Prodigal Son (24 page)

Cursing the fact that I didn’t have a weapon of any kind, I grabbed the only thing I could see that might be any good to me. The metal baseball bat was leaning against the entertainment center, and I picked it up as I hurried for the bedroom. I tried to keep my emotions in check and figure out the best way to handle the situation. I didn’t want to rush into the bedroom if Bug had a gun and end up with both Krystal and me held at gunpoint. I had to find a way to assess the situation in the bedroom, and fast. I could hear Krystal whimpering, but it was muted, like Bug had his hand over her mouth. All I knew for sure was that she was alive, and I was going to keep it that way.

I moved down the hall quickly and quietly, following the sounds in the bedroom. I could hear Bug’s voice, and his sick words became more distinct as I got closer.

“Don’t you fuckin’ move, you piece of trash.” He continued to talk, but I was so angry that I couldn’t even distinguish the words.

It sounded like Bug was facing away from the bedroom door, and I took a chance, looking around the door way into the room. What I saw nearly made me lose my mind. Bug faced the bed, naked from the waist down. He was between me and Krystal, and all I could see of her, seated on the bed, was one arm, streaked with blood. My vision swam with the fury that overwhelmed me, and without a word, I swung the baseball bat right at Bug’s head, putting everything I had into the blow.

He slumped to the floor, curled in a heap, unmoving, his knife falling from his hand. I rushed to Krystal.

“Oh, my God,” I said as I saw her.

She sat on the bed, her clothes in pieces, blood everywhere. Duct tape covered her mouth, and her eyes were enormous, terrified, and tears ran down her face.

“Can you hear me?” I asked, worried about whether or not she was coherent.

She nodded, and I quickly sorted out my priorities in my head. She was a mess, but she was upright and conscious, so I decided that ensuring Bug couldn’t hurt either of us was most important. I turned to the man sprawled on the floor, clearly unconscious. I looked around the room for the roll of duct tape, planning to secure his hands until the police arrived.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Krystal stand up, shed her ruined clothing, pull a shirt out of the dresser and put it on. I knew there were injuries under that clothing, but I figured we could assess her condition as soon as I had Bug immobilized. Duct tape in hand, I grabbed Bug’s wrists, turning him so that he was facedown on the floor. I could see that some blood had pooled beneath his head, and a massive bruise covered the side of his face. I didn’t bother to be careful with him as I roughly wrapped the tape around his wrists and dropped his hands onto his back. I might have injured him further, but I didn’t care.

I kicked at his feet, trying to see if I could rouse him, but there was nothing. No response, no movement. I stepped back, and decided that when he did wake up, that I’d probably incapacitated the fucker and that we could handle him if he tried to come after us. Only once I was certain he was immobilized, did I turn my full attention on Krystal.

“Baby, come here,” I said, pulling her into my arms briefly, before stepping back and examining her.

She tugged at the duct tape over her mouth, eyes watering at the pain of separating the strong adhesive from her skin. I let her do it at her own pace, and when she’d finally gotten it off, her face red and bleeding in a couple of spots, she sat down on the edge of the bed, shaking from head to toe.

“Luke, he was waiting just inside the from door for me. He covered my mouth, and dragged me back here.”

“Hush, baby,” I said, afraid to touch her because I didn’t know the extent of her injuries. “You were covered in blood. How badly did he cut you?”

“Oh, my God, it was so awful. He was gonna kill me.”

Krystal was shaking and started to breathe faster as she became more and more upset. I was afraid she was going to pass out if I didn’t get her calmed down.

“Krystal,” I said, as I knelt on the floor in front of her. “Baby, listen to me. Calm down. I’m here, and he can’t hurt you. I need to see how badly you’re hurt. You have to calm down and let me take care of you, okay?”

The tone of my voice soothed her a little, and she took a deep breath, made eye contact with me, and seemed to calm down a little. She lifted her shirt, and I gasped as I saw her injuries. The cuts didn’t look deep, but they were ugly. He’d cut one of her breasts, beneath her breasts, and he’d scratched her repeatedly. I could only imagine how terrifying it must have been to have that evil fucking man torturing her with the blade of his knife. I pulled her shirt back down to cover her, and I took her hands.

“The police should be here any minute. I called them before I came inside.”

“You called the police?” Even in her distress, she seemed surprised.

“I know that’s not usually the way the Sons do things, but I couldn’t take the risk of your being hurt, not if I could prevent it.”

We heard sirens approaching, and in no time, we heard someone banging on the door.

“Denver Police. Open the door.”

“Go open it,” I told Krystal. “I don’t want to leave Bug alone, just in case he comes to.”

She left the room, and I looked at the man on the floor. I supposed that I should feel guilty, that another human being was injured because of what I’d done, but I didn’t. I felt nothing but contempt for the man I’d taken down. He didn’t deserve my pity or my mercy. I had done what I knew was right, and I had protected Krystal.

Two policemen rushed into the room, guns drawn, and interrupted my thoughts. I held my hands up, even though I was sure they wouldn’t shoot me. I was unarmed, and I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Are you the one who called 911?” one of the cops demanded, pointing his gun at the floor near my feet.

The other officer holstered his weapon and went to check on Bug. He put his hand at his neck to feel for his pulse and looked up at me and his partner. “This man is dead,” he announced.

I
sat on the couch in Bug’s living room, trying to calm myself down enough to explain to the police officers in the living room what had happened. A paramedic came rushing in from the ambulance that had just arrived, and she took my pulse while I talked to the cops.

“No, I didn’t see a gun,” I answered, for the second time. “He might have one, but all I saw was the knife. I flinched as the paramedic brushed up against my chest. “Ow,” I yelped, as I saw fresh blood seeping through the t-shirt I’d thrown on to cover up.

“Hey, back off a minute,” the paramedic said to the cops, waving them away. “She’s bleeding.”

The paramedic called for help and for a stretcher, while one of the police officers in the living room called back to the guys in the bedroom.

“Everything okay back there?”

I didn’t really think that I needed to be taken out on a stretcher, but I was too overwhelmed to argue with the medical folks. I was settling myself as one of the cops came out of the bedroom, and I couldn’t believe that he was pushing Luke ahead of him. The man who’d rescued me was in handcuffs.

“Luke!” I cried out, horrified at the rough treatment he was getting. “What’s going on?” I yelled.

The officer who held Luke’s arm explained. “We have a dead man in the bedroom, and this man admitted to killing him. Baseball bat is his weapon of choice, apparently.”

I was frantic, and I pulled at the sleeve belonging to one of the cops I’d been talking to, but he ignored me.

“He says he had no choice, but we have to take him in and at least get his statement. We need a statement from the girl, too. He says she’s injured, and we’re going to need to know the extent of her injuries.”

I watched, helpless as the cop took Luke outside.

I grabbed the arm of the cop who stood nearest me. “He saved my life. You can’t arrest him.”

“Ma’am, calm down,” he said. “You’re injured. We’re going to get you taken care of, and we’ll sort this out. If he didn’t do anything wrong, then he has nothing to worry about.”

“But you don’t understand. Bug was gonna kill me.” I could feel myself start to hyperventilate, and I started crying as my breathing became increasingly rapid and shallow. “You have to stop them. He saved me from…”

“Ma’am, you have to calm down,” the paramedic told me. “If you don’t calm down, we’ll have to give you something to sedate you. Do you hear me?”

I took a deep, ragged breath, and forced myself to be still, stop talking, and focus on what was most important.

“I’m okay,” I said. “I’m calm now,” I said, sounding much more composed than I felt.

The paramedic smiled and put her hand on my arm. “I know you’ve been through a lot, honey, and we’re gonna take good care of you. Everything will be okay.”

She and her partner put me in the ambulance, and one of the police officers sat silently off to the side, while they temporarily patched me up on the way to the hospital. His blank expression revealed nothing, though I tried to listen in to the phone calls he received on the ride to the emergency room. When we arrived, I had no idea what was going on with Luke, but I tried to stay calm and figured that I could be most helpful by explaining everything that had happened, as clearly as possible.

“Well, Krystal,” the physician assistant said as he entered the room. “I can’t say I’m happy to see you again. Want to tell me what happened?”

The police officer who had been asking me questions stepped back when the PA entered. “I’ll be right outside the door, and we’ll finish up after your exam,” he said as he exited.

I told the story to the PA, and he examined all of my injuries, deciding that as long as we kept butterfly bandages on them, that they weren’t deep enough to need stitches.

“You’ll need to keep them clean, of course, and Krystal,” he said, looking me straight in the eye. “You need to stay away from the guy who did this to you. Two days in a row in the ER is too many.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry. I won’t be back.”

“Well, all things considered, you were pretty lucky. We’ll get you all cleaned up and bandaged up, and you’ll be free to go. You take care of yourself.”

He walked outside the room and I could hear him talking to the cop. It hadn’t completely sunk in that Bug was dead, and I figured that I should probably feel sorry, or guilty, or something, but to tell you the truth, all I felt was relief. I hadn’t realized how much of my energy had been consumed by him until that burden was gone. As soon as Luke was cleared and released, my fresh start could begin.

Not until I’d gotten my discharge orders and signed all of the paperwork, did I realize that I had no way to get home. I tried to call Luke, but his phone was turned off, and I assumed that he was still at the police station. I managed to catch the police officer who’d taken my statement just before he left.

“Hey, I don’t have a car, and I don’t really have anyone to call. Can you take me to the station where Luke Callaway is?” I figured that in the worst case, I could call Joker or Sable to give me a ride home if the police were still talking to Luke. If for some reason I couldn’t get Joker or Sable, I figured that my parents would be my last resort. I really didn’t want to call them under these circumstances, but maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

“Sorry,” the cop said, once we were out in the parking lot. He was holding the back door of his cruiser open. “Regulations prohibit me from carrying passengers up front.”

Hoping no one would see me, I climbed in. “I appreciate the ride.”

“Least I can do. You’ve had a hell of a day.”

Once he got in up front, I asked him if he knew what was going on with Luke, explaining that his phone seemed to be turned off.

“I don’t know, ma’am. Given that there was a dead man on the scene, it may take some time to clear up exactly what happened. I’m sure if he tells the truth, and if he didn’t do anything wrong, that he’ll be out in no time.”

I leaned back and stared at the grate that separated the back seat from the front, and was thankful to arrive at the station in just a few minutes. The first thing I noticed as we pulled in was that there were four familiar bikes parked in front of the station. I sighed in relief. At least I wouldn’t be alone. The cop opened my car door — since I couldn’t do it myself — and I followed him inside to find complete chaos in the huge waiting area in the lobby.

“What the fuck do you mean, they’re charging him with murder?” Joker’s voice boomed throughout the linoleum hallways that led from the waiting room.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to either lower your voice or leave,” the police officer said, her voice a firm indication that she wouldn’t tolerate much more from the furious biker who stared down at her.

“Joker, honey, let me handle this,” Sable said, pulling at Joker’s arm, trying to get him to step back from the officer he was glaring at.

He stormed away, clearly struggling to regain some control over his anger.

“Is there someone we can talk to who can explain this to us?” Sable asked, surprisingly calm. “We’re his parents.”

The officer looked puzzled and referred to a file in her hand. She shook her head. “Ma’am, Mr. Callaway informed us that his parents are both recently deceased. He listed a Krystal Shaw as his emergency contact.”

Sable sighed and lowered her head. “We’re his birth parents. He was adopted, and we just recently met him again. Can you please tell us what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation. If Mr. Callaway is charged, there will be a grand jury hearing to indict him, and the judge will set bail. If he’s not charged, he’ll be free to go, but I’m not the one who makes those decisions. There’s not much more I can tell you.”

I stepped forward. “I’m Krystal Shaw. It’s my fault Luke’s in here. Can I see him?”

Sable turned to look at me, and I swear that if looks could have killed, I wouldn’t have survived.

“Jesus, you look awful, Krystal,” she said, in a voice that conveyed little sympathy for my condition.

I was sure I did look awful, wearing bloodstained clothes and bearing bruises from the previous day’s encounter. “Sable, Luke saved my life. Bug was about to kill me, and Luke came in and hit him with a baseball bat. He didn’t mean to kill him, but he couldn’t let him continue to slice me up.”