His Lovely Ward

Chapter 12

Angelica ran towards Kevin’s body and unconsciously brushed Henry aside. She positioned the old man so that he was facing the ceiling, felt for a pulse and any sign of breathing. When no sign of life was seen or felt, Angelica positioned herself and started CPR.

“Dalton, I don’t think it’s necessary—”

“I’m a doctor,” she cut Henry’s statement, concentrating on counting. He fell quiet and chose the time to search the room for any clues while she went on with her work.

“I hear an ambulance, you can stop now,” he said moments later, his voice a whisper.

“I’m okay,” she said, stopping for a moment to feel for a pulse and continued once again.

“Angelica…” he said gently, looking at her determined face.

“I’m fine!” she shouted, her head bent. “I’m fine…” her shoulders started to shake. He caught her in his arms before she collapsed on Kevin’s lifeless body.

“It’s okay…” he murmured against hair.

“Why does he have to die? Why?”

He didn’t have a really good answer to that. He was still in shock himself.

“I attended two parties today and they did not end so well, do you know that?” she started to say. “What a freaking day!”

“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he tried to say.

“I’m going to kill the bastard who did this,” she said with rage, looking at Kevin’s deathly pale face.

He cupped her face in his hands and looked at her straight in the eyes. For a moment, he was lost into their depths. “You are not going to kill anyone, understand? You’re in shock. I better take you home. I’ll come back here to give my statement to the police.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m staying.”

Their gazes battled for a minute. “Okay,” Henry finally yielded.

  *****

“We came by to talk to him after the party,” Henry was telling the police officer minutes later.

Angelica sat frozen in the couch in the living room beside him. Kevin’s body had already been taken, wrapped in a black body bag, for further investigation as to cause of death. People had secured his study up stairs, brushing every inch of the room for prints. She leaned her frail body against Henry for support. Though she said she wanted to stay, she was wishing she was somewhere far away.

“How did he look during the party? Was he anxious? Nervous?”

“He was himself,” Henry said calmly.

“He doesn’t like parties,” Angelica offered weakly. “He never liked parties.”

“What time did he go home? Was he alone?”

“He left about eleven o’clock. John Stewart took him home,” Henry answered.

“Who’s John Stewart?”

“Another partner of the firm. Kevin considered him as a son as I’ve heard.”

“Can you give us information how to contact Mr. Stewart?”

“Yes, of course,” Henry took out his phone and gave the number to the officer.

“So, Mr. Bell, what did you want to talk to Mr. Barnes about?”

“It’s about work.”

“You weren’t able to talk to him during the party?”

“We were both busy about something else.”