Twisted Knot

Different shades of black

~Paul~

Sirens swirled. Blood was everywhere. My head was pounding.

I went to grab Perry as he collapsed on the ground, and I heard Elizabeth screaming.

"Jeremy!" She cried. "Oh my God, you're bleeding!" I looked over to see Jeremy's arm bleeding, and sure enough, scraps of metal were embedded in it. Sirens were in the distance, and I knew they were coming.

"Tags off your coat," I said. "Press it to the wound, but not too tightly. Just put light pressure on it." I had no idea if my advice was correct, but I sounded in control and Elizabeth immediately went to work, helping her son. I laid the detective back, taking off my shirt and trying in vain to stop the blood form his midsection. I felt for a pulse, and felt a faint beating in his throat. He was alive.

When the paramedics arrived, I couldn't even tell how much time had passed. Blood was everywhere, covering my body. Not my blood, Perry's blood. Jeremy was quiet, which didn't seem like a good sign to me, but Elizabeth was unemotionally keeping vigil over her son. I have never felt more relief when I saw the flash of lights and realized that help was here, taking away the bleeding detective and was going to help Jeremy. As the paramedics took over Joe, I rushed over to Elizabeth. An EMT, a woman, was inspecting Jeremy's arm and asking medical background questions. I grabbed Beth's hand and squeezed it, waiting for her to relax the tension.

"Call Stefan," She whispered. "I don't care if is on fire, I want him in that hospital with us. Our son is hurt, a killer is out there, and she just car bombed us."

"I know," I said. "I will get Stefan, I will find him." I kissed her forehead and she felt so cold, as if all of her blood was draining from her body and she was lifeless.

"Jeremy will be ok," I said quietly. She nodded and stared off into the distance.

"Detective Perry might not be," Liz said. "This whole time I've been annoyed with him, but he is probably a good guy. How many deaths are on my shoulders, as some twisted consequences of my dysfunctional choices?"

"This person, whoever they are, you can't blame yourself," I said. "Just like you had nothing to do with Javier ten years ago." She said nothing else, so I turned and looked at an officer.

"Mr. Davis," She said. "I am going to need to ask you to ride in a squad car to the hospital, since you're not family. I also need to ask you some questions about the accident." I nodded and I looked back at Elizabeth as Jeremy was loaded into a paramedics. Her eyes were lifeless, as if she'd been broken and didn't know what to cling to. I hadn't felt so moved by her spirit since I'd seen her crying in the graveyard, and I had a feeling that death was nearby. Sometimes your instincts try to tell you something, and you can't explain it, but you know a deeper truth. Like the day I'd met Elizabeth, and I knew not even a marriage would stop me from loving her. But we were saved, and we'd be safe at the hospital, I thought idly. I didn't realize that we'd never really been safe to begin with.

After we got to the hospital, I waited outside in the hallway, watching Elizabeth speak with the doctors. The oddest of my scenario snuck into my mind as I silently waited to help them, the people I loved. I dialed Stefan again, hearing it go straight to voicemail, again. I wasn't a husband, but I was more than a friend. I wasn't Jeremy's father, but as someone who loved Elizabeth, I desperately needed to know what was happening in that other room. I didn't fit into a box, and ultimately it didn't matter, I just wanted to be there. I heard a soft voice behind me, and I turned to see the police officer who'd driven me here. Her eyes were cloudy and her jaw was set in frustration as she watched me.

"Mr. Davis," she said, "I need you to come with me." I turned to her and nodded, complying without hesitation.

I walked down the hallway to see a woman in a business suit, and she was concealing a weapon under her jacket which appeared to an untrained eye to be just a bulge in her clothing. I nodded at her, already suspecting who she was.

"Mr. Davis," she said. "My name is Agent Teresa Fuentes; I am here on behalf of the FBI." I didn't react, which she must have been anticipating.

"Do you need to ask me some questions," I said quietly, knowing that she probably saw me in a suspicious light.

"Paul Davis," she said, pulling out a pair of silver bracelets. "You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you..."

"Do you think I'm the killer," I said, feeling my spirits die down.

"You have the right to an attorney..."

***********

I saw in the back of a car, my wrists aching. This was wrong, and something was off. They couldn't honestly believe, even for a second that I was the murderer. And worse than that, some bombing wielding, knife and gun happy sociopath was still free, and I couldn't protect Elizabeth from the backseat.

"I guess it's on Stefan now," I whispered. Officer Fuentes got into the car and started to drive as I stared out the window, watching the road swipe by. There was something about the officer, something familiar that I couldn't really place.

"I am innocent you know," I said absently. "This is a mistake, and there are people I need to protect." I shouldn't have spoken without my lawyer, but I was desperate. Maybe, just maybe, she'd understand the honesty in my voice.

"I know," she said, staring ahead. The tucked her long, raven black hair behind her ear. There was a small feather tattoo on her neck, just below her jawline, no larger than an inch or so. Where had I heard about a women with a feather tattoo? One of Stefan's shame stories...

"Isabella?" I asked. I saw her smile and everything became clear. She was the nanny; she was the murderer.

"Impersonating a federal officer is a serious crime," I said.

"So is first degree murder," she said. "It's all just different shades of black now. Besides, you can't judge me, Paul Davis. You're the worst of them all, because even though you seem so upstanding, you been enabling Stefan and his whore for years."

"Stefan is going to find you," I said. "He'll kill you just like he killed your friend Javier."

"Javier is not my friend," she replied. "And Stefan is dead. I shot him this morning, and since I missed Javier, I'll take my time with you."

"Why would you kill me? I have nothing to do with this..."

"Elizabeth let Javier take my sister, without consequence. And now I'm going to show her how it feels to loose everything. Paul you're all she has left, but not for long."

"You don't have to do this," I said, pleading. "There is always redemption." The smile of her face was unmistakably crooked and crazed.

"You're wrong Paul," she said. "There is no more hope, not for either of us."