19 – Robbery at 24/7 (4)

 

Luke, Clay, and Skye sat at the kitchen table, eating baked chicken. Or, Luke and Clay were. Skye kept poking her fork at the tiny pieces Luke had cut for her.

“Come on, Skye,” Clay said. “Just try it.”

Skye crinkled her nose. “It smells weird.”

It smelled fine to Luke, but he could sympathize. There were plenty of other food smells that bothered him too. “Eat some of the potatoes then.”

Skye switched from poking her chicken to poking her potatoes. Luke sighed.

“Guess you’re not getting dessert,” Clay said.

Skye let out a loud noise that sounded like a cross between a whine and a moan.

“If you try something, you get dessert,” Luke said. “If not, then I’ll pour you a bowl of cereal and that’s all you’re getting.”

“But I’ve tried it before and it made me throw up.”

Luke put his elbow on the table and rubbed his forehead. There was no way of knowing if she was telling the truth or lying. He looked to his father for guidance.

“Maybe you’ll have better luck this time,” Clay said to Skye.

Someone knocked at the door.

Clay set his fork down. “You expecting anyone?”

Luke shook his head. They continued eating silently.

The knocking continued, followed by a muffled shout.

“I’m gonna go see who it is.” Clay got out of his chair, and walked to the family room. Luke looked over the open gap between the kitchen counter and top cupboards to watch him peek through the curtains, then open the door. A pair of police officers stood on the other side of it. Clay turned around, and called. “Luke, it’s for you.”

Luke swallowed a lump in his throat as he got out of his chair. What the hell did they want now? He patted Skye on the shoulder. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.”

He approached the front door. The two officers were Bradley and Gish. “What’s going on?” Luke asked them.

“We have a few questions for you,” Bradley said.

Luke recalled his eventful lunch break earlier that he intended to share with his dad. But then Skye ran up to him to show him some pictures she drew, and after that, Clay wanted him to watch dinner while he went out to buy a few things from the grocery store. Then, they all sat down to eat, which led to their food battle with Skye. And now, two cops stood on the front porch.

They probably found out he was at that 24/7 Mart while the robbery occurred, and wanted to ask him what he saw. “Sure.”

“Where were you at 12:22 this afternoon?” Gish asked.

“At the 24/7. I needed a drink.”

“You needed a drink?”

“Yeah.”

“And did you get that drink?” Bradley asked.

“No.” Luke folded his arms. “Is this about the robbery?”

“What robbery?” Clay asked, eyes on Luke.

“I never got around to telling you, but during my lunch break, I went to 24/7, and someone came in and robbed the place.”

“Someone came in?” Gish narrowed his eyes at Luke.

“Yeah. He came at the cashier with a gun and everything. I’m the one who called the cops.”

“You sure about that?” Bradley asked, his expression similar to Gish’s.

“Yes...”

“The cashier told us what the man looked like.” Bradley made a show of glancing at the tablet in his hand. “A tall Caucasian male. Long brown hair, wearing a baseball cap turned backwards.”

Clay raised an eyebrow at Luke. Luke cleared his throat. “That’s right. He also had a red bandanna covering his nose and mouth.”

“It’s interesting,” Gish said, “because you’re a tall Caucasian man with long brown hair. And don’t you usually wear a backwards baseball cap?”

“You don’t think I did it?”

“You’re the only man in town who matches that description.”

“He was probably from out of town.” Luke raised his chin. “If you’d check the cameras, you’d see two long haired men in baseball caps in the store at the same time.”

Bradley coughed. “The cameras weren’t working. And the cashier claims there was only only the robber in the store at the time.”

“If so, who called the cops?” Luke leaned his shoulder against the wall. “Don’t you record those 911 calls? You’ll hear it’s my voice. I can even show you my call history-”

“Uh-huh.” Bradley made a note on his tablet. “Can we search the house?”

“What for?”

“Weapons and red bandannas.”

Luke covered his face with his hands. “You’re not going to find the weapon or red bandannas here.”

“Then you won’t mind us searching.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Clay said coldly. “Are you charging my son with anything or not?”

“Depends on what we find inside.” Gish pushed his way through the door, Bradley right behind him.

 

~~~~~

 

As soon as Maple got home from the hospital, she sequestered herself in her bedroom, and pulled out her secret phone to text Jake everything. She sat on the carpeted floor, her back against the side of her bed.

I hope he dies, Jake texted back.

Maple felt relief. Relief that she wasn’t the only one who wished that. So it’s not bad that I want that too?

I would too if I were you.

Maple smiled at his words. Footsteps approached her bedroom, and she shoved her secret phone under her mattress. She flopped onto her bed with her actual phone in hand, right as someone knocked on her door.

“Come in.”

It was Walker and Carter. Walker frowned at her phone. “You’re not texting that Jake, are you?”

“No.”

Carter held out his hand. Maple sighed, and gave him her phone. He scrolled and tapped at it for a bit, then handed it back. “Good. We’ve been talking, about what’s going on with Neil.”

“And?”

“We think it would be good for you to stay with him-”

“Stay with him?!” Maple’s heart pounded. “Like, live stay?”

“He’s going to need a lot of help when he wakes up,” Walker said. “You’re going to be marrying him eventually, after he recovers from all this.”

“But… but…” Maple grasped for an excuse. “It’s indecent! A young woman, living with a man she’s not married to.”

Carter rolled his eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal. As long as you’re not sleeping in the same room.”

Maple was almost positive Neil lived in a one bedroom apartment, though he probably had a couch. Still. Living with him? “I thought he was going to rehab until he’s well enough to take care of himself.”

“You heard the doctor,” Walker said. “Even with rehab, he’ll never be the same.”

“But-”

“As soon as he’s up for a wedding, you’re marrying him.”

“I’m not marrying him!”

Carter slapped her across the face. Hard. Maple held her stinging cheek, too shocked to protest. Her brothers had never struck her before.

Walker pointed his finger at her. “You are marrying him, whether you want to or not. So you might as well get used to living with him.”

Her brothers left the room, leaving Maple to gape after them. Could things get any worse?

Maybe Neil wouldn’t survive the surgery. Maybe he was dead now. Maple could only hope.

 

~~~~~

 

Not for the first time, Luke watched the cops tear his house apart. Skye watched, wide-eyed, from behind Luke’s leg. Luke rubbed her head. “Don’t worry, kiddo. They’ll be gone soon.”

“Found it!” Bradley called out from the hall closet.

“What?” Gish strode over to Bradley, who pulled a hunting rifle from the closet.

“It’s the weapon.”

“You think I walk around carrying that thing?!” The robber probably would have done a lot more damage if he had that instead. “I doubt Baum would have been able to walk to McNeil if I’d shot him with that.”

Gish whipped towards him. “Is that an admission?”

“What?”

“You said, ’if I’d shot him with that.’ You saying you shot him, but with something else?”

“No!” Luke let out a breath. “If he was shot with that. It would have done more damage to his leg than the little gun the robber had.”

“You know, it’s funny.” Bradley strode up to Luke, and crossed his arms. “We never mentioned anyone getting shot. Yet you seem to know every detail.”

“Because I witnessed it!”

“Baum said there was no one in that store but the robber and the cashier when he arrived.”

“I was hiding behind the shelves because there was someone firing off a gun! I left after Baum and the cashier had McNeil’s situation under control.”

“You left.” Gish stood next to Bradley, mirroring his pose. “Instead of staying behind to help a seriously injured officer, you left him there to die.”

He died? It shouldn’t have been that big of a surprise, and Luke doubted him helping would have made much a difference. “I’m sorry he died. But Baum had already called for an ambulance. The cashier had a lot of bandages, and the two were working on stopping all the blood. There was no room for me in there. He would have died anyway.”

“To possibly die,” Bradley corrected. “He’s in surgery right now. There’s still a chance he’ll survive.”

“He might as well be dead,” Gish grumbled. “The doctor says he’ll never work in the force again.”

“How tragic,” Luke muttered under his breath.

“And Baum could have used the help so he could tend to his leg,” Bradley said. “His injury got worse because he was too focused on saving McNeil to do anything about it. They say he’s gonna be out for a few months.”

Luke hadn’t thought of that part. As soon as Baum saw McNeil’s situation, he suddenly seemed to have recovered from his leg injury. He must have been running purely on adrenaline. “I’m sorry. He seemed okay when he was helping McNeil.”

“Well he wasn’t, and now our force is out two people. We’re squeezed thin because you couldn’t be bothered to help.”

“So you believe I’m not the robber now?” Luke asked.

“Let me see your call history,” Gish said, resigned.

Luke pulled out his phone, and navigated to the screen. It was the last call he made. “See? I called 911 at 12:22. Same time you asked me where I was.”

Bradley and Gish looked at his screen. “Fine,” Bradley said. “We’ll listen to the 911 recording to make sure it sounds like you. But we’re keeping an eye on you.”

“What for?”

But the officers left the house, got in their car, and drove off. Leaving Luke to wonder what they meant by that.