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“I can go in and canvas the businesses. There’s only two businesses open right now. Both of which are bars. I know what he looks like. I’ll text you when I see him. Remember, the police are the ones that make the call. Don’t do anything stupid,” Leo says.
He goes inside the first bar and comes back out about twenty minutes later. He’s not in that one. The next bar is down the street. We follow far behind him. Shortly after Leo goes inside, I receive a text.
Leo: He’s here. Not Alone. I’ll see if I can snap a photo of the other guy. Show it to the officers and see if they can get a photo hit in the database.
The picture comes through, and I hand my phone over. We wait for a photo match, and sure enough, it’s Drew. The one who hurt Lacey. Why are they together? My mind is going haywire, but that can’t be just a coincidence. Did they know each other?
Me: That’s Drew. He went to jail for assaulting Lacey months ago. What do you want to do?
Leo: Too many people in here. We can’t take the chance of retaliation or casualties. We must wait them out. They have to leave at some point.
He’s right. The bar closes in three hours. If they don’t leave before that, then surely most of the customers will be gone by then.
After about an hour, I overhear one of the police officers talking about Shawn and Drew.
“What did you find out?” I ask politely. Technically, they don’t have to tell me anything. Maybe being nice will help get information out of them.
“Those guys inside. They were cellmates. Probably why they met up at this bar. They both just got released.”
Leo: There are only five people left in the bar. It looks like they are fixing to leave. When they walk out, you guys need to come in swiftly.
We wait for our cue. Out walks a couple and in we go. Somehow, they see us coming. They try to run, but there is nowhere to go. Police have both exits covered.
“There’s nowhere to go. Put your hands behind your back, now!” Leo screams, jumping up from his stool next to them.
Drew smiles. “You think it’s going to be that easy to take us in? Not quite.”
His evil grin makes me want to shoot him right then and there, but I don’t want to make it easy for him to get out of this. “Get on the ground!” I scream.
Shawn takes a step toward me. “Do you want to know why this happened? Why your girlfriend is lying in the hospital right now?”
I bite my lip because my fingers are shaking, and the trigger might accidentally go off. “Why? Why would you do that to her?”
“She threw me out like trash. Broke up with me when she moved here. I meant nothing to her. Hell, it didn’t even take a month before she was sleeping with you already. She broke my heart, so I’m gonna take hers,” he explains, as he pulls a gun out of the waistband of his pants and pulls the trigger. The police officers fire on him, and I see his body fall to the ground.
“Noooooo!” I scream.
Leo runs over and confirms he’s gone. “Hudson, these kinds of things almost always end with suicide by cop. We tried to avoid it, but he fired. We had no choice.”
Thankfully, he is a horrible shot. The bullet misses me and goes into the wall. I close my eyes, finding solace in the fact that I can tell Laurel that he can never hurt her again.
Drew, catches off guard by the gun, is now in handcuffs and being dragged out by Leo. He isn’t getting off so easily. That guy will go away for a long time.
After putting Drew in the car, Leo stops me before I leave. “You never told me how you figured out his location?”
“Do you want to know? You don’t have a guess?” I laugh. He knows how good Chris is at his job.
“Never mind. I’m sure I already know. Get back to the hospital. I’ll be over there after we book him.” He taps the hood and sends me on my way.
Many people are in the waiting room when I arrive, including my sisters, most of my employees, and my mother. As I walk in, everyone turns and looks at me like she is gone. All I can think about are the things I want to do when she is better; like showing her just how much she means to me. Without her, I never would have gotten out of my douchebag, pent-up ways. Without her, I never would have realized I deserve to be happy. She has shown me I need someone like her in my life. Someone who is going to tell me when I’m a complete dick, making bad decisions, or distancing myself again. She has physically and metaphorically been my rock.
I don’t care that my mom finagles up some plan with her to change me. Honestly, I’m glad she did. In my mind, it is one of the best things that has happened to me. It gives me the extra push to acknowledge her.
My mom comes over and gives me a massive hug and tells me everything is going to be okay.
Leo comes rushing in, and only I know why he is here. Poor Leo didn’t know the extent of Lacey’s condition yet. Hell, the only person who knows they have been seeing each other was me. I can’t pretend it isn’t awkward, but again, not my business to tell. Lacey will tell Laurel on her terms. Until then, I’ll keep my big-ass mouth zipped.
Leo is in a daze. “I just had this guy. Why didn’t I rough him up?”
