Chapter 26
Officer McGill sat in the wheelchair with Jenny at his side. The day was gorgeous if a bit balmy. A thin trail of clouds parted the turquoise sky as they watched the lacquered oak casket be lowered into the ground. Lee stood beside his late partner’s family holding a crisply folded flag. His eyes were leaking but his expression remained formal.
He bent at the waist to present the triangle of cloth to the mourning parents, whispering a standard line of thanks and consolation as he did. Lee and McGill each thought of the numerous other funerals and loved ones lost in the line of duty. Eric mouthed the words as Lee offered them to the Jenkins clan. Jenny railed inwardly that taking life was so easy but keeping a life so hard.
The service ended with a trio of firearm volleys and the sea of blue queued up to offer condolences to the family. Eric stared off in the distance, battling the nausea and drowsiness of his pain meds. Jenny thought of how close he had come to sharing a funeral and visions of gutting the shooter materialized.
The killer closed her eyes and inhaled. She smelled honeysuckle from the nearby rock wall and was reminded of exploring the park as a child. She let the calm memory push away her impulse to track down the trigger-happy meth cook.
A tap on her arm brought Jenny from her reverie. She looked up and found Lee in his dress uniform. The thin black stripe still across his badge.
“Want me to push Eric? It’s kind of uphill back to the car. And if it’s okay with you, I’d like a few minutes to chat. You know, guy to guy.” He asked.
Jenny nodded and stood. She glanced around for a familiar face. Instead she saw a mass of police and four grieving relatives. Jenny noticed the strong resemblance between Officer Jenkins and her older sister and twin brother. She let Lee and Eric have their conversation while she strode over to pay her respects.
In the back of her mind, all she could hear through the platitudes was the desire for vengeance. For justice for Jenkins. The sweet rookie cop deserved to have her killer taken down. Jenny told herself she had Eric back and that would have to do. She said goodbye to everyone and followed her boyfriend and his best friend up the path to the parking lot. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she would keep this promise.
***
Eric’s recovery was agonizingly slow, and Jenny could see he hated every minute of being unable to manage on his own. She didn’t mind taking care of him and Lee showed up nearly every day to visit, lend a hand, and update them on the search for his shooter. Still, the discomfort Eric McGill displayed had little to do with his wound.
“Jenny, I can handle a quick trip to the bathroom on my own; you don’t need to help me.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. But take it easy this time. Last time you were in such a rush you nearly ripped your stitches.”
The killer stepped out of the way and monitored her boyfriend’s steps from a short distance. After several minutes he had completed the eight-foot trek to the restroom. From the sounds within, Jenny realized he’d barely made it in time. She hated the shooter for adding this helplessness to the injury Eric bore.
A surge of adrenaline made her clench her jaw and fists. Jenny Grand wanted to track down the lowlife and teach him a lesson. Her kind of lesson. She pined for the opportunity to make the meth cook writhe in agony, defenseless as she drained the life from his veins. A life for a life and pain for pain.
The rocketing of water returned her to the moment. Eric was going to try to walk back to the bed on his own and she needed to be alert to catch him if he faltered but still look calm so he didn’t feel like she was coddling him. The murderess snatched a stack of pants and waited at the dresser between the door and mattress.
As soon as a ray of light emerged from the small room, she began stuffing the clothing into the drawers. She put on her best poker face and kept Eric in her peripheral vision. He inched into the room and stopped beside her.
“You know you aren’t fooling anyone. I know you placed yourself right in my path because you thought I’d fall.” He said.
She ignored the creeping blush.
“No, I just wanted to get this laundry put away while I had a minute.”
He smiled and laid a hand on her hip, turning her to face him.
“Liar. You know you can’t hide anything from me.”
She kissed him and aided her big protector back to his bedrest. The killer tucked in the lawman and handed him the remote.
“Sweetie, you don’t know a thing.” She teased.
With a kiss on the forehead Jenny left the room. She retreated to her craft room to gaze longingly at her trophies. She wondered what she would’ve taken from the shooter. For an hour, Jenny Grand considered the possibility that her desire to catch and punish the meth cook might be a sign God was okay with her breaking her deal just this once.
She tossed the theory aside and lifted Figment off a cardboard box labelled “puzzles.”
“Yeah, that would be reaching. I’m not crazy enough to think God is giving me signs or speaking to me and telling me to kill. That would be weird.”
She stroked the cat’s chin and swayed side to side. Thoughts and ideas tumbled through her mind as she attempted to push the joyous memories of her previous kills away. Jenny sighed and let the feline scamper off to a corner to nap for another eight or nine hours. She should leave her hobby alone and check on Eric.
***
When Lee pounded on the door like—well, like an excited cop—Jenny leapt to her feet to let him in.
“What is going on, Lee? Did you catch the guy?” She inquired.
Lee beamed from ear to ear and a spark radiated from within his eyes.
“I’ll tell you in a second. Is Eric up; I want him to hear the news?”
They flitted to the bedroom and rapped lightly to make sure Eric was up for company.
“Come in already! You don’t think I know your gorilla pounding after all these years, Lee? Get in here and tell me something for goodness’ sake.” He yelled.
Jenny sat on the bed and the couple waited for Officer Lee to explain his excitement.
“So, we haven’t got the guy yet, but there is a good lead. We know the shooter is hiding out over by the crack dens on Wilshire. It’s just out of our official jurisdiction but our buddies in that precinct are on their way to go door to door and haul that prick out by his cojones.”
McGill laughed and started asking rapid fire questions on every detail of the search. Jenny smiled but seethed inside. She wanted to see the man who’d killed Jenkins and nearly killed Eric suffer. She wanted to make him beg to die. Now that could never happen.
“That’s great, Lee. I’m going to get us a couple of drinks to celebrate. You sit here and talk shop with Eric.”
Jenny slipped out of the room without awaiting a response. Her chance had gone. She knew she’d promised not to hunt anymore but if ever someone deserved her wrath it was that man. She knew her hobby wouldn’t be halted much longer. She was getting far too moody without the release that came from a good kill. And to make matters worse, she seemed to be eating her frustration.
Jenny grabbed a couple of beers for the boys and a bottle of Cherry Coke for herself. She pulled a fudgesicle from the freezer and carried the refreshments to the rear of the house. The boys were animatedly chatting about the possible sentence for the shooter and the kinds of accidents cop-killers tended to have in prison. She paid them little attention as she visualized flaying the man.