I stood up and the chair I sat in scratched across the floor behind me with force. I leaned over the table and pointed my finger in the detective’s face. “You don’t bring my wife in here to tell her some half-assed news about the man who shot her and then try to scare the daylights out of her. Cop or not, I will kick your ass if you talk to her like that again.” Ella pulled on my arm, urging me to sit back down.
“Listen,” Dillard said, raising his hands in the air, “we’re all on the same page here. I want to catch this asshole just as much as you do. But if you threaten me again, you’ll be locked up faster than you can blink and you won’t do your wife any good behind bars.” He kept his hands up and looked at me until I finally exhaled loudly and righted my chair, sitting again. Dillard turned to Ella. “Again, I’m not trying to scare you, I’m trying to help you.”
“What’s going to happen now?” She asked quietly.
“Well, like I said, we have no real idea of where this kid is. He could be in town or he could be in another state. But I wanted to give you a heads up and offer what help we could.”
“What kind of help are you talking about?” I was still pissed and even I heard it in my voice.
“Well, we can put more patrols past the sight of the crime.”
“It’s a store. It’s called Poppy,” Ella said quietly.
“Right, we could have more cars making passes by the store, if you live inside the city limits we can have cars patrol by your house.”
“You think he knows where we live?” Ella asked, sounding scared all over again.
“Chances are, no. Most likely, this kid doesn’t even know your name. He was probably hired to show up at a spot and shoot a gun. He doesn’t know who you are, but he does know where you were. So, the store really is a place of interest.”
“We’ll hire private security again,” I said immediately. Ella looked at me with relief, no doubt worried about her sister and the girls who work there. “We live in Salem right now.”
Dillard nodded. “We’ll partner with the Salem PD and ask them to watch your house, just leave me your address.”
“Will that start immediately? We’re headed there tonight.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll call their captain myself.”
“So, we’re just supposed to sit here like ducks, waiting to be picked off?” I could hear the panic coming over her and it tore my heart open. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. I took her hand in mine and held on tight, trying to remind her that I was here to protect her.
“No. You’ve got the police looking out for you, but you need to be careful. Don’t go anywhere alone, report anything suspicious, and be smart. Trust your instincts. And call me whenever you think you have something to offer, anything at all. No piece of information is too small. And I’ll be doing my best to catch this kid before anything can happen. Expect the best, prepare for the worst.”
Ella’s hand floated her belly and I saw the moment she really fell into the abyss of irrational thought. I turned to her, not a care in the world that the detective was with us, or who might be watching through the mirror, and pulled her forehead to meet mine.
“Breathe with me Ella, in and out, slowly.” I took a few over-exaggerated breaths to get her to sync up with me. She shook, trembled, and I knew she was slipping away from me. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you or the baby. Do not give up on me now, Ella. Stay with me here, breathe.” We sat there, breathing in each other’s breaths for a few minutes until I felt like she wasn’t going to hyperventilate or go into some sort of shock. When I finally looked over at Dillard, I saw sympathy in his eyes and that went a long way to make up for some of the shitty things he’d said since we got there. He was a hard ass, that was clear, but in that moment, when he looked at my wife like he wanted to help fix her, I felt confident that he would keep his word and protect her as best he could.
“Let’s get your address to the Salem PD and get you home,” Dillard said, handing me a pad of paper and a pen. He left to make the phone call and Ella’s head found my shoulder. She was calm and quiet, both hands resting on her belly. Her silence was equally comforting as it was alarming. In the quiet, she found the terror. I put my hand over hers and tried to remind her that I was there.
“I don’t want you to worry about this, Ella. I’m going to take care of everything.” She didn’t say anything in response. I would have preferred to hear her crying or yelling. The silence was killing me. “Babe, talk to me. Please.”
“This is a hopeless situation.” Her voice is calm, cold, and still—like stone.
“No it isn’t.”
“You can’t protect me from a man with a gun, Porter.”
“Yes, I can.” I knew what she was saying. If he found her and got anywhere near her, it would be hard to stop a bullet from hurting her. But I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight, wasn’t going to let anyone near her, not until we knew for sure the police had him in custody. “Look at me, Ella.” My hands found her face and I pulled her to look at me. “You’ve got to think positively. We will make it through this.” My eyes searched hers, looking for a key to alleviating some of her anxiety. “What’s going through your head?”