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It took three people to wrest Josie from his body before they took him away.
FORTY-FOUR
The hospital lights were too bright. Josie knew there was noise all around her, but she heard no sounds. Even her field of vision had narrowed to a single spot in front of her. Still, she saw nothing. Someone pushed her from a vehicle, through the emergency department doors, and into a curtained area. Somehow, her body complied. More hands lifted her vest from her body, then her shirt, pressing the areas where the bullets had been stopped. There was bruising already. Someone said something about broken ribs. If that was all the damage that had been done to her body, she’d be incredibly lucky. When no one was probing her or moving her around, Josie pressed her hands together. If she concentrated hard enough, she could still feel Mettner’s palm against hers.
Tell Amber.
The words were a permanent echo inside her head. It felt like that’s all there was now. Just her and the inside of her head. Everything else receded. She knew that Anya was with her, knew she was crying. Then Noah came, wrapping her in his arms—carefully, gently. For the first time ever, his touch brought no comfort. Josie’s mind recognized when members of the Denton PD started to show up. Gretchen, the Chief. Sergeant Dan Lamay. Hummel. Chan. Brennan. Dougherty. Countless patrol officers whose names Josie couldn’t keep track of. Everyone cried. Josie felt nothing. Heard nothing.
She’d seen everyone. Everyone but Amber. Her body said, “Where’s Amber?” to the people gathered around her bed.
It was the first thing she’d said since the last thing she ever said to Mettner.
Tell Amber I…
Someone, maybe Gretchen, said, “She was too upset. They had to sedate her.”
Josie nodded. She laid back on the gurney. She wanted to go deeper inside her head, but it wasn’t working. She wanted to sleep but her body wouldn’t let her. Trinity arrived with Drake. Then hers and Trinity’s parents, Shannon and Christian, together with their little brother, Patrick. Then Misty. Harris was with his grandmother. That was a good thing, Josie thought numbly, as she looked around at everyone shedding tears. Except for Trinity. She was the only one not crying, but Josie could tell by the way the corners of her mouth twisted that she was deeply upset. She shooed everyone out of the room, even Noah, and climbed into the bed with Josie, sliding an arm gingerly across Josie’s shoulders. Her breath tickled the top of Josie’s ear.
She said, “It’s not going to be okay. But we will survive this.”
Josie closed her eyes. Sleep didn’t come but eventually, her breathing mirrored Trinity’s, calm and even. It was what passed for rest.
Tell Amber I…
FORTY-FIVE
The days after Mettner died were long. With each one, it felt more and more like the shock and the pain were too heavy to bear. Josie recognized it from when she’d lost her first husband and then her beloved grandmother. This grief, in some strange way, seemed bigger to her. Maybe because it was shared so deeply by so many people. Everyone in her life, everyone around her, traveled at the speed of someone whose life had just been irrevocably shattered. They were all in a fog. The week after his death was a blur. Somehow, things got done. His body was returned to Denton. Funeral arrangements were made. Reports were filed. Statements were given. There were visits and vigils, hugs and condolences that brought no comfort. Every time Josie tried to talk to Amber, she shook her head and walked away.
It was fine. She’d save Mettner’s message for when Amber was ready to hear it.
The funeral was a somber, massive, and deeply beautiful thing. Every last detail of it made smithereens of Josie’s already shattered heart.
Cyrus lingered as Mettner’s body was lowered into the ground. His parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews and Amber gathered in a tight knot around the casket, watching its descent. Josie, Noah, Gretchen, Anya, and the Chief hung back. When it was finished, they waited until the family left before walking over to Cyrus.
“I’m sorry,” he said, for what Josie knew was almost the hundredth time.
The Chief said, “Thank you for coming.”
Cyrus nodded. He glanced at Anya, a note of longing in his eyes. To Josie he said, “Vance is going to pull through. We’re set to arrest him for Mettner’s murder.”
No one spoke.
Josie looked at the Chief. He said, “Give them to him.”
From her purse, she pulled the handcuffs that Mettner had owned and used during his tenure as a law enforcement officer. She’d been carrying them around for a week. Cyrus cradled them in his large hands. He nodded as if he were listening to something inside his own head. “I’ll be in touch,” he said.
When he left, Anya went after him.
FORTY-SIX
Two weeks after Mettner’s funeral, Josie sat in Hallie Kent’s living room again. Her ribs were still horribly sore but with lots of rest and painkillers, she was getting around fine. If she didn’t do too much in a single day. This time, a fire crackled in the fireplace, adding a measure of warmth to the room that might make Josie drowsy under different circumstances. Josie edged the chair away from the hearth and lined it up so that she was facing the couch where Hallie sat next to Mathias Tobin. Hallie laced her arm through his and beamed, just as she’d beamed in the photo that she had sent Trinity a few days earlier, which Trinity had then forwarded to Josie. It was a selfie of Hallie and Mathias, both grinning, cheek to cheek. Her message read,Thank you for this. Life can finally get back to normal.The photo had been taken before the sad news that Garrick Wolfe had succumbed to his injuries. Josie knew that Cyrus and his colleagues were devoting every available resource to solving Garrick’s murder.
The press had descended on the small town of Bly after the shooting at the Hadlee farm. Trinity had held court like the queen of television journalism. She was planning a four-part series on the events that had transpired in the last month as a result of the Jana Melburn murder. Josie wondered if four episodes would even be enough to explore all the secrets they’d uncovered. She hoped it would be enough to generate leads that might bring answers to the many questions that still remained.
Hallie bobbed up and down in her seat. “So Vance is going to be charged with Keri’s murder? And Sharon Eddy’s?”
At the mention of Keri, Mathias’s face pinched. He extricated himself from Hallie’s grip and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, rubbing his eyes. Hallie glanced at him, her expression sobering.
