AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Leah managed to shake her head as the mother helped her into a seat. When she looked up to say thank you, a police officer was heading straight for her. He was full of purpose and she couldn’t help wondering how, out of all the people milling about, he knew she was Leah Greenstead.
“I think she got overwhelmed,” the mother said to the officer.
“Thank you. I’ll take it from here.” He pointed the mother and girl to the airport personnel who were busy orchestrating everyone’s exit.
Everyone’s exit except Leah’s.
The officer sat in the seat next to hers, and Leah focused on his pretty blue eyes. Kind eyes. Eyes that did not want to deliver the news he had to deliver.
“How bad is it?” she asked before he could speak.
When he reached over and put his hand on her forearm, she folded forward and the floodgates opened. “Who got hurt?” she managed to ask around near hyperventilation.
“Why don’t we get you out of here and then I’ll give you the details?” He got to the edge of his seat.
“No!” She sat upright, her voice loud, causing people to stare at them. “No,” she said, softer, weaker. “Tell me right now. Who got hurt? Can someone take me to the hospital?”
The officer looked away for a few moments as if considering whether or not he should follow whatever the protocol was for delivering bad news to people. He cleared his throat and met her gaze.
“The shooter managed to get a bullet into the driver of the vehicle, causing a loss of control of the vehicle…”
A noise Leah had never heard before gurgled out of her as she wrapped her arms around her stomach.
“The vehicle accelerated,” the officer continued. “The driver’s foot must have still been on the gas. When the vehicle crashed, it had a great deal of momentum and the impact came hard. It caused an explosion.” He rested his hand lightly on her back. “The car was registered to Chase Bennett, so we assume he was the driver.”
“A gray SUV?” She hoped the officer said no. Maybe it wasn’t her Chase.
He nodded. “He wasn’t alone.”
“My parents and sister were with him. They were coming to pick me up. We were going to dinner. A surprise one. For our engagement.” She held up her left hand to show the officer the ring. The ring Chase had picked out himself and couldn’t wait to give her.
The officer’s kind eyes closed. “I’m so sorry. Mr. Bennett and the three passengers did not survive the accident, Miss Greenstead.”
The ring would never be paired with a wedding band. The wedding would never take place. Her father would never walk her down the aisle. Her sister would never catch the bouquet. Her mother would never give her something borrowed or blue.
She’d never have the life she had planned. The lifetheyhad planned.
“This cell phone was found near the crash site.” The officer held up a phone Leah instantly recognized as Chase’s. “Your picture and number were on the screen.”
“That’s how you found me.”
He nodded. “There’s an unsent text after the shooter became active.” The officer rested the phone on her thigh.
At first, Leah didn’t think she could look. How could she read those words and know they were the last words she’d ever get from the four people who meant the most to her in the world. The four people she had to now live without somehow. The four people who had been cheated by some demented asshole with a gun.
But she had to look. She had to know.
We all love you, Leah. Now and always,the text read.
She stared at the words, hoping a new text would magically appear, wishing for more, desperately needing for there to be more.
Suddenly, Carter was kneeling in front of her, his arms going around her waist, his head in her lap, his tears mixing with hers.
“What are we going to do?” Carter’s voice was scratchy, his eyes red behind his glasses.
“Wish we died alongside them…” Because Leah couldn’t imagine going on without them.
Everything had looked so rosy before that plane had landed. It would have been best to have never taken off in the first place.
