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“Let me go, I want my Mommy!” Emily bucked against Robin’s arms.
“Mom!” Mason pushed past Arthur’s legs. He plowed into Tessa, knocking her over, and she sank to her knees on the pavement.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” She tried to wrestle her hands free from the rope as he wrapped his arms around her waist. The sirens grew louder. Red and blue lights crested the hill.
“Can you get this off of me?” Tessa turned to Arthur with her wrists in the air. Arthur shook his head, motioning with his eyes to the approaching police car.
“Why?” Tessa mouthed the word silently. There was a flash of movement above Arthur’s head on the second story of his house as Sally closed the south facing window and quickly pulled the curtains shut. Tessa’s eyes widened as the realization set in. Arthur winked and gave her a knowing smile. The police car came to a stop a few yards in front of them.
“Everybody on the ground.” Officer O’Brien used the car door as a shield, sweeping the remaining crowd over with his automatic service weapon. Tessa pushed Mason behind her back. “Hands up where I can see them.” She lifted her bound wrists in the air.
“I’m hurt, officer. I need an ambulance,” the big man held his arm as he cried.
“Then call an ambulance.” O’Brien stepped away from the cover of the door and checked everyone for weapons as he passed them by.
“Jed!” The passenger door to the police car swung open as the pregnant woman ran out onto the street. Olivia scrambled away from the body, wiping snot and makeup from her face. Tessa started to shake as Officer O’Brien approached.
“Someone want to tell me what is going on here?”
“It was her,” Olivia screamed. “She shot Carl last night and now she murdered Jed. You need to take her to jail before she kills someone else.”
“Like I said, my hands are tied.” Tessa’s jaw clenched as she spoke. “I did shoot the guy last night when he was on my property and came at me with a crowbar. But I had nothing to do with what happened to this jerk and everything else I’ve done today is because you all attacked me.” Officer O’Brien looked to the pregnant woman and she nodded.
“Mason, get back to the truck,” Tessa whispered. He squeezed her harder, his small body convulsing with sobs and the need to protect her from the big things that he couldn’t yet understand. She closed her eyes and prayed she’d wake up from this nightmare.
“Go back to your homes now,” Officer O’Brien barked. This is it. He was going to take her to jail. At least the kids have Sally and Arthur and Robin. She’d fight her way out of this, prove her innocence somehow. Mason tightened his grip. Tears escaped from her closed eyes and rolled down Tessa’s cheeks. She’d keep fighting for them no matter what happened. They needed her to be strong.
“I’m going to cut this rope now.”
Tessa’s eyes flew open. “Please don’t take me to jail.”
“You’re lucky there is no room left.” He pulled out a pocket knife and sawed through the fibers.
The binds fell away and Tessa wrapped her arms around Mason, pulling him to her chest like he was a baby again. “What do I need to do now? Should I get a lawyer? I swear I was only protecting my property last night and that I didn’t kill Jed.”
“If the courts were in session, if anything was working like normal, then I would say yes.” He glanced over his shoulder at the pregnant woman who was standing over Jed’s body stoically. “But her statement was enough to absolve you of any crime. Except lying to me. You said you didn’t have a truck or a gun. I’m still curious where the husband is.”
All at once, she really saw him. The man who stood before her folding the knife and tucking it into the pocket of his wrinkled and unwashed uniform. The deep bags under his eyes and the hopeless look within them.
“He’s deployed.” Tessa stood with Mason still clinging to her side. “He should have been back a week ago. I didn’t want to lose hope.”
Officer O’Brien’s shoulders sagged with the heavy burden placed upon them. “I’d tell you to get to one of the shelters because I can’t provide security out here for you and your kids, but they’re almost full and we are turning people away. It’s getting out of control. We can’t help everyone anymore.”
“I don’t need your help. We’re leaving now. I should have gone days ago.” Tessa motioned to her pistol on the ground. “Do you mind if I pick that up though? I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”
The pregnant woman refused to meet Tessa’s eyes as Officer O’Brien covered Jed’s body with a tarp. She wanted to thank her, to make sure she was okay, but the woman seemed to be struggling with whatever had prompted her to find the police and the situation she was in now. Olivia was nowhere in sight, but Tessa bet she was somewhere watching. Tessa only hoped that this would mean a better future for the mother and her unborn child. Even though the future didn’t seem that promising either.
“Stay in touch.” Arthur closed the driver side door after Tessa climbed behind the wheel. Blood and tears dried on her skin in the desert heat. Every bone in her body hurt and the emptiness in her chest was a numb and consuming ache, but she was determined to get out of there before anything else happened.
“Thank you again for everything and tell Sally I’m so grateful she was looking out.” Tessa adjusted the pillow under her legs.
“Told you she was an angel. And she’s a pretty good one too, isn’t she?” Arthur whistled a little tune as he walked away.
“To Grandpa’s house,” Tessa whispered as Emily buried herself under her arm and Mason held his sister’s hand.
“To Grandpa’s house,” Robin said, staring at her from the passenger seat and shaking her head in utter shock. “And please tell me your neighbors aren’t as crazy up there.”
