Her Baby Plays Cupid

Chapter 10 Wrung Out

Greg Sanchez's POV

This is too much. Just too f*****g much. I am wrung out emotionally. I have no idea how Leah is holding it together, because I'm on the edge. I think I'm losing my mind. Or maybe my mind is forcing me to see the truth.

Keith drove us safely back to the Graystone Security building, entering the underground parking area and closing the overhead door before allowing Leah to get up off the floor of the back seat area. We lugged her suitcases up to her suite where we left her alone at her insistence.

Carly and I entered our suite breathing a sigh of relief. The past twenty-four hours has stressed both of us out, both physically and emotionally. On top of that, I needed to get some things off my chest. Needed to talk through things. Needed to tell Carly about all the weird s**t that I haven't told her yet. We sat in the living area and I started talking. Carly, bless her heart, automatically started recording with her phone.

"Weird s**t started yesterday afternoon when Jake and I went on shift. The chief was in the squad room, not something that ever happens, and he was paying close attention to the patrol assignments. Even making a suggestion to switch our patrol area with another unit. "Give the two of them a bit of a change of environment before they take up new roles as detectives."

Every man in the squad sent silent questioning gazes to our shift supervisor, wondering what his response would be. There was a bit of back and forth, but eventually the shift supervisor agreed.

Jake and I exchanged puzzled looks. The way the chief curled his lip when making his suggestion, the look of triumph in his eyes upon winning the argument set our teeth on edge and our senses on high alert. Especially when the chief immediately left the squad room throwing us sly looks.

Out in the cruiser, Jake was muttering under his breath. "He's coming for her. I can feel it." Before starting the car he pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Hi beautiful," he crooned, all the love for Leah evident in his voice. "No, I'm good. Just starting shift." I couldn't hear her end of the conversation because Jake had the phone pressed tight to his ear. "I just wanted to tell you I love you with all my heart." He paused, a smile lighting up his face at her response. "You're my everything, Baby. See you after shift. Love you, too." Then he made several kissy sounds before ending the call.

He sat staring at his phone for several moments, then looking straight ahead he uttered a statement that was prophetic now that I think about it. "Greg, if anything should happen to me and I don't make it home to Leah, you and Carly help her through it, okay? Let her know that she can move on, find love again. Let her know I love her."

He started the car, put it in gear, and pulled out into traffic. "And Greg? Be on high alert. My gut is telling me something is up, coming my way, coming for me. You know what I mean?"

I did, indeed, know what he meant. His words sent a chill up my spine, it was as though he knew something viscerally. A police officer's gut instinct was the most powerful weapon in his arsenal.

The way the rest of our shift unfolded had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Getting the call to the accident scene had Jake and I questioning our hearing.

"That's strange," I muttered. "Units 33 and 45 are closer to that area. Why are they being sent in to opposite direction? That doesn't make the least bit of sense."

Arriving at the accident we saw a man kneeling over the body of a woman. It looked like he was trying to wake her up or something, but now I'm wondering if he wasn't arranging the body. Jake had been stunned to realize the kneeling man was his cousin, Matthew Jacob Turner. Their resemblence was uncanny, more like identical twins than first cousins. The only visible difference was the tattoo sleeves on the cousin's arms and hands.

Jake asked me to get Matthew's statement while he checked on the woman. I heard him murmer 'that's strange' and 'when did you say the accident happened?' seconds before the ambulance pulled up, the EMT's jumping into action and pushing Jake out of the way. I finished taking Matthew's statement as the accident reconstruction team now on site were taking photos and examining the area. Shortly thereafter, the head of that team gave the all clear for the now destroyed vehicle to be removed from the scene. Matthew was excused, got in a car now waiting for him, and drove off.

Once the accident scene was cleared away Jake and I got back in our cruiser. Jake shut off the dash cam recorder, his body cam, and mine before speaking. "That was f*****g weird, don't you think?" he asked, a strange calm in his voice.

"Certainly not the average accident scene. The victim was Andrea Cole, Jeremy Cole's daughter, right? That family is going to lose their s**t," had been my response.

"Yeah, someone's making moves, Greg. Keep your eyes open, don't do anything that would get you killed. And if anything happens?" He tapped our body cams and the dash cam unit, "take these and put them in a safe place. Give them to Carly to take to her work, okay? Also, grab my kit bag from the trunk, there's something in there."

I was getting seriously creeped out by Jake's deadpan instructions and what he was saying. "Jakey, brother. What's going through your head? This isn't like you, not one bit."

"I don't know for sure, just something feels off. Like today is it for me. Just keep your eyes open. And look after Leah." With that, he reached out flipping on our body cams and the dash cam recorder.

Just as it was getting on to dark we got a call from dispatch. Reports of suspicious loiterers over near the rear entrance to a business closed for the night. We drove over there, and Jake parked about thirty feet from the building, car running, headlights shining on the rear door. We exited the cruiser to take a look around.

Suddenly I was grabbed from behind and placed in a choke hold, a hand gun pressed to my head. "Stay still and stay quiet," a raspy voice hissed in my ear. "We don't want you, we want him."

Jake was now about twenty feet in front of the cruiser facing a person holding a gun close to their side. The whole interaction from start to finish may have taken a minute. A minute that ended with three gunshots. Three bullets hitting my best friend, an patrol partner, in the upper chest. A minute to change lives forever.

As soon as the shooter walked away, the man behind me released his hold on me, shoving me forward so hard I fell to my knees. That gave them time to get in their vehicle and drive away."

I finally ran out of words. Carly, who had been listening intently, immediately asked a question. "Jake's kit bag? Where is it?"

"His kit bag is in a dumpster somewhere. I dumped his stuff into my kit bag when I stashed the body and dash cams in it. I wanted to make it look like the shooter and his buddy had used it to carry the body and dash cams. After everything Jake had said earlier in the day I knew I had to make it look like the shooter had the stuff. Like I said in the meeting, those two aren't going to be able to dispute my story."

"Greg, Honey, first thing in the morning when Jose clocks in, you and I are going to meet with him. Leah needs her sleep, so we'll leave her be. You and I will tell Jose everything we learned this evening, go over what you just told me, and ask him to arrange the secret meeting. Are you going to be okay to do that?" Carly asked concern showing on her face.

"Yeah, I can do that. Tomorrow I can do that. Right now though?" I said looking at the time, "I need to go to bed."

Later on, tucked in bed, wrapped tightly in Carly's embrace, I cried. I cried for the 'brother' I had lost. Yes, I considered him a brother. Not just because we were brothers in uniform, but brothers of the heart. Not many people knew that I grew up in the foster system. My birth mother gave me up when I was two. Not because she didn't love or want me. Because she was a single mother struggling to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. She believed the best thing she could do for me was relinquish me to foster care.

Fortunately for me, the family that took me in, loved me, raised me, and treated me as their own, was Jake's parents; Henry and Bernice Turner. They had wanted to adopt me, but my mother would never sign away her rights, hoping and believing that one day she could provide a home for me. It never happened. But the Turner's never gave up on me, never turned their backs on me. Rather they treated me as their own. I will be forever grateful for their love, care, and dedication.

Henry died four years ago. Cancer. Losing Jake and Bernice now meant I lost my family.

I cried long into the night.