting him.  I knew this was
true.  With each passing day, the bond seemed to grow
stronger.  Even the will to sever that thing that tethered me
to him had faltered easily this morning.

I had no such qualms about walking away from
Rick.

Then again, I didn’t love my husband.

Marry me.

I shuddered at the remembrance of Johnny’s
proposal.  Would marriage make me hate someone I loved so very
much?  Let’s face it.  My track record is pathetic. 
Rick didn’t love me either, so I suppose it’s not fair to use my
marriage as the justification for turning Johnny’s offer down.

No, the justification came from something
else, something I couldn’t yet identify.  It lurked like a
shadow within a shadow, dark and elusive, ominous because its
nature was not known to me.  Even that was cause for
alarm.

I stared into the mirror, my tired eyes, the
sagging pockets underneath that betrayed the bone deep fatigue I
felt.  “Who are you, Helen?” I asked.  “More importantly,
what is it that Johnny sees when he looks at me that makes him so
determined that I commit to something more than what we already
have?”

Johnny appeared behind me.  “You’ve
been in here longer than two minutes, sweetheart.”

I stared at the pristine white sink. 
All evidence of Datello’s life had washed down the drain. 
“How much of that did you hear?”

“
Enough.”

“
Johnny –”

“
You don’t have to
explain.  You’re exhausted.  This case is draining from a
reserve you don’t have right now.  It’s been an emotional
couple of days, yes?”

I nodded.

“
And my timing wasn’t
perfect.  I wanted to ask you in some balmy moonlit hideaway
where you’d be so swept off your feet you couldn’t resist the
offer.”

My hands rested on his hips and left wet
prints in the denim.  “I’m not resisting.  Yet I can’t
help asking why you’re so sure that I’m the person you want to be
married to, Johnny.  I can’t seem to stay out of trouble for
more than fifteen minutes.  Surely you have enough to worry
about without me and my never ending issues.”

“
I love you and your never
ending issues.”

“
There’s going to be a
shit storm over Preston’s death.  It could reopen all of the
scrutiny we thought ended after our conversation with David last
December.  Maybe they’ll think I had something to do with
Datello’s shooting too.”

“
We’ve got Maya,” he
said.  “She’ll put the gun in Preston’s hands
scientifically.”

“
I fired a gun too,
Johnny.  A federal agent is dead because of me.”

“
One who threatened you
with his gun.”

“
My word against
whose?”

“
Saul’s word too.  He
saw you shoot Preston.  He heard the first shot when neither
one of you were in the room with Preston and Datello.”

“
I know how these things
get twisted, how something innocent suddenly is damning
evidence.”  And really, wouldn’t that be wry, if I ended up in
prison for a justifiable shooting when the murder I committed was
closed as a suicide?  The universe is not without a sense of
irony, I guess.  Or her own twisted version of balancing the
scales.

“
Hey, when you said you’d
think about this proposal thing, it didn’t include factoring in
things that hadn’t happened yet.”  Johnny tilted my chin until
our eyes met.  “Either way, I’m with you through this one,
Helen.  No doubts.  No hesitation.  You acted in
self defense and the defense of another.  Plain and
simple.  This goes down no other way.”

“
You can’t control the
federal government.”

One eyebrow took a comical arch.  “Oh
really?  I seem to recall wielding an unusual amount of
influence a few months ago during a witch hunt.  The
difference between then and now is that there is no gray area on
this one, Doc.  Please trust me.”

I nodded.  “Yes,” I breathed out the
word softly.

“
Good.  I believe
that in your heart, you’ve trusted me for a very long
time.”

“
I do trust you, but
yes.  To the other thing.”  What can I say?  He
makes logic and reason and all the things I know rationally to be
true, fly right out the window every time he looks at me.  It
was probably the wrong decision to make, but the way I felt for the
past few days, the strength I possessed wasn’t my own.  I
couldn’t deny that truth either. 

My head rested against his chest.  It
rose and fell rapidly beneath my cheek.

“
Helen, are you
sure?”

“
More than I’ve ever been
about anything in my life.  I need you, Johnny.  Nothing
makes sense without you.”

Johnny shook with sudden laughter. 
“Helen, this was so not how I imagined this moment.  Here we
are, standing in the women’s bathroom at the county jail, and I
can’t think of anything more perfect.”

I peeked up at him.  “It certainly
hasn’t been boring.”

He kissed the tip of my nose.  “I don’t
think it ever will be.  But.”

“
I’m ready to go finish
this thing.  This part of it anyway.  I have some
thoughts on how to proceed with the investigation into Sherman and
his associates.  I’ve also been thinking about who might’ve
been the man that took the Datello baby from Florence Payette at
Saint Mary’s.”

“
There’s time for that
later.  Tonight, we’re stepping back from all of this
madness.  Ah-ah,” he wiggled and index finger in front of my
open mouth.  “No arguments this time.  You need rest, and
food, and more than a little pampering.”

“
Do you have to go back to
Montgomery?”

“
Not unless you’re with
me.  Now let’s get over to Metro State and wrap up one of our
many loose ends in this case.”

“
Are you following me over
there?”

“
No.  Devlin and
Crevan brought me over here.  I was at OSI when David called
me.  We dashed over here right away.  They knew that I
wouldn’t be leaving your side once we arrived.”

I pulled the keys to the Expedition out of
my pocket and pressed them into his hand.  “You drive. 
I’m too wiped out to concentrate on traffic.”

“
Maybe we should have the
doctor take a look at you while we’re over there.”

“
I’m fine.  All of
this sleep deprivation is out of character for me these days. 
Give me a good solid eight, and I’ll be good as new.”

Crevan met us outside the emergency room at
the hospital.  “Dev’s standing guard over the body.  CSD
is on the way to the jail to process the scene.  I just got
off the phone with some bureaucrat in D.C.”

“
And?”

Crevan grinned at Johnny.  “They
requested that we bump Preston’s autopsy to the front of the
line.  I told them that it would be the discretion of our
chief medical examiner.  Other than that, nobody seemed all
that surprised that Preston shot someone awaiting trial, or that
he’s dead.”

“
Do they know who shot
him?” I asked.

“
Well, there was a bit of
a pregnant pause when he asked and I told him what I knew,” Crevan
said.  “He seemed… what’s the word I’m looking
for?”

“
Suspicious,” I
said.

Johnny’s, “Surprised,” layered over my take
on the reaction and drowned it out.

“
Yes,” Crevan said without
clarifying which defined the bureau’s reaction.  “When he
learned that Preston shot a shackled suspect who couldn’t even lift
his arms to his chest, he didn’t seem to find Preston’s dying
declaration very credible.”

“
Ah, hell,” I
muttered.  “Everything he said is now admissible in court,
witnessed or not because it was a dying declaration.”  For
some odd reason, our society doesn’t think that the last words of
someone on their way to a grave could possibly be dishonest. 
The weight given such confessions or utterances is too much, in my
opinion.

“
Datello might survive
this, Helen, and we’ve still got Saul,” Johnny said.  “When he
calms down and makes a statement, the whole thing might be
moot.  That aside, Preston shot himself in the foot, or his
honest character, when he tried to murder a man in custody awaiting
trial.”

I ignored that problem for the moment. 
“Crevan, are you sure that Alfred Preston is really dead?”

He smiled, reached out and tucked a strand
of hair behind my ear.  “Your fears aren’t entirely unfounded,
given history in this city, but yes, Helen.  I’m sure he’s
dead.  Like I said, Devlin is in there maintaining the scene
until Forsythe gets another team over here to process.  I
spoke to Maya shortly before you arrived.  She and Billy are
coming to get Preston.”

“
How did he die? 
That shoulder wound shouldn’t have killed him,” I said.  “I
don’t understand.  Did the emergency room doctor say
anything?”

“
Beyond calling time of
death?  No.  We’ll have to wait for Maya to determine
what killed him.  I’ve seen plenty of shooting victims, Helen,
present company included.  You bled out more than this guy
did.”

“
It makes no sense. 
He should be alive,” I shook my head, bewildered.  “If I’d
known he was gonna die anyway, I’d have taken a kill shot. 
Then this dying declaration business would be moot.”

Crevan laughed, but Johnny’s eyes reflected
a real fear that I suspected was growing in his heart.  Maybe
he couldn’t yank me off the slippery slope after all.

“
What about Danny?” I
asked.

“
Still in emergency
surgery,” Crevan said.  His amusement faded.  His
eyebrows drew together.  “Danny now, is it?”

“
Crevan, don’t,” Johnny
warned with a swift shake of his head. 

My attention drifted away from the judging
eyes.  “Something feels wrong about this.”

“
What?” Johnny
asked.

“
I don’t… I’m not
sure.”

“
Helen?”

I pointed.  Men in suits rushed from
the emergency department toward the elevators.

“
So?”

“
I’d recognize them
anywhere,” I whispered.  “Johnny, we’ve got to get
upstairs.  Where are they working on Danny?”

His focus sharpened.  He and Crevan
both pulled their guns immediately, a jarring act that wasn’t
without consequences in a hospital emergency department.  “Who
are they?  Is it someone from Marcos’ –”

“
No!” I rasped. 
“They’re FBI.”

“
Agents you know?” Crevan
holstered his weapon.  He held his badge up to the hospital
security rushing toward us without diverting his attention from my
response.

I shook my head.

“
Then how can you be
sure?”

I rolled my eyes. 
“Seriously, Crevan?  Are you really asking
me
if I recognize the
FBI?”

“
Well, if Preston had back
up –”

“
Oh God,” Johnny
groaned.  “They’re not here about Preston, probably don’t give
a damn about  him.”

“
They’re after Danny,” I
whispered.  “Shit!”

They rushed for the elevator, but I bypassed
it in favor of the stairs.  Recent history being what it was,
I knew exactly where I was going, where Danny Datello would be
housed while a surgeon tried to save his life.  I took the
stairs two at a time.

When I got to the fifth floor, suits were
guarding the stairwell door. 

“
Let me through.  I’m
with OSI.”

A man overheard my proclamation several feet
away and turned.  He made a swift motion with one hand. 
“Let her through.”

My paranoia spiked again.

He smiled.  “Dr. Helen Eriksson. 
Clearly you don’t remember me.”

Recognition tickled the periphery of my
consciousness.  “Oh my God.”

“
Or perhaps you
do.”