Lucky Like Us

chapter Ten

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Monday, 2:00 P.M.

“I SWEAR TO God, Sam, as soon as I get you home I’m taking a pair of scissors to that hair and a razor to your face and turn you back into the gorgeous man I know is hiding under all this scruff.”

Summer couldn’t stand seeing him looking so bad, it went against her grain. She couldn’t do anything about the cuts and bruises, or the way he felt, but she was good with a pair of scissors. Sam had no doubt the first chance she got, she’d tie him to a chair and start cutting.

“You think you can take me, little sister?”

“I most certainly do.” A wicked grin added to the challenge. “You’re no match for me and my scissors.” She grabbed his hair and gave a tug while she leaned down and gave him a smacking kiss on the forehead.

“Is that so? And what do you mean, turn me back into a gorgeous man? You know I’m the best-looking guy in this room.” He smiled and tickled her ribs under the arm she used to hold on to his hair. When she squealed, it eased the tightness in his chest.

“You’re the only man in this room.” Her grin faded and she turned serious. “It’s nice to hear you joking. I was afraid you’d never come out of your stupor. She’ll be okay, you know. It wasn’t your fault.” She stood back and glanced over at Elizabeth, silent in the other bed.

“It is my fault. I shot her.”

“You shot her in the arm. You never meant to hurt her. You were protecting yourself. You didn’t know if she was a threat. You’re a trained agent, and if you really thought she was going to hurt you, you’d have shot to kill.”

“I’ll second that.” Tyler strode into the room and nodded a hello to Summer. He took a critical look at Sam, obviously not liking what he saw. “You look like shit, friend.”

“Some friend. I blew the op and got myself shot. I shot an innocent woman and passed out while the a*shole I’m supposed to arrest strangled, beat, shot, and stabbed her.” Tyler knew all that, but Sam needed to say it, repeat it, so he’d never forget what his mistake had cost.

“And that’s my cue to leave, so you two can talk.” Summer gathered up her purse and jacket. “Sam, we’ll visit you later. Tyler, it’s nice to see you again.”

“You too.”

Sam nodded at his sister, but kept his attention on Tyler. “I think that pretty much sums up my part of the operation. I hope Davies didn’t chew you up and spit you out.”

“Nope. He told me we handled the situation well within protocol, and even if we had called in backup, things could have turned out the same or gone the other way. You know that as well as I do. It should have been simple. I’m as much to blame as you are for what happened. I should have covered the alley, or moved in sooner.”

Sam shook his head. Tyler was right. He’d sat in that bed for the last couple days replaying the whole thing over and over. No matter what, it all came down to one fact. You could wish for things to be different, but they are what they are. He couldn’t change what happened to Elizabeth. He prayed she’d wake up and forgive him for what he’d done.

“Let’s not do the whole ‘if only’ thing. I’ve done nothing but run scenario after scenario in my mind of what I wished I’d done. It doesn’t get me anywhere, except angrier. You did what I told you to do. Who knew the guy would stick me with a needle and toss me in a car? I should have been more careful and watched my back.” He shifted on the mattress. He hated being laid out while Tyler stood over him at the end of the bed. “What are you doing here? Do you have any useful information on the Silver Fox?”

“I’ve actually got a lot to tell you and some questions.” He cocked his head toward Elizabeth. “No change, huh? She’s still out?”

“Yeah.” Sam put his head back and turned to look at Elizabeth. His mind playing the same message it had for hours, “Please, wake up.”

“Here’s what we know. Obviously, we believe the Silver Fox showed up for the meeting. I’m sure you agree.” Sam nodded, so he went on, “After you got out of the car, he shot you in the back twice. The rounds were recovered and matched to a Ruger 9mm. We recovered the gun from the vehicle we found abandoned and burned several blocks away. No serial number or prints. How did you get under the car? Did she drag you?”

“No. She threw herself on top of me, held on, and rolled me under the car.”

“Really. God, that girl is smart. I couldn’t figure out how she got you under there. You outweigh her by fifty pounds, at least. I thought maybe you had come to and gotten under there yourself.”

Sam shook his head no.

“What do you remember once you were under the car?”

“I shot her.” Sam glared at Tyler. The guy, obviously, knew he didn’t want to talk about what happened, but here he was poking an open wound, hoping Sam had the magic answer and they’d identify the Silver Fox.

Tyler treaded on quicksand. Sam blamed himself for what happened and no one, including Tyler, could talk him out of it. The longer he spent in that room looking at the evidence of what happened, the deeper he sank into despair.

“Tell me about her. What did she do? Do you have any memory of her fighting with the guy?”

“You know something. What is it?”

Tyler was fishing for something. Sam wished his mind wasn’t such a muddy mess.

“Tell me what you know first.”

“You’ll show me yours, if I show you mine.” Sam stared coldly. He didn’t want to play games, but Tyler remained impassable. “Fine. She got me under the car and found the gun and knife at my ankle. She was beside me when I saw the gun and grabbed it. She let it go, and I shot her. She still had the knife. I must have closed my eyes to steady myself because she was there, and when I opened my eyes again, she was gone.” She screamed. He didn’t want to tell Tyler the scream blared in his ears even now.

“That’s it. You didn’t see if she stabbed the guy or cut him? Nothing after you shot her and she was gone?”

Sam shook his head no, and Tyler let out a sigh. “Shit. I hoped you had more information.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

Tyler ran his fingers across his brow and clamped down on his jaw before going on. “We found blood by the SUV. Type A negative. We found the same blood type on the knife after it was removed from Elizabeth’s thigh. Her blood type is B positive.”

Sam turned back to Elizabeth and watched her.

“She scratched him. The paramedics noticed her broken nails and bagged her hands. We recovered the guy’s DNA. I’m waiting for the analysis to come back, but I’ll bet the blood and skin from under her nails will be a DNA match.”

“She must have really fought the guy,” Sam said, never taking his eyes off her.

“Sam, we think she saw him. We think she can ID him, and that’s why he shot and stabbed her.”

Sam ran both hands through his hair and thought about all that statement implied. “He’ll try to kill her if she can ID him. She’s the only one who knows who he is. Even Scott admitted they’d never met in person. They set things up by phone and used drop sights for the money exchanges.”

“We won’t know for sure until she wakes up, but she provided us with a lot of evidence. Even with all we have, we probably won’t find him in the system.”

“The guy’s too smart. I have a feeling he’s been playing this game a long time. He’s not stupid enough to be caught and wind up in our database.”

“There’s something else. It’s kind of strange.” Tyler almost looked away, but he held Sam’s gaze.

“Lay it on me, man.”

Tyler hesitated, and Sam found it odd, since the guy was usually a straight shooter.

“I got a message today from someone who has helped me solve some of my cases. She left a message with Davies. It sounds strange, but the message was for you. She said that we couldn’t have prevented what happened the other night, and you need to mind your back. She also said there is a double threat to Elizabeth, and the Fox is hiding in plain sight.”

“Have you been calling 1-800-PSYCHIC again? You should really lay off the sauce late at night. Get a girl. Spend some time doing something productive between the sheets besides calling 800 numbers.” Sam smiled wickedly at Tyler’s indignant face.

“You realize the only thing keeping my fist out of your face is the fact you’re laid up?”

“Is that so? Bring it on. I couldn’t feel any worse than I do right now. Maybe you could knock me into next week and this nightmare will be over.”

“Listen, I know you’re feeling like shit about all of this, but the message is as real as it gets. This girl, she knows things. Because of something she told me, my sister is alive today. Every time I get some strange cryptic message from her, I remember my sister is attending nursing school and alive and well. So, what do you think about the double threat to Elizabeth?”

Tyler was serious and believed the message was genuine. Sam would assume the same and see if it gave them any help in solving the case. He’d like nothing better than to see the Silver Fox behind bars for what he did to Elizabeth. The FBI used psychics. At times, they were a good tool, and other times it was just a bunch of BS. Sam would give Tyler’s message the benefit of the doubt.

“Well, if she can ID the Silver Fox, that’s most likely one of the threats. Maybe her injuries are the other threat.” Sam hoped that wasn’t it. He wanted to believe she’d wake up any minute. “Or maybe more than one person was there the other night. I only remember one guy hitting me, but there could have been someone else. Has anyone found Scott?”

“He’s gone underground. No one has seen or heard from him.”

“He’s a loose end, but I don’t think he’s a threat to Elizabeth. He’s small time, and he’s never been involved in a violent crime directly. He’s an insurance salesman who found a way to make some extra cash. He doesn’t actually get his hands dirty with any of the murders.”

“Okay, what about the Silver Fox hiding in plain sight? Other than the fact we believe the suspect is someone working for the insurance industry, who knows how to get past the red tape and ensure the payoff of the life insurance policy, we really don’t have any one person we’re looking at.”

“I agree. We don’t have shit. I’m glad you came to give me all these answers.” Sam rolled his eyes. “Got any more questions we don’t have answers to?”

Tired and irritable, the news Tyler had brought wasn’t what Sam wanted to hear. Nothing had changed and that pissed Sam off even more because he was stuck in the hospital, unable to do anything to help Elizabeth.

“All right, I’ll get out of here and leave you to your wallowing. Davies told me to tell you, officially, you’re on paid administrative leave until the investigation into the shooting is completed and you go to all your psych evals. Have fun with that, by the way. Oh yeah, don’t forget to mind your back.”

“Mind my back, not watch my back. Your 1-800-PSYCHIC has a sense of humor. If I’d been minding my back, I wouldn’t have gotten shot in the back.”

“I don’t know if she has a sense of humor. I’ve only spoken to her once, and that was for less than a minute.” He let that sink in with Sam. “Like I said, she only leaves me messages. I think it was a friendly reminder to trust your instincts from now on. It’s good advice for both of us, especially with the kind of work we do.”

Tyler shrugged and stood to leave. He looked back over his shoulder at Sam and then to Elizabeth. “She’s something. She did everything she could to save your life and make sure we had evidence to get the guy for trying to kill you. I don’t think she thought about herself for a second. It wasn’t your fault, Sam. Everyone but you knows that, and I’ll bet she’d say the same thing.”

Tyler left the room without another word. Sam tried taking what he said to heart. The guilt and self-recriminations were too great to overcome at the moment.