Judge, Jury, & Executioner

Chapter 25

Megan had fallen asleep on the sofa and Reaves propped his feet up on the hospital bed next to Maddox's leg. She was still unconscious but the doctors said she'd wake up soon. Maddox's phone was laying on the table next to the hospital bed.

He looked at it and then at Maddox. Don't. She will kill you. Just don't. Reaves, don't. He grabbed the phone and went to unlock it only to find it had a passcode.

Of course.

He sat it back down and looked around the room. There was literally nothing to do. Drake and Doyle were helping clean up the precinct and had gotten an APB out on Emily.

Reaves still couldn't wrap his head around it. She was the Executioner the whole time. She was trying to kill him because of an article he didn't actually write. He just put his name on the byline because they asked him to. But using Noah to do this, how could someone do that to their little brother. Nothing he could find an answer for from a hospital.

Cooke was running a trace on the phone number they got from Ian and she was hoping they'd get a hit soon. Ian still didn't have anything as to who would've hired the Executioner. He pleaded he had no idea that the Executioner was Emily Whelan either.

"Why am I always getting blown up around you?" Maddox asked trying to sit up.

Reaves trail of thought stopped and he looked over at her. And for a brief moment, he wasn't sure what to say. For once, he was speechless. Mainly because, she looked happy. Much happier than before the explosion. How hard did you hit your head?

"What can I say, I crave attention," Reaves joked making her laugh, adding to his surprise.

Maddox coughed and then held her side. Reaves looked over at Megan who was still asleep.

"The Executioner, it's Emily Whelan," Reaves said.

"It's not Carter Pine's ex-wife?" Maddox asked.

Reaves shook his head no.

"McNaughton texted me before the explosion and said he called a judge and that the judge was gonna give him the file this morning. Did he call Drake or Doyle?" Maddox asked.

"I don't know. I got put in charge of hospital duty this morning. Drake stayed here till six, and then he went to try and sleep before going to the precinct," Reaves explained, before pulling his feet off the bed.

"Did uh, they recover anything from the fire that I was holding onto?" Maddox asked.

Reaves looked at her confused, "Uh, no. Should they have?"

Maddox shook her head no and then cleared her throat. Reaves looked around the room.

"So, I Uh-I guess I owe you an apology. I'm sorry I did that background check and didn't tell you. I shouldn't have done it to begin with. And I certainly should've told you. I realized, when that fire was about to kill me, that I didn't want to die without trying to fix things with you," Reaves told her.

Maddox nodded sitting on the bed.

"Thank you," Maddox replied.

"I'm sure that doesn't change anything, but, I mean, I did solve the case first," Reaves said smirking.

Maddox looked at him and scowled. He grinned and then she threatened him with a pillow.

"Can you two keep it down?" Megan asked turning over on the sofa.

"Sorry," Reaves said before adding, "Mom."

Maddox held in the laugh and Reaves felt different than he did. Then Ian's words rattled through his brain.

Tell her the truth. And then she'll prolly tell it back.

Reaves cleared his throat, "I Uh, I've been meaning to ask you-"

Maddox's phone rang and she grabbed it and unlocked it with her thumb. Why didn't I think of that? Maddox answered it and put it on speaker.

"Hey, hows our favorite romantic couple?" Drake Asked.

"I will reach through this phone-"

"Relax, Cooke traced the number and we got a hit. Looks like Emily didn't think about calling with that phone. She called a number in queens and then she went to an apartment building about ten blocks away from where the other phone is. No idea who she called, it was a prepaid burner and they paid cash," Drake explained.

"Why don't you and Cooke check that out. Um, did McNaughton contact you with the name change for Melanie Pine?"

"No, was he supposed to?"

"Don't know. I'll have to call him and find out. Thanks for the update, see you in a bit."

Maddox hung up and Reaves looked at her a little shocked.

"You had a floor fall on you, I think it's okay to take a day-"

"I'm fine, Reaves," Maddox replied before dialing McNaughton.

Reaves withheld the obvious reply as he saw her wince trying to sit further up.

"Detective, good news. I got the name change information," McNaughton said.

"What did she change her name to?" Maddox asked.

"Carol Waters. And guess where she lives?"

"New York?"

"You get a gold star Detective. I'll text you the address. No harm in checking it out. Also, you should get some rest, it's not everyday someone survives a building being dropped on their head."

Maddox looked more annoyed than anything.

"Thanks McNaughton," She said before hanging it up promptly.

Reaves stood up and handed her a change of clothes. She looked at them confused and then Reaves explained.

"What? Did you really think we all thought you'd stay here and actually take it easy? No, we're smarter than that. We may have broken into your apartment and got your clothes."

Maddox replied, "How did you break into my apartment?"

"Liam gave us his spare key."

"You gave it back right?"

Reaves smirked at her while she was all concerned, "Yeah, after I made a copy for myself."

He left her on that and grabbed Megan, forcing her to get up. They exited the hospital room and Reaves squeezed Megan tight.

"You need to go home. Allison will be here to pick you up soon. Once she gets here me and Maddox will head off to investigate that address. But in the meantime, I need you to be safe at home with Allison. Where I know for sure you will be okay," Reaves said.

"Me? Be okay? Your the one that almost got blown up," Megan replied.

"I know. And that's bad parenting 101 getting yourself blown up."

"Not to mention I had to find out through Allison who found out from Liam."

"One, she shouldn't have told you everything. Two, why was Liam calling her?"

Megan shrugged and then rolled her eyes at him.

"Sometimes your too much like your mother," Reaves said.

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"And there she is again."

Reaves hugged her tightly. Wether she realized it or not, he was terrified out of his mind that he might die. But he wasn't about to show her that.

I'm not going anywhere, I hope anyway.