Page 25 of The Raven

The Cop

One week.

One week since the events of Halloween. One week since Raven saved my life. One week of feeling like I couldn’t breathe because I missed her so damn much.

I’d lost count of the times I thought about ending my life, unable to live with the gaping hole in my heart her absence had left behind. The stab wound was healing, but a scar would remain, a constant reminder of the night I lost her.

But I couldn’t end my life.

Not yet.

Not when there was one more thing I needed to take care of.

I would have taken care of it earlier, but things had turned crazy in the days that followed Grim’s death, and I spent much of my time at the station, going over everything that had happened. Well, as much as I could without sounding like I was going stir-crazy.

It transpired that Nick wasn’t a rookie detective after all. He’d been undercover, working on behalf of Internal Affairs. The events of Halloween one year ago hadn’t gone unnoticed, particularly due to my involvement.

When IA started looking closer at Brenner, they found that he wasn’t just turning a blind eye to the Vipers’ criminal activity, but he was taking payments from them to destroy evidence and alter accounts to make sure they were never linked to their crimes.

I didn’t know Nick was IA when he put me in handcuffs and drove me away. But that night, I took a chance on him and told him everything, including how, by some miracle, Raven was back to earn her justice.

Of course, Nick didn’t believe me about a ghost being responsible for the murders, but he also knew I wasn’t involved. He may not have believed me about Raven, but he heard my desperation to get to her before it was too late.

He let me go before we arrived at the station, telling me that it was on the basis that my arrest warrant had been obtained unlawfully; Brenner had lied to the judge.

If he hadn’t let me go, I wasn’t sure what would have become of Raven, not when I saw the dead bird lying on the ground in the den, and the fury with which Grim choked Raven.

The investigation into the Vipers’ murders was still ongoing; the theory floating around the station was that a vigilante had taken it upon themselves to deal with Grim and his boys.

In a way, they weren’t wrong. But, they thought the vigilante was a trained killer, how else would he - they couldn’t possibly consider a woman was responsible - flee a crime scene without leaving a hint of evidence behind? In their minds, the killer was a professional, not a vengeful ghost.

Others had remained convinced I was somehow behind it all, not helped by the cuts, bruises, and stab wound I was sporting when I rocked up at the station the following day. I’d fed them a crock of shit that my injuries were a result of a mugging shortly after Nick let me go, but some didn’t buy it.

I was only too happy to let them run with their theories. It didn’t matter. Raven got her justice, and in the space of a week, Hadleigh Peak was already starting to become a better place.

When the green light was given for me to leave town, I took the first flight out of there, heading to a place I hadn’t been in months.

The building looked the same as it did the last time I was here, and the familiar sense of dread I felt whenever I navigated the corridors filled me. My heart raced as the elevator climbed to the fifth floor.

“Detective Roberts, good to see you,” Carly said, giving me a friendly smile when I stepped out of the elevator.

I’d pre-warned her of my visit, and like all the times before, she was waiting to greet me as soon as I arrived. Since my last visit, she’d cut her long blonde hair into a bob, and she now sported a large engagement ring on her finger.

“You too. I see congratulations are in order,” I replied, making small talk as she led me down the corridor.

Carly replied, but I wasn’t listening; my brain was in turmoil about what awaited.

“I’m happy for you,” I said when we stopped outside the room. “Have there been any changes?”

A sad smile pulled at her lips. “She crashed a week ago,” she said tentatively, making my heart plummet. “We managed to get her back, but…you should probably prepare yourself, Mason. This could be the start of the end.”

“Or it could be her coming back?” I replied, hope lacing my tone.

She gave my arm a small squeeze. “Maybe. But it’s unlikely.” I swallowed, refusing to listen to her. “Take your time. I’ll be out here if you need anything.”

With that, she walked away, grabbing a chart, and disappearing into the neighboring room. Taking a breath, I pushed the door open, my eyes immediately landing on her as I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.

Despair seeped down to my bones as I pulled the chair up next to the bed, taking in the beautiful woman asleep.

She looked peaceful, her long black hair in vivid contrast to the white bedding.

Long black lashes fanned her cheekbones as her eyes remained closed, and small, soft breaths left her parted lips.

I took her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. “Hi, Blackbird.”

She didn’t move. Didn’t stir. Didn’t open her eyes. Why would she, though? She’d been in a coma for over a year. It was a miracle her heart was still beating, and she didn’t need a machine to breathe for her like she once had.

I leaned forward and kissed the back of her hand, allowing memories to play in my head.

I stare at Raven’s battered face, her features almost unrecognisable from the beating Grim and his boys gave her. It’s been two days since she was attacked, and the swelling and bruising haven’t even begun to go down.

X-rays confirm she’s got two shattered eye sockets and a broken nose, but those injuries are nothing compared to the results of her brain scan.

She’d been deprived of oxygen after she was suffocated with the plastic bag over her head, and although I’d managed to get her back, she’d flatlined several times since then.

The machine breathing for her emits a soft beep every so often, and at the foot of her bed, the doctors talk to Raven’s mom and stepdad. I can’t focus on what they’re saying, but I catch the odd word.

‘Done all we can.’

‘Injuries are too traumatic.’

‘Withdraw life support.’

When her mom breaks down sobbing, I know I have to get out of the room. I can’t breathe, and I can’t just sit there and watch my soulmate die.

I rush from the room and head down the corridor before slamming my fists into the coffee machine. My knuckles throb, but it’s nothing compared to the ache in my heart.

Behind me, voices float from the staff room, and I hear Raven’s name. Creeping over, I rest my ear against the jamb, listening to the conversation between two uniformed cops.

“I’m surprised she’s still alive after what the Vipers did to her,” one cop says.

“She’d be better off dead,” the other replies, and my fists clench, ready to plow into something again.

Or rather, in his face. “Let’s be honest, if she survives, she’s gonna be fucked up for the rest of her life.

” After a short pause, the cop adds, “Don’t look at me like that.

You know I’m right. Multiple vaginal and ass rape? How does someone move on from that?”

I’m about to go in there and beat the shit out of the two of them for being so fucking disrespectful, but I stop when the first cop says, “If she survives, it won’t be for long.

You really think Grim will let the only living witness stay alive when she could be the one who finally gets him and the others locked up for life?

Not a chance. The second Grim gets wind she isn’t dead, he’ll come back and finish the job. ”

My vision blurs, and I sway on the spot.

He’s right. If, and I accept that it is a long shot, but if Raven pulls through, she’ll testify against Grim and the rest of the Vipers.

She’ll be able to testify that she witnessed them kill Eric, and that they raped and tried to murder her.

Her testimony will get them locked away for the rest of their life.

It could even result in them receiving the death penalty.

It hits me then. Grim will never let her live, and unless Raven has protection around the clock, twenty-four-seven for the rest of her life, she’ll always be Grim’s number one target.

The only way Grim will forget about Raven is if she is dead. Or, he thinks she’s dead.

With determined strides and my mind spinning, I jog down the stairs and out of the hospital before pulling out my phone and dialing the number of the one person I know will be able to help.

By some miracle, my dad managed to pull off what I’d asked of him. I guess it paid to have a father who was a senior agent in the FBI with a number of contacts at his disposal.

It helped that Raven’s mom was inconsolable at learning her daughter was unlikely to survive her injuries. The doctors had to sedate her, and Nathan took her home, making me promise that I would stay with Raven until she passed away.

The doctors working on Raven’s care were made to sign iron-clad confidentiality agreements, and under the cover of darkness, Raven was taken from the hospital and escorted several hours away by plane to a private hospital, specialist doctors monitoring her vitals the entire way.

By morning, news broke in Hadleigh Peak that Raven had succumbed to her injuries.

I had several arguments with my father as to whether we should have told her mom and Nathan that Raven was still alive, but as my father rightly pointed out, the fewer people who knew what we’d done, the safer it was for Raven.

Besides, there was still a strong possibility she would die from her injuries. It would have been cruel to tell her mom she was still alive, only to have to break the news that she really had died.

I’d never felt so guilty in all my life when I sat at the back of the church watching people cry at Raven’s funeral, knowing full well the casket contained the body of a Jane Doe who’d been found dead on the street.

As for Raven, she proved me right. I always said she was a fighter. Within a few weeks after being moved to the private hospital, the doctors removed the machine breathing for Raven, and to my utmost relief, she was able to breathe for herself.

Over time, her injuries healed, but she never woke up.

Never showed the slightest hint of waking up.

The doctors warned me time and time again that the chances were she wouldn’t ever wake up, and even if she did, she was likely to be brain-damaged, but I still refused to listen. She’d come so far.

But weeks turned into months, and the hope that she’d wake up started to fade. Until one day, not so long ago, I found her standing in my kitchen, the two of us confused as to how she was there.

When it became apparent that Raven wasn’t a figment of my imagination, I debated as to if I should tell her the truth; she wasn’t dead, but lost in a coma.

Every time I was about to tell her, though, I changed my mind.

I was convinced that when all was said and done, she would finally pass away and find the peace she was so determined to fight for.

But she was still here, and now, I needed her to come back to me.

I kissed her hand again, keeping my gaze on her face, and looking for the slightest hint that she could hear me.

“Raven,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady and not break with the weight of emotions I was holding on to.

“I need you to wake up. I need you to come back to me. It’s only been a week since I last saw you, and it’s been hell on earth.

I can’t live without you, Blackbird. From the minute I met you, you became my everything.

My reason to live. My reason to breathe.

Even when we were apart, I always knew we’d find a way back to each other.

I need you to find your way back to me now. ”

I paused, waiting, hoping, for something. A flutter of her lashes. A twitch of her hand. But nothing came.

A tear slid unbidden down my cheek. I hadn’t realized my eyes were filled with water until the tangy taste of salt hit my lip.

“Please, Raven,” I begged, squeezing her hand again.

“Please come back. I don’t want to live another minute without you.

I can’t live another minute wondering what could have been if I hadn’t left.

You once told me you saw me with children and a wife, and I know, I just know, that the only person I could ever marry and have children with is you.

So, please. Find your way back to me so we can be together again. ”

Nothing.

A sob broke free, and I jumped from my chair, storming over to the window, unable to look at the lifeless form of the love of my life any longer. Below, cars whizzed by, and people walked the streets without a care in the world.

The world continued to spin as my world crumbled.

I scrubbed a hand down my face, wiping away the few tears that had fallen, and spun back around, ready to beg Raven again.

I froze.

My heart leaped into my throat.

Piercing blue eyes stared back at me. Eyes I never thought I’d look into again. I bolted around the bed, her gaze tracking me as I grabbed her hand and hovered over her. “Raven?”

Disbelief pounded through me, and for a second, I wondered if my mind was playing tricks. But then she slowly blinked, and her bottom lip moved several times as if she wanted to say something.

I knew I should have gone and gotten Carly; Raven needed a doctor to check her over, but I didn’t dare move in case this was a daydream or she fell back into a coma in the time it would take me to fetch the doctor.

“Raven. Blackbird, can you hear me?” I said, keeping my voice low and holding back the overwhelming need to scoop her into my arms, hold her close, and smother her in kisses.

Her mouth opened and closed before the faintest whisper left her lips. “Mase?”

My heart swelled to three times its size at hearing my name come from her. Tears streamed down my cheeks, my words stuck in my throat. Her mouth opened and closed several times, and another whisper came out.

I lowered my head closer to hear her. “What, Blackbird? What are you trying to tell me?”

She shut her eyes briefly, and when they opened again, determination sparkled in her orbs. “I…” she started. I held my breath, waiting for her to say something else.

“I…dreamed…of…you.”