A Clean Kill

Fifty-three

It was a scene April had played so many times in her life, and one that plagued her dreams. She was in charge of a major investigation that was going terribly wrong, and she couldn't get there to stop it. Someone would die who shouldn't die and as a result she, too, would lose her life or her job, or lose face, which was just as bad. She needed to get out of that car. Same old, same old. The traffic lights were too slow, and cars and trucks blocked the way no matter how aggressively Woody drove, or how loudly he used the horn with the siren to tell people, "Police—get out of the way."

One minute she was in the passenger seat of the black Buick on Second Avenue. The next minute the dispatcher made an all-points bulletin, asking for officers to respond to a report of gunshots fired from a residence on the four hundred block of Fiftieth Street. "Fuck, that's us," Woody said. "Call for an ambulance," April told him. Then, as sirens started wailing in the distance, she jumped out of the car and started running down the block in the pelting rain, determined to be the first re-sponder. She didn't feel the rain and nothing went through her mind, not her past life, or her future with her husband or the Skinny Dragon Mother she loved as much as anybody on earth. All that drove her was her instinct and training. Dodge the oncoming traffic and pedestrians with their umbrellas up and get there.

"Police, move back," she screamed at two men standing outside the house as she unholstered her weapon.

"I called 911. He's in there. He has a gun," a man standing outside told her.

"Get back," she said. "Get away."

She went through the gate, sidestepping as she looked through the shattered panes of the_kitchen window. She'd seen plenty of bad things in her life, but nothing in all her years in police work prepared her for the blood in the kitchen.

"Oh, shit. Oh, shit." She didn't hear herself whimpering as she raised her weapon and fired into the lock. People were yelling behind her, but she didn't hear what they were saying. Like her own Sergeant Gelo before her, she did the same thing. She entered the house alone, and the horror she saw did not stop her from moving forward into the gore. She was trained to go where the trouble was, and that's what she did. The kitchen was awash with blood. Sergeant Gelo was so drenched with it, she couldn't tell what color her clothes had been. She was sprawled across a kitchen chair, and a female body was pinned under it. Neither moved, and for an awful second April thought both were dead.

"Aw, Jesus, Eloise," she said softly.

Eloise took her hand off her stomach. "She got me."

"Looks like you got her, too. Hang on. We'll get you out of here." April moved forward to see how bad it was. Eloise yelled.

"Watch out."

April didn't see it in time. The woman on the floor grabbed her foot and yanked hard, trying to pull her down. "No," she said sharply, wrenching her wet boot from the bloody hand. Then she leaned over and tapped her on the back of the head with the butt of her gun. The Glock was not heavy steel the way the old .48s were. But it was hard enough to put her out.

"She did it," Eloise gasped. "She killed those women." She was already in shock, shivering, and couldn't hold her head up. "Please don't be mad. I got her."

"You sure did. Just hang in there, and I won't be mad. I promise." April ripped off her jacket and murmured encouragement. She didn't even know what she was saying. As she waited for the ambulance to arrive, she prayed for a life and offered her own in exchange. She made a vow to whatever gods might be listening. Let Gelo live, and I'll retire from police work. Just let her live.

April knew that it was one thing for her to mess up personally and get hurt herself as she had done in the past. Her many failures in this case, starting with Alison's death, and ending with one of her own officers doing the unthinkable, was something else. As Gelo's commanding officer, April felt it was her fault that the sergeant took such a crazy risk, and Chinese face demanded that she be the one to go. Gelo was still breathing when the ambulance arrived. April got in with her, an held her hand all the way to the hospital.