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“I just wanted to pay off Becker. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I just needed money.”
Probably a drug debt. The kid was maybe away from home for the first time and had been having a blast partying. “Becker giving you a hard time?”
He nodded and the eyes peeking through the balaclava were sad. If he crossed from sad to hopeless, he might try to take everyone down with him. Joe had to keep him talking, give him hope. “I can help with Becker.”
“How? He’s going to kill me if I don’t pay him. Hurt my girlfriend first and then kill me. I have to pay him. I just wanted enough to get him away from me.”
“We’ll protect your girlfriend. You can help us take Becker down. We don’t need people like that in this town.”
The despair lessened in the kid’s eyes and Joe kept talking about possibilities, about hope. The whole time, he moved forward slowly, angling so that the hostages weren’t in the kid’s view.
Finally, the kid lowered the weapon. “Are you just going to throw me in jail and forget me, or are you really going to help?”
“I’m going to help. I won’t be in town long, but we’ll get some things figured out before I leave. We’ll get you some help and hopefully get Becker arrested.”
“I’m in deep shit.”
“Yeah. But if you hand over that gun, it’ll be a good start to climbing out of that shit and back to a real life.”
It was a long heartbeat, but the kid turned the gun so the butt faced Joe. Joe took it and engaged the safety. Then he tucked it into his belt. “Thanks. Now, it’s going to get a little chaotic as we get these people out and the other cops come in. It’ll be easier if you’re already in cuffs. That way, no one will panic.” Like they had in Atlanta when the doctor had been shot.
The fight had gone out of the kid and Joe cuffed him easily and stayed with him as the locals took care of everything else.
Two hours later, they were in the police station with the kid sitting in a jail cell when they got the call that Lindsay Simmen, the bank teller, had died.
Joe kept his face passive, but inside his heart broke a little more.
Right now, he hated his damn job.
Lia looked through the studio apartment one final time. In eight years she hadn’t added much more than the basics. Putting down roots was difficult.
Her earliest memories were of living in shelters and in hidey-holes on the streets. Her mother, Anita, had been an addict and finding safe housing had been impossible. When a car had hit Lia and broken her leg, Anita had slipped away from the scene. Lia had never seen her again. She’d been seven at the time.
She’d only landed in a few foster homes before she’d been lucky enough to be placed with Carlotta. In so many ways, Carlotta had made Lia who she was. The quiet woman had helped Lia deal with the grief and the shame of her background. She’d encouraged her relentless thirst for knowledge and what seemed like the ridiculous dream of being a surgeon.
Lia had been sixteen and a junior in college when Carlotta had passed away from cancer. Because she’d already been in a dorm at college, petitioning to be an emancipated minor hadn’t been too difficult.
Since then, she’d lived in apartments that could only be described as miniscule. What was the point in paying for square footage or views when she only used the space to sleep? From medical school on, she’d spent almost all of her waking hours at schools and hospitals, with the occasional laboratory time thrown in for fun.
And it was that lab time that was giving her a place to figure out her future.
Years before, Lia had met Tansy Cheveyo at a month-long retreat at a science lab in the mountains around Colorado. It had been the only time Lia had been out of Atlanta and she’d loved the crisp air and the endless views.
During that month, the team of about thirty had brainstormed ideas for everything from ways to improve water delivery in third-world nations to how to improve life for astronauts on space stations.
It had been eye-opening and liberating. Being so far ahead of peers academically had always made school difficult. Making friends had often been an impossible task. From an early age, Lia had lived in the land of ideas and possibilities. The lab retreat had been one of the best times of her life. Being surrounded by brilliant minds for all those weeks had loosened some of the shields Lia had built around her heart.
She and Tansy had teamed up on some deep dives into improving medical technology. They’d created a couple of improved surgical tools and found ways to improve the prosthetics of the day. By the end of the retreat, they’d had three patents pending and a firm friendship.
They didn’t talk or text often, but whenever they did, they were able to dive right back into their worlds of ideas.
Lia didn’t know much about Tansy’s personal life except she’d been a foster kid too. Another person who’d lost her parents early and who’d been lucky with foster care.
Now, Lia was glad they’d formed the friendship because Tansy had offered her a place to stay while she figured out her next steps.
With a sigh, Lia closed the door to the apartment and walked down to hand in the key. All with her left hand because her right hand was next to useless.
Lia immediately kicked her butt mentally. She was so much better off than so many people. But she was stuck in pity-party land and she couldn’t find her way out. She hoped visiting her friend for a while would help.
