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“You know the man who shot you?” Detective Jacobs asked.
“Yes. Warren Aimes. A-I-M-E-S,” she patiently spelled. “I tried to get a restraining order but he had already skipped out on parole so they couldn’t find him. I testified against him in court and he ended up going to jail. He came to my office a month and a half ago. I didn’t recognize him then. He was angry. Really angry. He threatened me.”
“I was a witness to that,” Jamie added quietly.
Detective Jacobs stepped outside for a moment. It sounded like he was on his phone. The other officer continued to quiz Cora for a few more minutes until she held up a hand, citing a need to catch her breath.
He let up for a minute but then began rephrasing his questions. He asked her the same things repeatedly until finally she snapped at him.
Jamie was pleased that some of the color came back into her cheeks. She was exhausted for certain, but she was working her way up to being pissed off.
Finally, Jamie stepped in and said, “Look. She was shot three times last night. She’s recovering from a collapsed lung. If she says she saw the man who shot her, then she saw him. She’s got no incentive to lie to you. She can’t breathe very well and she’s exhausted. Can you cut her a break, please?”
The detective narrowed his eyes at Jamie, then looked at Cora and closed his notebook. As he turned toward the door his partner returned.
“Good news, folks. We actually picked Mr. Aimes up on an unrelated crime last night. He had the gun on him, still. He’s currently awaiting arraignment on separate charges. In addition to your testimony, we may be able to match the bullets to his gun. Either way he’s not going to be making bail anytime soon.”
When Detective Jacobs handed her his card, and they both took their leave, the silence in the room was almost deafening. Finally, Jamie spoke up and said, “Between whatever he did last night after, his parole violation and everything else, hopefully he stays behind bars for a long, long time.”
It was, he realized, a very small bright spot in an otherwise crappy situation.
Chapter Nineteen
Cora stared out her hospital window, her ears still ringing from the phone conversation she’d just had with her father. When he called her to tell her he was running late, she’d told him about the police stopping by. He had not been happy.
She figured he’d be relieved that the man was in custody, but like a pit bull, he had immediately asked why Cora had been able to identify the man. He’d listened calmly while she explained the backstory and then promptly yelled, “Why the hell is this the first I’m hearing about a man coming to your office and threatening you, baby girl?”
Jamie, having heard him through the phone, ushered her visitors out into the hallway to give her privacy. She had given him a desperate look, but he had just shaken his head as he closed the door. It had been an ugly conversation, and she wasn’t likely to hear the last of it any time soon. She knew Jamie was liable to get yelled at, too.
Reasonably, her father knowing about the danger wouldn’t have changed anything. The restraining order wouldn’t have either. Jamie had followed up with the courts and found out that after his arraignment, Warre
n Aimes had been remanded into custody with no option for bail this afternoon.
At the light tap on the door, she looked up. Thomas, the security guard from her office poked his head in and said, “There she is!”
Cora waved him in and said, “Thanks for stopping by.”
He held a basket of flowers out and asked, “Should I put these over here?” as he gestured to her growing collection.
At her nod, he said, “I am so sorry I wasn’t there to walk you out last night. I was with another tenant whose car had been vandalized.”
Cora stared at him in confusion for a minute and then said, “If you would have walked me out, he probably would’ve shot you too, Thomas. We might both be...I can’t possibly thank you enough. Jamie says your quick response probably saved my life.”
“Still, I hate that he did this to you.”
“They caught him, at least,” she said. “Even though it hurts, I’m just grateful that it’s over.”
Thomas nodded and said, “Yeah. I can see that, Miss Cora. I’ve gotta head on back to work but I wanted to stop by and drop these off.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. “Seriously, I can’t even begin to thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad they caught the guy,” Thomas said, giving her a wave as he left.
She raised her free hand to wave as he left. When the room was empty, she shifted against the bed and winced. She had gone without her pain medication. She had wanted to be alert. Now, she was beginning to think that being alert was highly overrated.
The seemingly endless parade of visitors stopped around nine p.m. As she’d thought, her father had been a little bit pissed off when he’d arrived. He’d yelled at both of them for a couple of minutes and then cuddled her the best he could, considering.
Then he had thumped Jamie behind the ear. When he yelped, Theo had laughed and pulled him into a hug. It was good to see that her father liked him so much, because god knows she certainly planned to keep Jamie for as long as she could.
