Legend, page 20
Following the slender arm outstretched toward me, my eyes land on Lida’s face.
Demented is the only word that comes to mind as I take in the dark circles under her eyes and the paleness of her skin. Her pupils are huge and her hair is a mess of knots and tangles, as if she rolled out of bed this morning and forgot she had a brush. Her clothes are wrinkled and stained.
The hand holding the gun pointed right at my face shakes slightly.
My hands come up automatically in the universal sign of surrender and I lean back from the gun.
“Get inside,” she tells me in a quavering voice. Her eyes dart left and then right before coming back to me. “Now.”
My pulse is pounding so hard I can actually hear it throbbing inside my ears. A bolt of fear renders me almost immobile but when she waves the gun and barks “Inside” at me, my feet start moving.
I stumble backward into my house as she advances on me. Lida uses her free hand to shut the door behind her and I find it to be an ominous sign that she doesn’t bother to lock it.
It’s as if she doesn’t plan on being here long, and she’s not interested in keeping me hostage. The alternative to that is not good.
“Stop right there,” she orders as I continue backing into the living room. I do as she says, my hands still raised up with my palms facing her.
“Lida,” I say in what I hope is a calm voice, but I can hear it shaking hard. “What is it you want?”
“You don’t care what I want,” she sneers at me. “I tried to get you to help me but you wouldn’t.”
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly and lower my arms. I tilt my head at her and give her a tremulous smile. “But you have my attention now. What is it I can do for you? How can I help you now?”
Her eyes flash with anger and she gives me a mocking laugh. It seems to bolster her with confidence because her gun hand stops shaking. Narrowing her eyes at me, she says, “Two times I’ve tried to come here to see Charlie. Both of those times you were here and helped prevent that. Now, I want to see my daughter, so I figured I would just come here first to make sure you don’t interfere before I go over there.”
Jesus, please, please let Lucy have the door locked and know better than to do something as stupid as I did and just walk outside.
“Lida, this is not the way,” I tell her softly. “You’re going to ruin your chances of being a mom to Charlie by doing this. You understand that, right?”
This enrages her and she stomps toward me and puts the muzzle of the gun right to the middle of my forehead. My eyes squeeze shut and I grit my teeth, waiting for her to pull the trigger.
I can feel her breath on my face and it’s sour as she whispers, “You don’t know a fucking thing, Pepper. But I do know something. Want to know what I know?”
The tip of the gun leaves my forehead and I slowly open my eyes to find that Lida has moved a few feet back again. The gun is now pointed straight at my chest and my throat is so dry, I can’t speak.
“Do you want to know what I know?” she screams at me.
“Yes,” I blurt out on a sob, bracing for her to shoot me. “I want to know.”
Anything to keep her talking until I can figure something out.
“I know that you are a hindrance to me,” she says smoothly. “You have influence over Legend. You have his ear, maybe even his affection. We can never be a family if you’re in the way.”
“So you’re going to just kill me?” I ask, hating how hysterical my voice sounds. “You really think you’re going to get away with it?”
“Of course, I am,” she says confidently. “And I’ll pursue shared custody through the courts. I’ll show Legend I can be reasonable. It will all work out once you’re out of the picture.”
“Lida…no,” I plead with her. “You won’t get away with it. You’ll be caught and you’ll never see your daughter again.”
She laughs at me and it’s deranged and delighted all at the same time. When her gaze levels back onto me, the laugh dies and her smile melts away. Her expression is determined and I know I’m seconds away from getting shot.
I have to rush her.
And I prepare to do so but the front door opens behind Lida and Lucy calls as she walks through, “Pepper…I’m going to take Charlie for a walk. Want to come?”
It all happens too fast for me to really comprehend. Lucy startles Lida just enough that she looks over her shoulder. I get a glimpse of Lucy stepping over the threshold with Charlie in her arms. Her face registers shock at seeing Lida and I’m not quite sure she knows there’s a gun involved, but I know this is the only chance I’ll get.
I spring toward Lida, my eyes pinned to the gun that’s still pointed at me. She hears me and her head swings back my way. I’m still a good two feet from her when the gun goes off and I hear Lucy scream.
I stumble back several feet, feeling like I’d been sucker-punched in the stomach. Lucy screams again and Lida whips around to face her.
My mouth opens to tell Lucy to run, but nothing comes out. My legs go weak and I drop down to my knees. As my gaze watches the floor rushing up to meet me, I see a large red stain spreading out across my stomach and soaking into the yellow silk of my blouse.
I prod the center of the stain and it hurts.
Oh my God…I’ve been shot.
“Turn around,” Lida orders and I look up to find her pointing the gun at Lucy and Charlie.
“No,” I manage to rasp out but Lida is done with me.
The room starts spinning and I sink down onto one hip using the palm of my hand on the floor to stay somewhat upright. My other hand presses over the wound in my stomach, which oddly just throbs a little.
“Move,” Lida barks at Lucy, who scrambles back onto the front porch, clutching Charlie protectively in her arms.
Lida follows them out the door and then she does the most awful thing of all. She closes it behind her so I can’t see what is happening.
I look around, my mind feeling as blank as when I was trying to work on my story about Princess. I stare helplessly at my walls, my furniture, the front door, my purse.
My purse.
I dropped it near the door and it has my phone. I don’t have a landline, having ditched it years ago in favor of just a cell.
I try to push myself up to my feet, but I’m so weak that I quickly learn it’s impossible. Instead, I’m able to rock forward onto my hands and knees and make the most pitifully slow crawl into the foyer. My purse isn’t more than ten feet away and yet it feels like a mile. I try not to freak out by the amount of blood flowing out of me and wetting my hardwood floors.
When I reach my purse, I flop down beside it and roll to my back. I reach inside with a bloody hand and manage to retrieve my phone on the first try. This never happens to me in real life when I’m trying to find my phone among all the other crap that’s in there and I take it as a good, karmic sign.
I leave little bloody fingerprints on my screen as I manage to dial 9-1-1.
When the call connects, I lay my head on the floor as the effort to hold it up is too much. It’s almost too much to press the phone to my ear.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” a man’s voice comes across crisp and professional.
“I’ve been shot,” I say. “In my home.”
The man’s tone stays calm. “And your address?”
I give it to him, but my words get progressively weaker. My hands feel really cold and I have a hard time holding onto the phone.
“Ma’am, I’ve dispatched police and an ambulance. Is there an active shooter still in your home?”
“No,” I whisper. “She’s got Lucy and Charlie, though.”
“What was that?” the man asks but he sounds so far away.
I tell him again that Lida’s got Lucy and Charlie, but I’m actually not even sure the words really come out. I could be thinking them.
Dizziness hits me and I feel the room spinning a bit. I close my eyes and try to tell him once more about Lida, but I realize the phone isn’t in my hand anymore.
I must have dropped it.
But I can’t move. My brain tells my hand to move, to find the phone, but I. Can’t. Move.
The dizziness is making me feel like I have to puke so I close my eyes for a moment.
Just a moment.
To gather my strength then I can find the phone and tell them about Lucy and Charlie.
Lucy and Charlie.
Their names reverberate through me and I scream at myself to open my eyes. But they won’t and then it becomes too tiring to even tell myself to do it anymore.
The silent black is calling me and I decide to just give in to it.
Chapter 29
Legend
My workout was great this morning but our team practice was stilted and off-kilter. I’m not sure we all appreciated Tacker’s leadership on the ice until he was gone. Sure…he’d been suspended before but that was temporary and had a defined end.
As it stands now, Tacker may never come back and as a team, we have to figure out how to function without him. Bishop has been named as captain and that was the appropriate choice in my opinion. I sure hope we get our shit together for tomorrow’s home game but as it stands, I’m ready to put that out of my mind and spend the rest of the day with my daughter. Maybe I can even talk Pepper into taking the afternoon off to hang with us.
As I turn onto my street, I sense something is wrong. There’re way too many neighbors out, standing in small pockets and talking with worried expressions on their faces. When I see the blue flashing lights two blocks down and very close to my house, nausea hits me hard. All I can think about is Charlie and making sure she’s safe. If Lida came over, they’re going to have to physically restrain me from killing her.
The closer I get I realize everything is congregated in front of Pepper’s house and confusion hits me. Multiple police cars and I know this is more than just a simple trespass by Lida.
“Jesus,” I mutter as I’m forced to pull over a hundred yards from my house because everything is blocked off with yellow tape and police officers.
I jump out of my car and tear across the neighbor’s yard, jump a hedge, clear another neighbor’s yard and sprint straight for Pepper’s front door where two police officers are walking out with grim expressions.
I hit the bottom step and the cops jolt when they see me. “Sir…you can’t come in here.”
“This is my girlfriend’s house,” I yell at them with panic pulsing through me. “What happened?”
“Sir,” one of the cops says as he takes my arm. “Let’s go over here and we’ll talk.”
“Is she in there?” I yell as I jerk away from his hold. I make it to the top step before both of them are pulling me back down.
“Sir, if you don’t calm down I’m going to cuff you,” one of them says.
I’m about to go ballistic. “Just fucking tell me is she in there?”
“No,” one of the cop says. “The victim has already been taken to the hospital by ambulance.”
“Victim?” I yell as I struggle against their hold. “Was it Pepper? What happened?”
“Sir,” I’m told again in a low voice. “If you will settle down, we will tell you what happened, but you have got to be calm.”
Everything is rebelling against that notion, but I go still and take a deep breath. “Okay.”
Both cops let me go, and when they see that I don’t intend to bolt again, one of them walks off toward a patrol car. The other one, a young guy that can’t be more than midtwenties, tells me. “The owner of the house, Pepper Nantais, called 9-1-1 stating she’d been shot.”
“Is she alive?” I manage to croak.
“Yes,” the cop says and adds on. “Her vitals were stable when the ambulance transported her to the hospital. Now, do you know anyone that would want to hurt your girlfriend?”
And that’s when it hits me.
“Jesus fuck,” I growl and the cop braces to block me from running into Pepper’s house. But I pivot and sprint toward my own. I’d gotten so sidetracked by Pepper being hurt in her own home that I totally forgot about Charlie.
The cop is hot on my heels, yelling for me to stop. That fucker is going to have to shoot me though.
I bound up my stairs and twist the doorknob, feeling sick to my stomach that it’s not locked.
“Lucy,” I yell at the top of my lungs as I enter the house. I hear nothing but quiet. Utter silence.
“Lucy,” I yell again.
The police officer comes running in behind me, his hand on his gun but not to shoot me. I think he’s comprehended that this is my house and I’m concerned that whoever shot Pepper could be here.
The cop pulls his gun, points it down toward the floor and orders me with a pointed finger right back out the door, “Sir…I’m not fucking around right now. Stand on this porch and don’t move. What am I looking for in here?”
Something penetrates that I need to let him do his job. I step backward onto the porch. “My two-month-old daughter and her nanny, Lucy. I think it was my daughter’s mother that did this.”
The cop touches a button on the microphone headset attached to his shoulder and requests backup but he doesn’t wait, disappearing inside. Another cop bounds up the steps, gun drawn, and enters my house.
I turn away, walk to the edge of the porch and bend over thinking I might vomit. Nothing comes up and I stare helplessly inside.
It seems like hours but eventually one of the police officers comes out the door. His voice is curt when he says, “Sir…your daughter isn’t here but there’s an adult woman inside, unconscious. Appears to have been hit on the head with something. Will you step inside with me? I want you to identify her if you can.”
My stomach bottoms out as I follow him inside. Just on the other side of the couch with another cop kneeling beside her I see Lucy. She’s got a gash on the side of her head dripping blood. “Oh God,” I mutter.
“Is that your nanny?” he asks.
“Yes, Lucy Rivens.”
The cop presses two fingers again to the microphone. “309 Phoenix…we have an unconscious female requesting EMS 10-17 to my 10-20. Also a potential 207 in progress.”
Someone chatters back at him through static a bunch of numbers I don’t understand.
“Now what’s going on?” he asks me.
I feel like I’m hyperventilating as I manage to tell him in short, choppy sentences. “I have a two-month-old daughter. That’s her nanny, Lucy. I have full custody and her mom is not allowed to see her. She’s been harassing us. Been stalking my girlfriend. My daughter’s gone so I know it was her. Lida Martin. I’m confident she shot Pepper, did that to Lucy, and then took Charlie.”
“Tell me everything you can about her—detailed description and if you know what type of vehicle she drives.”
I tell him what he asks, which is pitifully little. I have no clue if she has a car. No clue where she’s staying. No clue what she’s going to do with my daughter. The police officer takes my information and they issue an APB on Lida.
“Can you check on Pepper?” I ask the cop.
“Sure,” he says with a small smile. I think he’s actually feeling bad for me now and he pulls his cell phone out. I turn around in a slow circle, and watch the commotion.
Now that a child is missing, things move rapidly. The ambulance arrives and transports Lucy. A crime scene unit shows up and starts dusting for prints. Plainclothes detectives come and start to question me. They shut up just long enough for the cop who had checked on Pepper for me to let me know that she was in surgery.
My emotions are pulled in a hundred different directions. I’m sick with worry about Charlie and I’m despondent that Pepper could die and I’m so angry at Lida that I want some vigilante justice and I want to be the one to deliver it.
It’s more of a relief that I could have ever imagined when Bishop pulls into my driveway. He’s stopped by a few cops but eventually let through and comes to meet me while I stand in the front yard. I had called him just before the plainclothes detectives showed up.
When he reaches me, we don’t do the handshake, back slap thing. I’d told him on the phone that Pepper had been shot and Charlie kidnapped, so when we’re toe-to-toe, he pulls me into a hard hug and doesn’t let go.
I let myself weaken for just a moment and press my face into his shoulder. Then I’m done and I pull away.
“What’s happened since we talked?” he asks as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“They’re out looking for Lida, but fuck…we don’t even know if she has a car. They’re organizing search teams to start walking the neighborhood in case…”
My throat clogs. I can’t even repeat the words the cops told me.
In case Lida had harmed Charlie and disposed of her.
“It’s okay,” he says as he puts a hand on my shoulder. “What about the media?”
“What?” I ask him in confusion. My mind is starting to go blissfully numb because it’s been so overwhelmed.
“You need to get on camera and let the news organizations have this. You need to post this on your social media accounts, and you need to ask people to open their eyes and look around. Need to get pictures of Lida and Charlie out there. You need to get the fucking citizens of Phoenix out helping their team’s star goalie.”
I just blink at Bishop as it dawns on me that he may be the smartest person in the entire world. Even the cops hadn’t suggested this although they might have at some point. Charlie’s been gone less than an hour so maybe they’d have other ideas as we progressed.
“You’re a fucking genius, Bishop,” I mutter and then walk over to one of the detectives I’d talked to. “Do you need me here or can I go to the hospital?”
