Page 2 of Aaron (Dresden Pride #1)

“Like I said, they were calm because you were. When this hits the paper, however, I’d not expect things to go as well as they went today.

” He said he would expect it to be just as chaotic as it could go.

“That’s about right. They’ll want answers, and since one of my team members will stay behind to answer them, you let them take the heat off the parents.

They’re going to want to know why things got as far as they did, even though everyone was safe inside their classrooms.”

They pulled up in front of the medical examiner’s office and went into the big gray building.

There were cops all around, most of them he knew who they were.

But they weren’t causing any trouble, so he didn’t send them on their way.

Two of the female officers he knew had kids at the school, so they had a vested interest that things went according to plan.

He was glad that he was able to let them know that all the kids were safe and hadn’t known what was going on until it was over.

“Mary is only in preschool, and I was worried she’d get upset when the doors were locked down.

I spoke to the teachers, a couple of them anyway, and they were telling me that they knew something was going on, but figured it was just a drill again.

They’d been practicing all year with what to do with different strategies with shooters to tornadoes.

” He figured as much. “Ms. Apple let the teachers know through a phone call that things would be in lockdown for a few more hours, and that was when they realized that things were real this time.”

“They all did a good job. I can’t say that enough.

Without their having it drilled into them the way things were supposed to go, there is no telling what might have happened.

But no one was hurt other than the shooters, and that’s all one can hope for.

Not that I wish them dead, but it was better than we could have hoped for.

” She hugged him. “Not that I mind, but what was that for? I only showed up after everything was finished up.”

“You just happened to give me the most information that I heard today. Thanks for that.” He told her that it was all right and started to say that it was his job. But all he did was nod at her and tell her he had to go. Aaron wanted to get the next part of the day over with.

The autopsies had begun before he entered the room for which it was designated for.

With the agents in charge of it, all he did was stand back and listen.

He was good at listening to things like this.

It was getting up close with the bodies that bothered him on some level.

When they started on the second body, he was asked if he had any questions about body one.

There would be no more names to those who had been killed, nor the person who killed them.

There wasn’t any way they were going to make either of them famous for what had transpired today.

“They were both killed with multiple bullets?” The agent answered for him.

“So they were both shot by each officer. That’s good to know.

I know you’ve retrieved the bullets, and they’ll go a long way in saying who had the killing shot, but I’d rather it wasn’t posted anywhere.

I don’t want any harm to come to my officers.

” The agent agreed, saying that his office would ensure that no one was named on who did the final shot.

“Thank you for that. From this point forward, they won’t be named either, correct? Again for the same reason.”

“They’ll simply be called shooter one and shooter two.

Does that make you feel better?” He said that it did and thanked the man.

“I understand where you’re going, but I have a feeling that for every person who doesn’t mention names, there will be that many more saying it around your town.

If nothing else, small towns get better intel than we do when we’re doing the investigation. ”

With both bodies being finished, Aaron was ready to go home.

It had been a very long day for him and the others, and he just wanted a hot meal and a nice, relaxing evening in front of the television.

After making sure that his officers were home too, he made his way to the house that he’d been living in since he was eighteen, having moved out of his parents’ home.

Sometimes he had to stop and really think about how long that had been.

It seemed forever, but it had only been ten years.

Christ, he just wanted things to be back to normal.

~*~

Betty hated hospitals with a passion. She’d been coming to this one since she was old enough to walk. And since getting married, she’d been here more than most. Having a deadbeat husband around made it so she was his punching bag for—

“Mrs. Palmer, when did you say you fell again?” She knew that the nurse knew she’d no more fallen than she’d gotten up winning the lottery this morning.

But they both played the game so she could hold her head up high.

She told her earlier this morning. “You have some other bruises on your back that look older. Have you fallen more than the one time?”

“I’m pretty clumsy.” The nurse, whose name tag said her name was Megan, asked her when that fall had been. “Three days ago now. That’s when I thought that I’d broken my leg.”

She still couldn’t look at her leg the way it was bruised up.

From the knee to the bottom of her foot was all bruised.

And some of the colors on it, red to a dark blue black color blended together in a way that reminded her of the darkest nightmares she’d ever had.

Larry had taken a baseball bat to her body when he thought that dinner wasn’t coming to the table for him quick enough.

Dirty bastard. She hated him with a passion that couldn’t be described.

He’d been beating her up for the last five years, and she was sick of it and of him.

“The doctor wants to set you up with a head scan to make sure you don’t have a concussion.

” She didn’t even glance at Larry to see if it was all right.

He’d be the loving husband until they got home.

He told Megan that he’d be all right with her getting one, so long as he could go with her.

“I’m sorry, sir, but the room that they have to do it in has restrictions.

You’d have to take off all metal, and that would include your wallet that’s connected to that chain.

Not to mention all the rings you have on your face.

That nose one would cause the machine to tear it from your face. ”

“I guess it will be all right then. I don’t want to have to take out my piercings.

A couple of them are new.” She knew that too.

The one that he had on his lip was new, as was one of the ones on his ear.

She didn’t have a single earring in her body and liked it just fine.

But she did have to remove her watch. She hated to do that, especially when Larry said he’d hold onto it for her.

The watch had been a gift from her mom when she’d graduated from high school.

It meant the world to her, and that’s why Larry would hold onto it.

He knew she wouldn’t leave without it. Or so he thought.

She thought that living without him around would be well worth losing the watch over.

And she knew that her mother would agree with her had she been alive.

They wheeled her down to the room for the scan, and as soon as the door was closed behind her, Megan turned into this other person. Like she was a she bear and she was one of her cubs. All the indifference that she had before was gone.

“We’ve been waiting for you to come back in. Did you want out of this mess you’re in? We can and will help you.” She told her that he’d find her. “No, he won’t. He will have no idea where you are, especially if you press charges against him to put him in jail for a few days.”

The police officer that she was introduced to was Joey Dillon.

She knew him from high school. He told her that he was there to take her statement if she was leaving tonight.

It all seemed so rushed, but she had a feeling with the way things were going that this nurse and Joey had done this before.

He smiled at her and told her that she’d be correct.

She’d not even realized that she’d said anything out loud, but he seemed to understand that, too.

“I’m not human and can read your mind. That’s why we were so sure that you wanted out of this with Larry.

He’s a mean bastard.” She said that he’d hurt her if he even thought that she was leaving him.

“We’ve done this dozens of times before, and we’ve had no trouble.

You just tell me what you want to do and you’ll be gone before he has any idea that you’ve been taken away. ”

She pressed charges, one of the hardest things that she’d ever done, for fear of him, then she got dressed in something other than what she’d come in with.

It had been her night gown, so she was glad for the other clothing.

The shoes she was given pinched her feet a bit, but she didn’t care.

If she could get away, then she’d wear them the rest of her life.

After getting dressed, she was taken down the hall and put into an awaiting car and was on her way.

Betty had been given money and a change of clothing from Megan.

Megan told her that the next two places she went were going to be just as helpful and to do what she was told to do.

Before she was even out of the parking lot, she realized that Megan might be hurt.

But she knew that in order to make this work, she was going to have to do some things that she’d never have thought of doing with Larry. She was on her way to freedom.